Rush Strikes Back at ‘Turncoat’ Colin Powell
Talk show legend Rush Limbaugh wasted no time in answering ColinPowell after the former secretary of state said on CNN that theRepublican Party should stop listening to the radio host.
On Monday, Limbaugh told his 20 million listeners that what Powell was doing was telling the GOP to throw them under the bus.
“I think Powell’s premise is all wrong,” Limbaugh said. “TheRepublican Party needs to stop listening to me. Basically, what thatmeans is the Republican Party’s gotta throw you overboard. TheRepublican Party can’t win as long as it is defined by people like youand me, those of you in this audience.”
Powell is a bit late in telling his party to stop listening tohim, Limbaugh said, noting that the party had already stopped listeningto him.
“The simple fact of the matter is, folks, what makes this funnyto me is that the Republican Party’s not listened to me in the last twoyears,” he explained. “And you might even say in matters of policy andso forth, the Republican Party hasn’t been listening to me for the lastsix years.
“And you might even say that the Republican Party is in thesituation it’s in precisely because of the people like Colin Powell andJohn McCain and others who have devised this new definition andidentity of the party which is responsible for electing Democrats allover this country.”
After recalling that Powell voted for Barack Obama, Limbaughcharged that the Bush administration’s first secretary of state wasupset because he said that Powell’s endorsement of Obama was aboutrace. “These things are supposed to go unsaid,” Limbaugh said.
Limbaugh also took aim at GOP presidential candidate McCain.
“The Republican Party nominated Powell’s perfect candidate. Theguy’s going after moderates, independents, Democrats, a guy who is notconservative at all, McCain, didn’t stand up for much conservative[principles], and he’s out there now saying he won’t support Palin ifshe seeks the presidency again, or he might not.”
Turning back to Powell, Limbaugh said Powell “insists thatconservatives and Republicans support candidates who will appeal tominorities like I guess McCain who led the effort for amnesty. Heinsists that conservatives and Republicans move to the center likeMcCain, who calls himself a maverick for doing so.
“General Powell insists that conservatives and Republicansprovide an open tent to different ideas and views, like I guess McCain,who repeatedly trashed Republicans and made nice with Democrats. Imean, their tent’s big, they just don’t want us in it.”
Having been what Limbaugh described as Powell’s ideal candidate,after McCain won the GOP at the last moment, Powell switched sides.
“Once McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, largelyby independents and Democrats voting in Republican primaries, ColinPowell waited ’til the last minute, when it would do the most damage toMcCain and the Republicans, and endorsed Obama. And when I said it waslargely about race, that’s what set ’em all off. You’re not supposed tosay these kinds of things. This is supposed to go unspoken.
“Let me get this straight,” Limbaugh said. “The guy who hassupported the Republican candidate for president should be thrown outof the party. That would be me. But the guy who bolted and sabotagedthe Republican nominee by endorsing the Democrat candidate should stayin and be part of the team that determines what the Republican Party isgoing to be. The turncoat, General Powell, is the one who the party isgonna listen to? McCain’s a moderate. I supported McCain. Powell, whowants a moderate, did not support McCain.”