Late last week, the former Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, decided to bash Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and Joe the Plumber.  Among his comments, Powell said that the Republican party’s attempt “to use polarization for political advantage” backfired last month. 

“I think the party has to take a hard look at itself,” Powell said.  ”[I]f the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities.  In another 20 years, the majority in this country will be the minority.”  He argued further that Republicans must see what is in the “hearts and minds” of African-American, Hispanic, and Asian voters “and not just try to influence them by . . . the principles and dogma.”

Then the real zinger . . . .  

“Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?” Powell asked.  “Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?”

Here is an excerpt from the interview if you care to watch.

The ever-knowledgeable Gen. Colin Powell’s comments are flawed in many respects.

Who Is Listening to Limbaugh? 

First and foremost, the Republican Party has not been listening to Rush Limbaugh for quite some time!  If the Republican Party had been listening to Rush for the past two to three years, Republicans would still have a majority in both the House and the Senate, John McCain would never have been the nominee, and we wouldn’t be faced with having a socialist as the 44th President.

Thus, a major premise of Powell’s comments–that Republicans are listening too much to Limbaugh and basing their policies and views on his rhetoric–is FALSE.  In fact, Republicans have ignored Limbaugh and have, instead, been getting exactly what they wanted for the past three to four years.  They’ve grown government to an unprecedented size; they’ve spent quite a bit of money; they got the candidate they thought had the best chance of defeating the Democrat nominee (John McCain); and they’re now participating in one federal bailout after another (well, not all of them).

It is precisely when Republicans stopped listening to Limbaugh (and adopting the policies in the preceding paragraph) that they started losing elections.  So, Gen. Powell, please . . . if you’re going to have an opinion, make sure the premise of that opinion is true.

That being said, the rest of Powell’s comments should be irrelevant (since they’re based on bad facts).  Nevertheless, I’ll play the game and address the main message he sent in that interview.

Face Realities And Appeal To Minorities?  Didn’t Republicans Just Do That?

If “the [Republican] party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities,” said Powell.  Republicans must see what is in the “hearts and minds” of African-American, Hispanic, and Asian voters “and not just try to influence them by . . . the principles and dogma.”

First, Powell fails to explain how to influence these minorities.  We have to see what is in their “hearts and minds,” he says.  This sounds all too much like the liberal platform.  Liberals love to put people into groups.  There are blacks.  There are Hispanics.  There are Asians.  There are gays.  And then they assume that all these groups think alike, and they patronize these groups with big government policies meant to cater to them and only them while neglecting individuals who don’t belong to such groups.

Conservatives don’t view people as ”black,” “Hispanic,” or “Asian.”  Conservatives view people as Americans.  And the conservative message is meant to appeal to ALL Americans with specific, unifying principles: less taxes, less government, individual freedom and responsibility.  That isn’t “polarization,” and it isn’t mere “dogma.”  That’s a universal message, Gen. Powell, and it has appealed to Americans of every background and color and helped conservatives win landslides in the past. 

Powell prefers identity politics, but Republicans have proven, time and time, that the winning formula rests on these universal conservative principles. 

Second, the other problem with these statements is this: Didn’t Republicans just try to look into the “hearts and minds” of minorities??  Wasn’t McCain the candidate who championed amnesty for illegal immigrants?  Wasn’t McCain the candidate who bought into so many liberal policy views?  For the love of Reagan, McCain believed in this liberal hoax of man-made global warming and proposed a cap-and-trade program based on that premise!

The point is that Republicans just tried to do what Powell proposed . . . and they LOST!  They nominated a moderate candidate who played identity politics, called himself a “maverick,” and said that only he has been able to ”work across the aisle” with liberals.

Well, thanks Gen. Colin Powell for your advice, but no thanks.  Your advice helped Republicans lose.  In fact, why even bother giving us advice?  You endorsed the liberal candidate!  Please do conservatives a favor and run on over to liberals.  I’m sure they and the media just adore you right now.  

That’s probably what you wanted, right?      

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