Did Obama Promise Powell An Appointment In Exchange For An Endorsement?

• October 23, 2008

Right after Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama, The One was gushing about the importance of the endorsement and said that Powell could have a place in his cabinet if he wanted it.

WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says that former secretary of state Colin Powell is welcome to campaign for him and might have a place in his administration.
Powell crossed party lines Sunday and endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Obama told NBC’s “Today” show Monday that Powell “will have a role as one of my advisers.” Whether Powell wants to take a formal role, Obama said, would be “something we’d have to discuss.

It should be noted that exchanging federal appointments for political endorsements is expressly illegal:

US Code TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 29 > 599.
Promise of appointment by candidate
Whoever, being a candidate, directly or indirectly promises or pledges the appointment, or the use of his influence or support for the appointment of any person to any public or private position or employment, for the purpose of procuring support in his candidacy shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Of course, these sort of quid pro quo arrangements are impossible to prove in court (who’s going to talk, Obama? Powell?), it’s a scenario to keep in mind as Powell’s endorsement of Obama is considered.

Tags: Politics

http://Array Hannitized

Hahaha! Rob cracks me up.

Only a desperate hack who prefers fantasy and denial over reality could come up with such a ridiculous notion.

Certainly Colin Powell’s well thought out and logical decision making analysis was too much for Rob’s brain to contemplate. So instead he made shit up.

I would advise Rob and his idiot sheep to watch the You-Tube video of Powell explaining in detail why he chose Obama over McCain.

He thoroughly backhanded the conservatives of the far right that are ruining the party. It is guys like Powell who pulled me to the center. And if more guys were like him existed and less guys like Rob I would probably jump parties.
dannyboy

One would have to be a fool to not want Colin Powell in the cabinet. See current administration.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Hey look, even NPR think’s it was â€˜devastating’ for the GOP.

Ja. LOTS of conservatives over at NPR. Can you say: “Wishful thinking on parade”?
What a maroon!
Bat One

Being labeled a liar by a “progressive” is like being called mean by your 12 year old kid. Responsible adults relish the notion that they are doing their job as parents properly.
Bat One

Hairy,

Actually, its always a good thing to take advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate to the “progressive” adolescents the civility and proper protocol for apologizing for an error. Heaven knows, they are sorely in need of an adult example.
Mickey

I’m not convinced that Powells opinion carrys that much weight with the public. Is his endorsement any more valuable than Joe Lieberman’s endorsement of McCain? Granted the press will build it up but they all think Barrys poop is ice cream so what’s new. If the left studied history they would remember Powell’s participation in the coverup of the My Lai Massacre. But then again the truth isn’t important to a loon and that was during a time when home grown terrorists bombed the Pentagon and now they are considered patriots.
Hannitized

Powell had delivered a devastating blow to the conservative party.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Words of a “devastated” conservative:

Address that argument to cowards and to knaves; with the free and the brave it will effect nothing. It may be true; if it must, let it…The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just…Let none falter, who thinks he is right, and we may succeed. But if after all, we shall fail, be it so.

-A. Lincoln
Bat One

You thought Clinton was stuck with him and couldn’t be replaced, therefore I was misleading.

E,

Once again I remind you that you are not qualified to tell me what I think. Not even close. My point wasn’t that Clinton couldn’t have replaced Powell had he wished to do so. But the fact that he did not is certainly no endorsement of Powell in any case.

As for Clinton, his contempt for the military, starting with his infamous letter to Col. Holmes in 1969 (“I loathe the military.”) right up to and including his White House years (see here!) is well documented, both officially and anecdotally.

Besides, Clinton, a shrewd politician if not much of a President, took great pleasure in being labeled “America’s First Black President.” For that reason alone he would not have dared fire the highest ranking black military officer in our nation’s history. And Powell, a consummate politician himself, knew it. Read his book.

The fact that Clinton didn’t replace Powell is hardly much of a commendation or endorsement of either man.
Hannitized

Was Joe Lieberman’s endorsement of McCain “devastating” to the liberal party?

McCain thought it was. It is why he kept parading Lieberman around, thinking it was impressing moderates and undecideds, and perhaps it had?

And of course, Colin Powell is a much more significant player than Joe Lieberman, you would think you could recognize it, but were talking about you here, not someone who is intellectually honest.

