I taught about t he constitutional convention today & it got me thinking..

[liberalitch]

I know that that is dangerous BUT.....
One of the things that I talked to my students about is how if someone with a good and important reputation supports a certain event then it gives it a sense of legitimacy..... Like George Washington's support of the need for a new government gave credibility to the convention in Pa. in 1787.
THEN A few minutes ago I saw a post reviewing the fact that Colin Powel (along with many others who were at A LITTLE credible in this admin.) had quit.
What does all that mean?
Did the administration hire Powell for this reason alone (credibility)?
Or did he leave to preserve what little reputation he had left?

[DURHAM D]

1. Powell has no credibility - he is a victim of his own insecurities.

Secretary Albright described him as a sponge. He soaks up the views of those around him, who promote him beyond his abilities, and keep him dressed and fed.

He has no actual core values.

[liberalitch]

2. Sounds like the military!

[Lexingtonian]

3. not entirely

Remember that his career is defined by militarily winning the Kuwait war. And being a piece of the coverup attempt of the My Lai massacre.

They went to him in 2000 and told him: Here's your chance, Colin, to secure your place as a victorious American commander on the level of Eisenhower- we need to continue that old war and topple Hussein. If you don't go along and we can't overcome the resistance to doing it, Hussein will have beaten you.

Powell stuck around until Baghdad got taken and then began to fade out of the top tier in the White House in a hurry. In part because they elbowed and pushed him out, because they didn't need him anymore, in part because he figured he had done enough lying for what he considered a good end and was sick of the whole slime the Administration really is/was.

It's not moral heroism or great dignity or integrity. I think he sincerely believed that toppling Hussein would justify the warfare. The foolish miscalculation was trusting the rest of the Administration to not botch absolutely everything they touched in Iraq.

[liberalitch]

4. They used him to lend credibility to the event....

.... although, unlike the constitutional convention, it was not honorable.... it was a scam.