Colin Powell Admits that Obama's Race Is Major Factor in His Decision... Say It Isn't So, Colin... Say It Isn't So!

 Thought For The Day 10.20.08

If you're not confused, you're not paying attention. …Tom Peters

Powell Admits that Obama’s Race Is Major Factor in His Decision

(Powell Backed Black Democrat Before)

Sunday, October 19, 2008 4:08 PM
By: Kenneth R. Timmerman

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama on Sunday morning during his appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The media spin has been that Powell, a Republican and former John McCain supporter, has taken very the unusual step of crossing party lines to back a Democrat he thinks will serve the country best.

But a review of Powell’s own campaign contributions with the FEC shows that he has crossed party lines once before to help an African-American Democrat in a federal race.

In 1994, then-Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the state’s first African-American governor, entered the Democratic primary in a bid for the U.S. Senate.

Records show that Powell donated $1,000 to Wilder’s campaign. Wilder later withdraw from the primary as polls showed him lagging three other candidates.

On “Meet the Press” Sunday (yesterday), Powell’s explanation for his backing of Obama made clear that he thought ‘Obama’s race’ was a major factor for his support, but not the only one.

Powell also described Obama as a “transformational” candidate, but in the end, it is about race.

Though Obama has no national security or executive experience Powell asserted that he had "met the standard" to be commander-in-chief. But, Powell again insinuated Obama’s race played a critical factor for him, noting his support "because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America".

Interestingly, Powell’s endorsement came despite the fact that in 2007 he dipped into his wallet and wrote a $2,300 check to McCain.

Powell’s contribution – the maximum allowed by law – came at a time when the press had written off McCain and said his campaign was about to collapse.

“[McCain campaign manager] Rick Davis called all the Republican heavy hitters in early August 2007, and said if they didn’t raise $50,000 by the end of the month, McCain was going to close up shop ,” a Republican insider who answered the same call from Davis told Newsmax.

Davis called it the “No Surrender” campaign. After the fundraising drive succeeded – with the help of Powell, among others - McCain liked the new brand name so well that he replaced the “Straight Talk Express” logo on his campaign bus with a huge sign that read, “No Surrender.”

“Of course, the phrase ‘No Surrender,’ could be applied to the McCain campaign as well,” The New York Times wrote in September 2007. “It was practically written off over the summer when it nearly ran out of money, forcing it to reduce its staff sharply and scale back its operations in all but three states, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.”

McCain weathered the money pinch with the help of Powell, who wrote his check on Aug. 7, 2007 – at precisely the moment McCain needed it the most.

Since then, Powell has not given to any other presidential candidate and is barred from giving more to McCain because McCain has agreed to limit his campaign expenditures and accept public funding, unlike Obama, who changed his mind after signing the paperwork to accept public funding thereby again going against his word.

In addition to his contribution to McCain’s presidential bid, Powell has written 44 checks to Republican candidates – including several liberal Republicans such as Arlen Specter, William Weld and Rudy Giuliani.

25% of Afro-Americans admit that they are voting for Obama ‘just’ because of his race. Only 8% of Whites say they are not voting for Obama because of race. People would certainly be yelling if these stats were reversed!! 

“4” former Secretaries of State support John McCain for President and so did Colin Powell until it came down to an issue of race. So this is not much or an endorsement. And it says a lot more about Colin Powell than it does about John McCain. Personally I find this to be very sad… and all I can say is, “Say it isn’t so, Colin, say it isn’t so!”

“Because democracy is not a spectator sport. …It is essential that we are all informed and do our homework on ‘every’ candidate and on all the issues. 57 newspapers support Obama 18 support McCain, just another example that the main stream media of the United States is liberal and biased. So you know you aren’t getting all the facts or the true facts from them. And you can’t make an educated choice without all the facts!”