Lieberman switched parties because he cared about one thing, protecting Isreal and fighting his precious war in Iraq. Colin Powell named several reasons why he is supporting Obama over McCain and every single reason was well thought out and valid.

You are a real partisan bore Poofy.
welder4

for those interested : Cabal
A plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act(especially a political plot)

as a verb : engage in plotting or enter into a conspiracy,swear together

A clique(often secret) that seeks power through intrigue
Mickey

He’s only a guy people were at one time talking about possibly becoming the first black president. War hero. An obvious outsider to the Bush/Cheney/Rove cabal.

Dannyboy,
More Blacks have appointments in Bush’s administration than under any other presidents. Factually speaking, more Blacks were incarcerated under Democrat Clinton than any other president. And third, do you even know the definition of the word “cabal”? Without a dictionary, I doubt it.
http://www.wethepeopleforum.com/forum/forums.asp golfmann

Did Obama Promise Powell An Appointment In Exchange For An Endorsement?

He’s gotta win first….
dannyboy

Wait, I thought a few days ago, you said that Powell endorsed Obama because he’s black. Now, it’s because he was paid off? Or is it both?
Bat One

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until September 1993.

More than a little misleading. Powell was appointed JCS Chairman by GHW Bush in 1989. By law, the position is a four year tour of duty.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

One would have to be a fool to not want Colin Powell in the cabinet.

Remind us again what part he played in the Clinton Administration…I forget!
Bat One

Hairy,

My apologies. I was wrong and I stand corrected.

But then, you’ve rather proved my point too by correcting me. For if the tour of duty as JCS Chairman is 2 years, then Powell was appointed twice by GHW Bush, in 1989 and again in 1991, well before Clinton was elected to office.

Powell has always been far more the politician than the warrior anyway, and Clinton’s disdain for the military remains intact.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Powell had delivered a devastating blow to the conservative party.

Devastating? As in: The marshmallow bouncing off the elephant’s back was devastating?

Was Joe Lieberman’s endorsement of McCain “devastating” to the liberal party?

Heh. You’re such a funny little man! Your diminutive point of view is duly noted. But, most conservatives haven’t given two thoughts to Powell in years, much less being “devastated” by his defection.

Or is “devastated” simply another one of those words you do not know and cannot comprehend even after you look them up?
http://www.thedailyslant.com/ Hairy Polemic

Bat,

I wasn’t arguing with you. Someone asked for the law, so I looked it up. And you’re right, those were his appointment dates.
mdmdc

Where exactly did you get that there was a quid pro quo? Certainly not from anything you quoted above. Nice insinuation.
Hannitized

Well, well! Once again H shows up and the first comment he offers is an insult to his host, Rob. Gettin’ pretty predictable, kid!

I didn’t insult Rob, it was his own remarks that condemned him. You can’t blame me for recognizing a reality.

Do you care to take issue with my argument? Certainly not, because you know I am right on the money.
http://www.thedailyslant.com/ Hairy Polemic

Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are appointed in 2 year increments. 10 USC Â§ 152.

If you take a look at that code, you’ll find that the position is more or less symbolic, and carries no major military responsibility. It’s like the armed forces’ Human Resources department.
dannyboy

More Blacks have appointments in Bush’s administration than under any other presidents. Factually speaking, more Blacks were incarcerated under Democrat Clinton than any other president.

Besides being completely unrelated to what I wrote, totally baseless without links.

And third, do you even know the definition of the word “cabal”? Without a dictionary, I doubt it.

Apparently you need me to tell you the definition. A cabal is a group of conspirators, in this case with the aim or tearing down American government, instituting religious hegemony, and lining the pockets of their friends in the oil and military industries.

I’ll wait while you look up “hegemony.”
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

For all the good it will do me, here goes: devastated

1. to lay waste; render desolate: The invaders devastated the city.
2. to overwhelm.

And while I have no doubt that you may be “wasted”, speaking as a conservative, no one I know is devastated.

You SUCK at reading comprehension.

Hannitized’s biography in five words.
tothestars2

Rob, “if” he wins, and after his coronation, I don’t think laws are really going to matter to the “one”. And just wait and see how fast his adoring media turns on him when the “one” attacks the first ammendment. I think, the next step is to get rid of the second ammendment, clearing the way to rid the land of people, like those 3,000 that just signed some silly piece of paper for that guy he thinks he might know, what’s his name, Ayers? At least that’s the pattern all dictators in the past have taken.
Hawk

Le Twit: I forgive you for your ADD, the comment I was responding to was, after all, three whole minutes before mine. I can hardly hold you accountable for keeping your train of thought that long!

