Why is Colin Powell NOT attending the convention?

[LynneSin]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5660386

I mean, he's the best they have to counter the Obama excitement and yet Colin is staying home for the convention?

Something is up!!

[beyurslf]

1. Jumping ship....

[michigandem2]

3. hey on MTP

tim asked her if she would return if BUSH is re-elected and she didn't say yes..she said she wants to get thru the next couple of months first...do you think that some of the cabinet wants out???

[michigandem2]

4. i meant to add

WHO I was talking about Condoleeza didn't answer yes or no that she would return if the ass was re-elected...

[SemperEadem]

25. cabinet members normally do not attend and speak at the convention

[freetobegay]

2. African Americans not allowed?

[MsUnderstood]

6. Interesting you say that. . .

On Air America, Chuck D (the rapper on the morning show) was saying the repulicans did the calculations and figured out it is better to recruit the anti-black vote than the black vote.

And some guy in the Michigan (where Bush was speaking yesterday) talked about how they need to supress the vote in Detroit while improving the vote in a mostly white community.

I don't know how much more blatant the republicans can thumb their noses at the Black community!

[freetobegay]

9. Trust me they can & will.

[nickinSTL]

8. African-Americans not allowed?

Actually, if Dubya "wins" again, that may be applicable to more than just the convention...

If they're in power, and can further corrupt the process, they won't need to even continue to pretend to court the black vote.

[KurtNYC]

19. He got 100% last time

When he decided to "court the black vote."

Actually it was 100% of the supreme court's black vote. {unfunny, I know}

[XNASA]

5. I think he'll be 'persuaded' to show up.

Then that will be used as an example of the 'love' he has for Bushco.

It's easier to say something is not going to happen, then pretend to make it happen, even though it was planned to happen all along.

[nycmjkfan]

7. Does Anyone

have any idea in Secretary of State's normally go to these? It would make it easier to throw at the GOP, if we could have proof that SOS have attended conventions in the past.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. Secretary of State's normally go to these?

I don't think it's typical for cabinet appointees to speak (though I'm not sure about attendance.) On the other hand, what's the point of attending if you don't speak? Typically, it's elected officials and the like who give the speeches - not appointees.

[barb162]

14. powell is a question mark to me

Powell is a real disappointment; he could have quit the Bushies any time over the last 4 years. The more he speaks out for the Bushies, the less respect he gets here and around the world. I lost just about all respect for him with his UN performance for WMD. Once he found out he was lied to he should have quit. He seems to be against the Rumsfeld people but always goes with them in the end even if reluctantly. He will "cheerlead" but not much, so maybe they don't want him around at the convention.

[newyawker99]

17. Hi barb1622000!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Domass]

23. Hey,

newyawker99, thanks!

Thom

[zbdent]

10. They probably think that his "documents" are forged

and they're afraid that this undocumented black man is not who he says he is.

[Domass]

11. Prolly for security reasons.

If the bad guys succeed in blowing down the convention they'll be someone left to run the country.

Thom

[VOX]

12. "Bad guys?" "Blowing down the convention?" What movie are you watching?

?????????
:wtf:

[tom_paine]

16. He's watching Faux "News"

[newyawker99]

18. Hi Domass!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[goodhue]

15. because he is secretary of state

eom

[goodhue]

20. Aug 6th Washington Post article . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46593-2004Aug6.html

But in keeping with tradition, Cabinet officials do not speak at the conventions -- or other campaign events. So Powell will not appear.

"As secretary of state, I am obliged not to participate in any way, shape, fashion, or form in parochial, political debates. I have to take no sides in the matter," Powell told the Unity: Journalists of Color Convention on Thursday. Powell was a featured speaker at the 2000 convention and even campaigned with Bush.

[MISSDem]

21. The Intelligence Report in Parade magazine in

Sunday's paper said that Condi would be leaving and that Colin Powell and Rumsfeld would follow.

[thisismyboomstick3]

22. Something is up?

Yeah, it's called the chain of command if anything were to happen in NYCRNC he would take the reins.

What do you think, he is going to have a suprise landing on the stage via parachute?

[Snivi Yllom]

24. he's afraid of seeing a 'white's only' sign

;)

[soothsayer]

26. "..most acclaimed man in America.. .damaged [most] by failure of nerve..."

I still adore this paragraph from an article in the Guardian.

The Bush orthodoxy is in shreds 27-May-04

"Washington, just weeks ago in the grip of neoconservative orthodoxy, absolute belief in Bush's inevitability and righteousness, is in the throes of being ripped apart by investigations. Things fall apart: the military, loyal and lumbering, betrayed and embittered; the general in the field, General Sanchez, disgraced and cashiered; the intelligence agencies abused and angry, their retired operatives plying their craft with the press corps, seeping dangerous truths; the press, hesitating and wobbly, investigating its own falsehoods; the neocons, publicly redoubling defence of their hero and deceiver Chalabi, privately squabbling, anxiously awaiting the footsteps of FBI agents; Colin Powell, once the most acclaimed man in America, embarked on an endless quest to restore his reputation, damaged above all by his failure of nerve; everyone in the line of fire motioning toward the chain of command, spiralling upwards and sideways, until the finger pointing in a phalanx is directed at the hollow crown."

On edit: here's the link http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1225600,00.html