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Colin Powell Endorses Obama Again: ‘We’ve Come Out of the Dive and We’re Starting to Gain Altitude’

Oct. 25, 2012 11:19am Madeleine Morgenstern

President Barack Obama speaks alongside former Secretary of State Colin Powell during a meeting at the White House in 2010. Powell endorsed Obama for re-election on Thursday. (AFP/Getty Images)

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election, after breaking with the Republican Party four years ago to first endorse him in 2008.

“You know I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012, and I’ll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month,” Powell said on CBS’ “This Morning.”

Powell said that when Obama took office, the country was in “very, very difficult straits” but has since started to turn around.

“I think generally we’ve come out of the dive and we’re starting to gain altitude,” Powell said. “It doesn’t mean we are problem solved, there are lots of problems still out there. The unemployment rate is too high. People are still hurting in housing. But I see that we are starting to rise up.”

Powell praised Obama’s handling of foreign policy, noting that he “saw the president get us out of one war, start to get us out of a second war and did not get us into any new wars.”

“I think that the actions he has taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very, very solid. And so I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on,” he said.

Powell said he has “the utmost respect” for Mitt Romney but charged he has not been detailed enough in how he would manage new defense spending coupled with tax cuts. He said he also has “concerns” about Romney’s use of foreign policy.

“The governor who was speaking on Monday night at the debate was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier,” Powell said. “I”m not quite sure which Governor Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy.”

Powell also noted Romney has expressed some “very very strong neoconservative views” that he has “some trouble with.”

Powell said he had a “very good conversation” with Romney a few weeks ago and speaks with Obama on a regular basis. Neither candidate asked for his endorsement, Powell said.

He said he’s simply more comfortable with an Obama administration on issues including climate change, immigration, education and health care.

“I do not want to see the new Obamacare plan thrown off the table,” Powell said. “It has issues, you have to fix some things in that plan but when I see when I look at that plan is 30 mllion of our fellow citizens will now be covered by insurance and I think that’s good.”

Powell said that despite his two endorsements of Obama, he remains a Republican.

“I think I’m a Republican of more moderate mold and that’s something of a dying breed, I’m sorry to say,” he said. “But, you know, the Republicans I worked for are President Reagan, President Bush 41, the Howard Bakers of the world, people who were conservative, people who were willing to push their conservative views, but people who recognize that at the end of the day you got to find a basis for compromise — compromise is how this country runs.”

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Comments (332)

Samwise636
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:17pm
Powell also noted Romney has expressed some “very very strong neoconservative views” that he has “some trouble with.”

Hey Colin, are you kidding?! Aren’t you kind of missing the irony in that statement? You yourself are expressing THE most nonconservative view possible by endorsing Obama!!

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Stone Cold Truth
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:16pm
Duh! Powell has already proven himself a traitor to conservatism and the Republican Party. He’s a turncoat. No surprise here.

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Will NV
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:16pm
Wonder who the real racists are?
Not anymore.

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lefty5005
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:15pm
Powell like Hillary are both AA and quota SOS’s. The results of their actions as SOS indicate that in the future perhaps the most qualified person should be SOS. Powell has a hair up his ass because of the WMD fiasco. What is funny in George Tenant was head of the CIA (Clinton’s pal) and in what might be the ultimate act of retribution threw the Bush administration an unhittable curve ball. He then retired and laughed while getting his dubious honor after leaving the CIA. The last real SOS we had was James Baker during the Reagan years. If you had a Powell or Clinton doing that job then I doubt we, most of the world and the internet would exist because of nuclear war.

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sailongulf
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:14pm
My sister-in-law told me once “Show me who you walk with and I’ll tell you who you are.”

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- ANTISOCIAL-IST
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:53pm
  your sis inlaw is pretty smart. her saying is pretty close to the world-famous saying “show me who your friends are and i’ll tell you who you are.” lol
  
  Report this comment
crusaderx9
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:14pm
Americans know too much about obama and his FAILINGS to be fooled by a Colin Powell endorsement.

Colin Powell has become openly political and his leanings are well known – his perspective is shallow and obvious…

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frnchmn
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:11pm
can you say “R.H.I.N.O.”