So somebody answers the question you pose and they are the twit?
pparets

hannitized:

It is guys like Powell who pulled me to the center.

One can only imagine what you must have been before that epiphany, if where you are now is your ‘center’.
Lestat

Exactly what point are you struggling to make here. That a JCS Chairman serves at the pleasure of the president? That wasn’t overlooked. Its a given. The president, however contemptuous he may be of the military, is still the Commander-in-Chief.

Bullshit. If you knew he served at the pleasure of the President than your whole first post made no sense. You said I was misleading by saying that Powell served in the Clinton administration. Your point being that he served a four year term and was appointed by Bush. You thought Clinton was stuck with him and couldn’t be replaced, therefore I was misleading. But since Clinton could of replaced him at any time, it wasn’t mesleading, it was true.
dannyboy

Lie #1:

Powell has always been far more the politician than the warrior anyway,

Lie #2:

and Clinton’s disdain for the military remains intact.
Bat One

Welder4,

Like Obama, Powell has often been regarded as a “transformative” figure, though in fairness to General Powell, he has never promoted himself as such, and certainly not as shamelessly or dishonestly as has Barack Obama.

But you raise an interesting point. If Powell is viewed by the white majority general public as another black man, however prominent, endorsing Obama, all that transformative, “post racial” stuff goes right out the window. Powell’s endorsement isn’t going to sway many voters to choose Obama, so much as it will diminish Powell’s own standing.
Hannitized

Hey look, even NPR think’s it was ‘devastating’ for the GOP.

Great minds!

Read it!!

Listen to it: Mickey Edwards former Republican Congressman, talks about the devastating endorsement.

Op-Ed: Powell Endorsement ‘Devastating’ For GOP

Talk of the Nation, October 20, 2008 Â· Former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards says Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama is just the latest in a long series of repudiations of the GOP. In a post on Politico.com, Edwards says he’s “shocked by the disgust” prominent Republicans are showing for their own party.

What a surprise that Poofy just doesn’t get it.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

McCain is a Republican and he thinks Lieberman’s endorsement is devastating to the liberals.

You read his mind? Or you can link to where he said it?
Hannitized

False equivalence, troll. Did any liberals think it was “devastating”? That would be equivalent.

Uh…I don’t think so sonny boy. I am a Democrat and I said I think Colin Powell’s endorsement was devastating to the conservatives.

McCain is a Republican and he thinks Lieberman’s endorsement is devastating to the liberals. It is exactly the correct equivalence.

The argument was that Powells endorsement was devastating to the conservatives, because independents and moderates will be effected by these types of endorsements. I know that it is devastating to a party when that happens.

Somehow you got it in your head that I suggested that this means conservatives will be changing their votes? You are a bigger idiot than I already thought you were, troll.
Bat One

Lestat,

Exactly what point are you struggling to make here. That a JCS Chairman serves at the pleasure of the president? That wasn’t overlooked. Its a given. The president, however contemptuous he may be of the military, is still the Commander-in-Chief.

But the statutory authority to reassign flag officers was in place long before Bill Clinton took office, and the fact that he was too busy renting out the Lincoln bedroom to bother with the JCS Chairman he inherited is hardly much of an endorsement of either Powell or Clinton.
Lestat

You are pathetic Rob. Obama clearly states that they haven’t discussed a former role in his administration and you speculate that a position has been offered for the endorsement.

First you say it was because of race and now you change that it was for a position. Get your stories straight.

But of course you won’t, you have turned this blog into an Obama smear site.
welder4

Powell’s endorsement will carry no weight as he is black and it was expected he would any way. by the way I am not a racist. I would have voted for Powell for president at one time but now that he has shown he has no logic about him I would not now . to endorse a communist is not logical in a free land.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

So somebody answers the question you pose and they are the twit?

Squawk: If he had been bright enough to discern the immediate context, he might have answered the question as it was intended.

If you were a little brighter, you might have seen that as well. Oh, well…I can always “hope” that you’ll “change”!

