A lot of people have been buzzing lately about Colin Powell endorsing Barack Obama. I know I’m a couple days late on commenting on this, but I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. I mean, it just didn’t make any sense. Have you seen the video where he explains why he chose to endorse Obama? Watch it, you have to see it:

Did you notice how most of his reasons for choosing Obama over McCain are based on misunderstandings? For instance, since when did McCain ever suggest that Obama was a Muslim? Or that Obama isn’t an American, or somehow linking McCain to that Congressman from Wisconsin, it’s ridiculous. In fact, McCain has gone out of his way every single time these issues came up to refute such statements! Eesh, Colin, at least get your facts straight.
Mr. Ayers, yes, McCain did bring that up, and in my opinion, it’s not “negative” to bring up the truth. It’s negative when you bring up personal speculative attacks. The truth shouldn’t ever be considered a “negative attack”, that’s just ludicrous.

Oh, General Powell also doesn’t seem to be aware of the specific points of Obama’s tax plan that McCain and Palin are attacking as being socialist in nature. Either that, or he doesn’t know what socialism means. The part of the tax plan being attacked has nothing to do with taxes for infrastructure, but has everything to do with sending a tax credit to Americans who don’t pay taxes at all, funded entirely by those who do pay taxes. That’s what Obama means by his 95% of Americans will receive an “income tax cut”. The problem is, 40% of Americans don’t pay income taxes at all. That 40% is still included in the 95% that Obama mentions, because the “tax cut” is really a “tax credit” – a check from the federal government, paid for by those who do pay taxes. Obama himself has said this is a “redistribution of wealth”, and General Powell, that has nothing to do with infrastructure and everything to do with a socialist notion.

The most important issue, however, is his discussion about the Iraq war. He states clearly and unequivocally that he has no regrets about his involvement in making the case for war. Because of that, I do not understand why Barack Obama, the Democratic party, and his supporters, would even dare to accept Powell’s endorsement. Why? Because it’s contrary to the far left’s belief that the Iraq war is an “illegal war” based on “lies” about WMDs.

Before we continue, it’s important that you set aside the fact for a minute that this war was never, ever about established WMDs. Set aside the fact that in making the case for war, the WMD issue was explicitly described as Saddam’s programs to develop WMDs, not WMDs already made and ready to launch. Set aside the fact that those programs were found in Iraq, along with essential tools and components to develop weapons of mass destruction. Set aside the fact that we now know that the major “lie” the Democrats complain about – Bush mentioning Hussein attempting to obtain uranium from Nigeria – wasn’t actually a lie, but we were told it was by a Democrat who was in charge of an investigation to determine the truth about the uranium issue. Never mind that he proclaimed Bush lied about the uranium, even though he wasn’t finished with that investigation, and a year later admitted that he knowingly misled Americans with his statement just to make Bush look bad and undermine the war. That indeed, his investigation determined that Hussein was attempting to obtain uranium, but that he wasn’t as far along in that process as Hussein himself thought he was, because his underlings were lying to him to save their own necks. On this issue, our intelligence only failed as much as Hussein’s own trust in his underlings failed him.
So set all of that aside, set the facts aside, and think for a moment like a hard-core liberal. Think that the whole case for war was nothing but a big fat lie, that we were going to Iraq for oil, that there were no WMDs, and that Bush knowingly and maliciously lied about it to the American people and to Congress.

If you believe that, why would you want the man who was responsible for distributing those lies to back up your chosen candidate? Colin Powell was the one who made the case for war to the United Nations, he was the one who advised Bush throughout the whole process that led us to war; he was the one who helped make the case not only to the American people, but to Congress as well. He was part and parcel of the whole big lie that Democrats are so angry about. Why should they accept his endorsement?

It just doesn’t make any sense. The Democrats claim that they were “duped” into supporting the war, but you can’t say that about Colin Powell. Not only was he the one who made the case for war, but he was the one directly responsible for duping those Democrats! By accepting his endorsement, how does that not undermine the Democrats’ claims that the whole war was nothing but a lie? How is Powell not just as guilty as Bush? I just honestly don’t get it. How can Democrats have, at the same time, their “they lied, soldiers died” claim, yet accept the Powell endorsement saying, “the Colin Powell endorsement proves Obama has the experience and judgment to lead”? It seems like the two are mutually exclusive. How can they possibly make for pleasant bedfellows if they believe that Colin Powell was the one who duped them into an illegal war?

Or is this yet another case of politically convenient doublethink?

As for me, I’m not surprised by Colin Powell’s endorsement, although I am a bit disappointed in him. He could have at least had the common courtesy to notify John McCain of his endorsement, and I would have hoped that he could have at least gotten his facts straight in explaining why he chose to endorse Barack Obama. It leads one to wonder, was he just uninformed or is he playing a political game? Personally, I find it incredibly hard to believe that Colin Powell is ignorant and uninformed about either of the candidates’ campaigns. That only leaves one very disappointing option; a genuine American hero is participating in a political game to further mischaracterize not only John McCain and his campaign, but the entire race for the White House. It saddens me that a man I once had immense respect for is sinking to the level of attempting to confuse voters by jumbling the facts. I know Colin Powell is smart enough and aware enough to solidly explain his true intentions for supporting Barack Obama. Therefore it’s very disappointing that he’s chosen to instead rely on misleading statements and outright falsehoods.
As always, I’m fine with whoever anyone wants to support, so long as that support is based on research and solid fact. When that support is instead based on mendacious ephemera, I have a hard time understanding or respecting it.