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Metallicat
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:11pm
I love how he labels himself a Republican,but sees “compromise” as a one sided issue he only holds Republicans accountable for. Compromise has to work both ways for governments to work. Today Republicans are expected to compromise to anything Obama wants,despite the consequences,to make him a historical president. Obama is a diva that only cares about the highlight reel. everything else is secondary to his ego.

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toiletclogga
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:09pm
Somebody is afraid he will be left out of the black history books!

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Nevermind
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:08pm
At least there is one sane republican left in the world . Thank you Gen. Powell for your service to this country and always choosing what is best for this land and not your party.

I love hwo the GOP ” support the troops” yet say the worst things about a man like Gen. Powell. You shoudl all be ashamed but you are not and that is sad

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- Samwise636
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:24pm
  Powell himself is shaming himself and our troops by supporting this failed president:
  
  ~Four Americans died in Benghazi because this president was asleep at the wheel.
  ~2/3 of all deaths and casualties that our military has incurred in Afghanistan have happened on Obama’s watch. He has tied their hands with ridiculous rules of engagement that put our troops in jeopardy.
  ~An American border agent is dead (and countless others) because of Fast & Furious
  ~Obama is planning to slash our military budget by a trillion dollars.
  ~Obama refuses to call the Fort Hood attacks “terrorism.” By doing so, he is denying the families of the soldiers who were killed by Nidal Hasan the proper benefits that they should get. Never mind the fact that Hasan shouted “ALLAHU AKBAR” while he gunned down our unarmed military members. Obama just sees that as “workplace violence.”
  
  So please don’t try to sell this president as pro-military. It’s insulting!
  
  Report this comment
voting-for-romney
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:07pm
Try this search at “Bing.com”

100 reasons site:hughhewitt.com

You will find 100 reasons not to elect Barack Obama?

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landmark
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:05pm
Not you too, Colin Powell?? Are you one of the 99% black people that are voting for President Obama because he is black?? i would think as a ex military man that the Libyan situation would be enough for you not to vote for President Obama! But I’ll say it again, live & learn………………………

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zoro51
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:05pm
REMOVE THIESE DAMN SOCIALSITS NOW impe4ahc obama n thro out of the usa.. to endorse a KNOWN NON AMERICAN BORN SOCIALIST IS to EMBRACE SATANIC VALUES

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ambivelentone
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:04pm
What a joke this guy turned out to be…

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rockymtngal
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:04pm
Powell lost my respect a long time ago. If he wants to support a president who doesn’t have the backs of Americans who serve our nation, then he’s as treasonous as Obama is.

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RougeFastFingers
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:04pm
Color is thicker then iodeology for some people.

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MeCpl13
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:04pm
I used to be able to respect Powell, however it seems he has lost his mind. Endorsing Obama again, after the last 4 years?? Cray-zee.

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Neesey
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:04pm
Wow. If I were a betting woman, I would say that Colin Powell is no different from any other black person who chooses not to use their brain but skin color to vote. MLK probably spinning out of his grave right now!

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QCstroker
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:03pm
this whole comment section is full of democrats throwing out the race issue to future promote racial division !

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Jenasus
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:03pm
Colin Powell is supporting Obama because he is part of the Luciferian New World Order.

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Conservativeman
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:02pm
You think maybe Colan Pow was given some bad intel on the economy and is testifying to the cameras based upon that faulty economic intel?

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spudwhite
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:02pm
Ole Colon once again endorses The One, well it that a shock. If Obama does steal this election (God forbid), Ole Colon will be singing this song with even more emotion than he already does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdNmgNu86xA
Maybe they are both members of the Down Low Club, or maybe it’s just all about that social construct called “race”. In any case, for shame.

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QCstroker
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 12:00pm
Add your comments

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Sleeve
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 11:59am
I thought he was smarter then that… i was wrong! what a dumba$$

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My Two Cents
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 11:58am
We have come out of the dive and we’re starting to gain altitude?

This shows that General Powell is behind the times. How can he not know that 2010 was our summer of recovery. After all, Joe Biden said so.

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