Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Republican Party needs to break free from the grip of conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh and forge a more inclusive identity.
Powell responded to comments by Limbaugh urging him to become a Democrat, and by former Vice President Dick Cheney that he had abandoned the party. Powell declared his loyalty to the Republican Party and said he is trying to boost its electoral prospects.
“Rush Limbaugh will not get his wish and Mr. Cheney is ill-informed,” Powell said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” program. “I’m still a Republican.”
Powell said the party must be “more inclusive” to expand its electoral base or risk losses similar to those suffered in the November elections, when Barack Obama won the White House and Democrats seized control of the Senate.
“On almost every demographic indicator the Republican Party is losing,” Powell said. “The Republican Party has to take a hard look at itself and ask, ‘What kind of party are we?’”
Cheney said on “Face the Nation” on May 10 that Powell, 72, “had already left the party” when he endorsed President Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. “I assumed that that is some indication of his loyalty.”
Asked if he would “take Rush Limbaugh over Colin Powell,” Republican Cheney, 68, said, “I would.”
Powell Backs Obama
Limbaugh criticized Powell’s endorsement of Obama, suggesting during his May 6 program that considerations of race had trumped politics. Obama and Powell are black.
“What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat, instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party. He’s not. He’s a full-fledged Democrat,” Limbaugh said, according to a partial transcript of the program on Limbaugh’s official Web site.
“The only reason to endorse Obama is race,” Limbaugh said.
Powell said Limbaugh ignored the reasons that Powell enumerated in his decision to support Obama.
“Mr. Limbaugh saw fit to dismiss all those reasons and put it into a racial context,” Powell said. “That was very unfortunate.”
Powell said Limbaugh holds too much sway over Republican officials, citing recent incidents in which Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was forced to “lay prostrate on the floor and apologize” for criticizing the radio personality.
“He shouldn’t have a veto over what someone thinks,” Powell said.
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