Who Hijacked Our Country

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Colin Powell on Occupy Wall Street

If anyone other than Colin Powell had said this, the Far Right would be pulling their hair out and yelling “Who IS that socialist parasite and why does he hate America?!?”

Colin Powell told CNN:

“I was born in Harlem to immigrant parents, and my parents always had a job.  And so, people are concerned now that there is not that source of an income. There isn’t that work source that I remember.  So, what you’re seeing with ‘Occupy Wall Street’ and the others are people who are unhappy, and they’re directing their unhappiness right now towards Wall Street and towards those they think are doing to well in our society.  And so, demonstrating like this is as American as apple pie. We have been marching up and down and demonstrating throughout our history.”

CNN’s Piers Morgan asked Colin Powell:

“Do you understand the anger particularly towards Wall Street, I think?  What really gets their goat is that a lot of these banks and bankers got bailed out by the taxpayers. The first chance they got, when they got back on their feet, to not give themselves huge bonuses again, they ignored that temptation and put their noses back in the trough.”

Colin Powell:

“…one of the things that is of concern to all of us is that there’s an increasing gap between those who are doing very well and I’m doing well, and those who are not doing as well. And those who are not doing as well are not seeing their lives improving. And so, there’s frustration and angriness there.  And so, it isn’t enough to scream at the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ demonstrators. We need our political system to start reflecting this anger back in to how do we fix it? How do we get the economy going again? How do we get businesses that have a lot of money stacked up, how do we get them to invest that money and create jobs?”

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12 Comments:

Blogger Jim Marquis said...

I love Colin Powell. He seems like a really decent guy and I bet he suffers a lot of regret over the fact he let himself be bullied into helping sell the war in Iraq
in 2002-2003.

November 12, 2011 at 3:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Colin Powell is officially a RINO so don't post him again.

Erik

November 12, 2011 at 4:53 PM  
Blogger BadTux said...

Colin Powell reminds me of Dwight D. Eisenhower, another intelligent fundamentally conservative man who nevertheless was no ideologue. His behavior in selling the war in Iraq, and, earlier, as a young officer, helping cover up the My Lai massacre, was alas typical of the military mindset, in which obeying the chain of command is sacrosanct as well as necessary (otherwise you wouldn't have a military, you'd have an armed rabble).

The fact that modern-day Republicans would consider Dwight D. Eisenhower to be a "RINO" is not surprising. Heck, if Ronald Reagan himself came back to life and tried to run for office as a Republican he'd be drummed out of the party lickity split. I mean, he gave amnesty to illegals, for cryin' out loud! Which is why the long-term destiny for the Republican Party, as they pursue their current course of ideological purity at all costs, is the same as the long-term destiny of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union -- when ideology is placed before pragmatism, the end result is never long-term success.

BTW, to answer Colin's question, "how do we get them to invest that money and create jobs?", they're investing the money and creating millions of jobs already -- in China. Same reason why Bernanke can't affect employment in America by printing money -- that would increase employment, yes, but in China, not in America. Perhaps the more important question is this: How did we get into this situation where everything our policymakers try to do only affects employment in China, not in America, and how do we get out of it?

- Badtux the Pragmatic Penguin

November 12, 2011 at 5:42 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

J: I'm sure he regrets having been a Bush-Cheney tool.

Erik: Damn right, he's not a true believer.

BT: Good insights into the military mindset. And yes, Reagan and Eisenhower would both be considered squishy moderate RINOs by today's GOP wackoids.

Also, Erik's comment (the comment prior to yours) was tongue-in-cheek.

November 12, 2011 at 6:05 PM  
Blogger MRMacrum said...

Tongue in cheek huh? Rino's are a blight on the Patriotic faithful of the Right. Making light of them and their traitorous behavior is no laughing matter.

I would say do not post any comment by Erik again.

November 12, 2011 at 6:15 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

MRM: Ja! I haf already received zee memo from Rush and Sean. I vill comply!

November 13, 2011 at 1:07 AM  
Anonymous Omnipotent Poobah said...

"Colin Powell on Occupy Wall Street" If only it said "to" instead.

November 13, 2011 at 12:03 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

OP: LOL, that would be nice, wouldn't it.

November 13, 2011 at 4:38 PM  
Anonymous S.W. Anderson said...

Powell is one of what I believe to be a growing number of decent people who can't bring themselves to become Democrats but are thoroughly disgusted with what Republicans have become. Names like Jeffords, Chafee, Hagel and Baldwin come to mind. John W. Dean checked out a long time ago.

November 13, 2011 at 9:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

S.W.

After reading John Deans book " A conservative with conscience" he is saying what Powell is saying (maybe even to a degree - Buckley) That today's Conservatives and Republicans have lost their way while they still believe in the old values (Dean uses Goldwater as his example.

Erik

November 13, 2011 at 9:24 PM  
Blogger Lisa said...

OWS grabs news headlines for fighting the capitalist pigs in the banking business while giving the capitalist pigs in senate and congress a free ride.

All they are doing is distracting from the Fundamental Transformation of America ongoing at the White House.

November 16, 2011 at 8:53 AM  
Blogger BadTux said...

Which fundamental transformation is that? The one where Barack Hussein Obama transforms America into a Communist sharia state? LOL!

Obama is fundamentally an Eisenhower conservative. People who expect anything out of him other than what Eisenhower would do are either deluding themselves or are hysteria-mongering. Eisenhower had no problem with taxes on the rich, Social Security, or massive infrastructure spending (the Interstate Highway System was begun on his watch, remember?), but Ike also spiked Harry S. Truman's single-payer health insurance proposal. Hmm, sound familiar?

- Badtux the Historical Perspective Penguin

November 16, 2011 at 10:04 AM  

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