CNN Video: Letterman throws questions; Powell dodges

[janekat]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/26/powell.letterman/index.html

[BlueEyedSon]

1. 'What's he smoking?' ......... LOL!!!

An aide to Powell told CNN in August that it would not be surprising if Powell and Armitage were to leave at the end of the term. It would be surprising, the aide said, if they agreed to stay or decided to bolt before the end of Bush's first term

"Anybody who thought Powell would have stayed around for a second term if Bush is re-elected would have to ask the question, 'What's he smoking?' " the Powell aide said.

[Brucey]

2. I don't like Powell, and I don't understand the game he is playing.

My understanding of his answer is that he will continue as Sec of State unless Chimpy asks him to step down. Why are his aides saying something different? Powell wants to play both sides of the street.

[Brotherjohn]

5. Regarding the game he's playing... see my post below.

I think he's saying to Bush "If you want me gone, you'll have to fire me." That would be bad politically for Bush.

I think he has played both sides to this extent:
He tried to be a voice of moderation in an administration which he increasingly came to realize was much more radical than it had portrayed itself.

He backed them on Iraq to a point, but Powell's State Department was often the dissenting voice in the administration trying to drum up its case for war (re WMD evidence). He openly questioned some of the WMD evidence, probably bought into some of the lies, and probably participated in others (being the good soldier that he is).

I'm not saying this vindicates him, but it makes him a tragic figure. It could be said he made a deal with the devil, and is now trying to get out. I think he's gradually come to realize that the Bush administration is not what it pretended to be, and whereas before, he thought it would do more good than harm, now, he feels the opposite.

[FlemingsGhost]

6. Nah... Powell's been a Bush lackey since #41.

He is a traitor and war criminal like the rest of 'em.

The "good soldier" routine is a cover...

[central scrutinizer]

8. way before that

he has been a right-wing lackey for years - he got his start by helping coverup My Lai. Harry Belafonte has him pegged exactly.

[blkgrl]

9. He'll understand once the Bushies

hang him out to dry.

[Brotherjohn]

3. He'll continue to serve "at the president's pleasure"...

Sounds to me like he's putting the ball in Bush's court. He'd like to step down, because he's been abused and hung out to dry more than he cares for. Much as I dislike the extent to which Powell has played along with and enabled Bush's Iraq war, he has generally been the biggest voice for peace and diplomacy in the administration, sometimes to the point of coming to real blows with the White House (of course, he has always lost).

Bush would like him to leave as well, but only if it's painted as "retiring due to family considerations", the "promise" he allegedly made to his wife, etc...

Powell wants to get out while the gettin's good, and it is because of what a horrible president Bush has been and how he has treated him. Powell does not want to make it easy on Bush.

He's saying "You want me out of your hair? You've got to fire me!" Because he knows that would be bad politically for Bush.

[CatWoman]

4. Free video on Late Show site

CNN takes you through too many changes. Just click on
"big Show Highlight".

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/

[Rhiannon12866]

7. Thank you! I had missed this...

What I'd also like to see again is the video of Powell's 2001 pre-9/11 speech in which he declared that Iraq had no WMDs! The White House's answer to this is that any statement made before 9/11 just doesn't count! As usual, why isn't someone calling them on this?!:grr:
:wtf:

[Malva Zebrina]

10. I don't like Powell either

and cannot understand what he thinks he is doing--it seems he is just "hanging around" and is a man without an agenda and without a soul. He serves some purpose, but I, and probably himself, cannot figure out what. The man seems to have no direction--his son, Michael, given the lucrative government job by Bush, is a factor, imo, in the Colin Powell family of renown wannabe, sacrificing all that is noble for power, money and name recognition. He most likely, in my most humble opinion, wants to be recognized up there amongst the most powerful, rich and beautiful without making any contribution that he can be held to--meanwhile, he is doing more to garner contempt and disdain than any admiration and it gets worse as time goes on. He is a failure as much as Bush is a failure and needs to recognize that he is just coasting along on the coatails of a Bush appointment and ask himself why. This, of course, assumes that he is a reflective man--I still want to give him that, but, increasingly I do believe that perhaps he is not and is as shallow as the ninny come poop Bush.