I already gave my speculative capsule summary of why Powell won’t endorse either candidate here.

Now the question of “Why have him on MTP then?”

Well, it’s already a fait accompli that the buzz and speculation has made MTP a must-watch program this weekend for both sides, all my handicapping (and everyone else’s) notwithstanding. No matter what he ultimately says, at this point everyone is going to be watching already, just because of the buzz. So Powell is really at complete liberty to say whatever he wants and ironically enough all the buzz has given him the freedom — he’s not to “wasting” the time on MTP — because his words are going to be important no matter what he says. So they’re going to get the ratings no matter what at this point.

My probablisitics work out this way:

No Endorsement: 60%
McCain Endorsement: 25%
Obama Endorsement: 15%

Let’s see what happens!

Powell may be brave in combat, but when it comes to his image and career, he is a coward (just read War and Decision, he and Armitage never went out on a limb, just criticized others and positioned themselves to look good whichever way events played out).

If he endorsed McCain he would be seen as a traitor to the black race, and Powell most certainly cares about his credibility with the black community, far more than he does about his credibility with the military community.

It’s going to be either an Obama endorsement or none at all. Waiting till it looks like Obama will win to endorse him would be a pretty typical cowardly Powell move.

and how we must all come together in crafting realistic and achievable foreign policy in cooperation with our allies. He will say he can and will support either man in setting and carrying out that foreign policy but it can not succeed unless democrats and republicans come together in a return to realism, stability, greater foreign aid, international collaboration, blah, blah, blah…

on the campaign trail.

See this article for the whining-

“A friend and ex-aide said that Gen Powell was extremely “upset” by the “vitriol, bile and prejudice” aimed at Mr Obama on the campaign trail.
“We’ve talked about this and I know it really bothers him and I’d expect him to talk about it,” Col Lawrence Wilkerson, his former chief of staff, told The Telegraph.”

I’ve not read anything that has left me this angry in a while. I think Commodore is right, endorsing Obama would be the final cowardly act of Colin Powell. Bookending his cowardly act in 1991 when advised against taking Saddam out the first time. One has to wonder if Colin Powell should have at least part of the blood of those 3,000 killed on 9/11 on his hands. I certainly think he should.

I only hope that Powell’s son has forewarned McCain and that the campaign has a powerful ad ready to go showing the American people that McCain has literally 100′s of former ambassadors and generals supporting him.

I have some really nasty thoughts running through my head right now. Thoughts I never dreamed I would have in my lifetime.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3221631/Colin-Powell-to-support-Barack-Obama.html

Whatever he says on Meet the Press will be what he feels is the best for him personally, which rules out a McCain endorsement as that isnt good for his buisness now-College Lecturer. He will either endorse Obama, endorse no one and dump on Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld, or endorse Obama and dump on Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld. My guess is number 2 as all those anti-war freeks at his lectures will get off his back and he gets to keep his shiny Bi-partisan appeal label in tact. If he endorses Obama it wont have the effect the left thinks it will, because it is going to come off as a black guy endorsing a black. As do you really think if both of them were white he would endorse Obama?

Or if he does, maybe Obama can hand-craft his speeches and policy a la George W. and Cheney. Anyway, he does what he is told, a good Uncle Tom. Not a free-thinking, nuanced intellect like Obama.

He didn’t believe in the presentation he gave to the UN concerning Iraq’s WMDs, but went along with all of the intelligence manipulation wrought by the Bush Administration. What credibility does this man have anymore? I don’t think anyone on the left cares about this man’s endorsement! It would just stoke the fires of you hot-tempered maniacs about the coming black-radical conspiracy, which is absolutely impossible to achieve in America.

Iraq’s insurgents are now exporting their tactics to Afghanistan. The fact that Afghanistan was not stabilized and this is even a possibility marks the foreign-policy buffoonery that would continue under McCain. And McCain’s “we are all Georgians now” crap undercuts the strategic importance of working with Russia to contain their nukes and fight alongside us against Islamic extremists. His whole “League of Democracies” would invite the worst in other countries (China), who hold all of our debt thanks to you Republicans anyway.

Who cares about Powell, and with God’s help we will be saying the same about McCain after Nov. 4th.

Thanks for your tax dollars! I’m going to sit on my couch for 40-working hours next week then buy Air Jordan’s and Louis Vuitton bags for myself when I’m not sitting.

starts in ten minutes

And Alec Baldwin is right – she does look way hotter than Tina!

when I got to the part where WM said BHO was a “free-thinking, nuanced intellect” (still chuckling). The truth is he took his marching orders (like all good dems) from “The Masta” Richie Daley when he was in Chicago. WM sees BHO the way she wishes he was..not as the same ol Chicago politician/liar he is. Sorry Sister.

A poll back in February asked voters what person or institution would most influence their votes. It turns out that the most influential endorsement would be one from Colin Powell. So whatever you think of Colin Powell, his is the most meaningful endorsement either candidate could receive. His strong endorsement will dominate political coverage today and tomorrow. McCain did not need this.