Mr. McCain says that he’s a washed up terrorist, but then why do we keep talking about him? And why do we have the robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow Mr. Obama is tainted. What they’re trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that’s inappropriate. Now, I understand what politics is all about, I know how you can go after one another and that’s good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for.
With those words, retired General Colin Powell, also a retired Secretary of State under President Bush, also a high-level member of the Republican party, endorsed Sen. Obama for President of the United States. Few people will try to claim that Gen. Powell is simply playing politics in his endorsement of Sen. Obama. Sen. McCain himself simply said that he respectfully disagrees with the General, but did not dare impugn his integrity. But, Gen. Powell claimed that Sen. McCain is playing politics of the worst and most dangerous sort in his attempted smears of Sen. Obama.
And it is this worry by such a highly respected man that should give us pause about the tactics that have been embraced by Sen. McCain lately. As the good General points out in his interview, Sen. McCain is risking not only tearing this country apart, but also turning this country against some of its very own citizens. He cited the example of the Muslim soldier, born in this country, who recently died for this country in the Armed Forces of the United States. And, he pointed out that on his military gravestone, the star and sickle is engraved. Yet, some of the very shouts and questions asked at Republican campaign gatherings appear to say that “such” people (Muslims and Arabs) are to be hated and booed.
And so it is that a faithful man, a war hero even larger than Sen. McCain, a faithful member of his party, and a servant of the people as Secretary of State, has made the difficult choice to turn on his party and endorse the candidate of the other side. Perhaps Sen. McCain will listen to the General and finish the campaign season by returning to the straight talk express and to honorable approaches to campaigning. If not, he may win, but in that win he would damage this country in ways that he may regret. And, so has Gen. Powell warned him.
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