Future of the GOP: Cheney Backs Limbaugh Over Powell

May 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — Dick Cheney made clear Sunday he’d rather follow firebrand broadcaster Rush Limbaugh than former Joint Chiefs chairman Colin Powell into political battle over the future of the Republican Party.

Even as Cheney embraced efforts to expand the party by ex-Govs. Jeb Bush of Florida and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and the House’s No. 2 Republican, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the former vice president appeared to write his one-time colleague Powell out of the GOP.

Asked about recent verbal broadsides between Limbaugh and Powell, Cheney said, “If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I’d go with Rush Limbaugh. My take on it was Colin had already left the party. I didn’t know he was still a Republican.”

‘Not as right as others would like’

Powell, who was secretary of state under President George W. Bush and held the nation’s top military post under President George H. W. Bush, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president last year. Nonetheless, since the election he has described himself as a Republican and a right-of-center conservative, though “not as right as others would like.”

Cheney, citing Powell’s backing of Obama over Republican nominee John McCain, said, “I assumed that that is some indication of his loyalty and his interests.”

Cheney’s remarks on CBS’ “Face the Nation” were the latest step in his slow-motion estrangement from Powell since the two worked closely together to manage the Persian Gulf war in 1991 — Powell as the Army general who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Cheney as defense secretary for the elder Bush.

Under the younger Bush, Powell initially backed action against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and delivered a famous U.N. speech laying out the U.S. case. But Powell and Cheney increasingly parted ways over the Bush administration’s policies on the war and terrorism, with Cheney usually prevailing. Powell left the administration after Bush’s first term. …

More government, not less

Powell has argued the Republican Party needs to move toward the center and reach out to growing black, Hispanic and Asian communities, but instead has been shrinking because it hasn’t changed as the country changed in the face of economic distress. “Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less,” Powell said last week.

For months, Powell has urged the party to turn away from the acid-tongued Limbaugh. “I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without,” Powell said.

“Colin Powell is just another liberal,” Limbaugh retorted. “What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat.” Limbaugh said Powell is “just mad at me because I’m the one person in the country that had the guts to explain his endorsement of Obama. It was purely and solely based on race.” Both Powell and Obama are black.

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5/11/09 Update

We Listen!

American Morning — amFIX
May 11, 2009

On Monday, American Morning viewers responded strongly against former Vice President Cheney’s continued appearances on talk shows, calling him “irrelevant.” Both Democrats and Republicans believed him to be disingenuous on multiple fronts.

• Jay: I have never believed what Mr. Cheney says on its face value. His intentions are never reflected in his words. I suspect his attacks [on] Powell is because he cannot control Powell. Are all Republicans supposed to blindly agree with Cheney and Rush? Can there be no second opinion?
• Paula: Were I Mr. Colin Powell, I’d deem it a supreme compliment to be “backhanded” by the likes of Cheney! He didn’t have 3 words to say, over the past 8 years, and now is as difficult to neutralize as the AIDS virus! He is a dark, divisive, and pathetic creature — irrelevant, boring, and lacking in any constructive elements. As in the old vaudeville “stinkers” someone should “hook” him, around the neck, and drag him off the “national stage”! [His] negative message is counter-productive, and his snide “asides” are enervating to the pathetic condition of this severely-crippled nation.
• Jim M: Typical CNN – only put out partial information, just want you want people to hear. The bigger story was how Dick Cheney is sounding the alarm of Obama making us less safe by removing safeguards that have kept us from being hit for the last eight years. This is why anyone who wants honest, fair information must go to FOX NEWS.

What do you think about former Vice President Cheney’s public appearances recently? Is he, as one viewer states, “irrelevant,” or are we only getting “partial information”? Do you believe he is representative of the Republican Party or has the party moved in a new direction?

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Powell Rebukes Bachmann

On Sunday, October 19, 2008, Gen. Colin Powell rebuked Minnesota 6th District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann for saying on MSNBC “Hardball” with Chris Matthews two days earlier that she thought Barack Obama “may hold anti-American views” and suggesting “the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take … a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America.”

At his press conference, Powell said:

“This business of, for example, a congress[wo]man from Minnesota who’s going around saying, ‘Let’s examine all congressmen to see who’s pro-America and who’s not pro-America,’ we have got to stop this kind of nonsense and pull ourselves together and remember that our great strength is in our unity and our diversity.”

Immelman Rebukes Bachmann

On Saturday, October 18, 2008, Aubrey Immelman, who lost his bid for the Republican nomination to incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in the Sept. 9 Minnesota state primary election, announced his write-in candidacy in the 6th Congressional District race in response to Bachmann’s “shameful commentary” the previous day on “Hardball” with Chris Matthews.

Here’s Immelman’s full statement:

On September 9, I challenged Rep. Bachmann for the Republican nomination because of my strong opposition to her support for the destructive neocon ideology that mired the United States in an unnecessary war in Iraq at a cost of thousands of American lives, hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars, and untold damage to the international stature of the United States of America (see Statement on Iraq War).

After losing the primary election, I suspended my campaign.

But now, Rep. Bachmann has dishonored her office and brought shame to the Sixth District and the State of Minnesota by calling for a media investigation reminiscent of McCarthy-era witch hunts to “find out [which members of Congress] are pro-America or anti-America.”

We cannot let that stand.

We cannot tolerate this festering brand of neo-McCarthyism in our midst.

We cannot and must not tolerate elected representatives who abuse their high office and play into the hands of our enemies by sowing the seeds of hatred and dividing America against itself.

Therefore, I am putting my name forward as a write-in candidate for disillusioned Republicans who can no longer support Rep. Bachmann and who wish to voice their displeasure without having to vote for the candidate of another party.