But, thanks for trying to provide cover for your fellow travelers!
Hannitized

One can only imagine what you must have been before that epiphany, if where you are now is your â€˜center’.

It was Powell and Blair who sold me on the Iraq war. When I saw how Powell was treated and how he truly thought vs. how he was being told to think, it made me appreciate him more.

Anyone can be wrong, and if more people were wrong like Powell and could make the conscious effort to recognize his failure, we would be a better country. The Bush administration lacks the credibility to display the sort of character Powell demonstrates.

I think right has moved so far right, they have lost sight of what the center was and is.
Lestat

By law, the position is a four year tour of duty.

Really?

Do you want to quote the law to me?

I’m guessing that is not true.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Remind us again what part he played in the Clinton Administration…I forget!

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until September 1993.

We forgive you for forgetting, you are old.

Le Twit: I forgive you for your ADD, the comment I was responding to was, after all, three whole minutes before mine. I can hardly hold you accountable for keeping your train of thought that long!

One would have to be a fool to not want Colin Powell in the cabinet.

The question was about Clinton’s cabinet. Let me restate my question so that not only rational adults, but dim witted twits can understand:

Remind us again which cabinet position Powell held in the Clinton Administration, since he would be a fool not to want him there? …I forget!

No, wait! It was George Bush that appointed him Secretary of State! (A cabinet level office for those of you with ADD!) So, by his own standards, according to dhimmiboy, George Bush is no fool, but Clinton is? Strange to hear the truth from such a demented source!
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

McCain thought it was.

False equivalence, troll. Did any liberals think it was “devastating”? That would be equivalent.

Otherwise, it just means you and McCain have more in common than your thought! Heh.

Colin Powell is a much more significant player than Joe Lieberman,

…because he ran as the Democratic party Vice Presidential nominee along with Al Gore? Oh, wait! That wasn’t Powell! My bad!
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Somehow you got it in your head that I suggested that this means conservatives will be changing their votes?

Never said it. Never thought it. You are an epic failure at reading minds (among your other failures!)!

I am a Democrat and I said I think Colin Powell’s endorsement was devastating to the conservatives.

It was the “thinking” part you got wrong! If you actually listened to conservatives, you were know that they were not “devastated” in the least. Again, is this yet another word that you are totally clueless as to its meaning?

Colin Powell has always been in the center to the left side of the Republican party. I do not believe he has ever claimed to be a “conservative”. Why would a conservative be devastated by his defection?

Go back under your bridge, bumpkin. You know not of what you speak! Let the adults continue the conversation uninterrupted!
Lestat

Remind us again what part he played in the Clinton Administration…I forget!

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until September 1993.

We forgive you for forgetting, you are old.
Lestat

But then, you’ve rather proved my point too by correcting me. For if the tour of duty as JCS Chairman is 2 years, then Powell was appointed twice by GHW Bush, in 1989 and again in 1991, well before Clinton was elected to office.

I’m glad both you and Hairy can read a statute. However you omit the portion where the CJCS serves at the pleasure of the President and can be reassigned. Which means while he has a term limiting the length of service, he can be replaced at any time. Proof was wrong in saying that Powell was not in the Clinton administration.
Bat One

Well, well! Once again H shows up and the first comment he offers is an insult to his host, Rob. Gettin’ pretty predictable, kid!
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

I’ll use your own words: quote: “totally baseless without links.”

Mickey! The lad can barely find the Internet or his arse with both hands! You expect him to be able to link to the nonsense he believes, too?
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/white_folks_greed_runs_a_world_in_ Joel

Keepn’ it n’ Da Hood……
RebTex

Did Obama Promise Powell An Appointment In Exchange For An Endorsement?
.
.
.Is a frog’s butt watertight?!
But buying votes & support is part & parcel of the left’s agenda
Hannitized

If you actually listened to conservatives, you were know that they were not “devastated” in the least. Again, is this yet another word that you are totally clueless as to its meaning?

Again, it’s not what the conservatives think, that is the point. It is the devastating result of having moderates and independents who can be affected by his endorsement.

You SUCK at reading comprehension.

Colin Powell has always been in the center to the left side of the Republican party. I do not believe he has ever claimed to be a “conservative”. Why would a conservative be devastated by his defection?

Sigh! Rinse and repeat.
Mickey

a group of conspirators, in this case with the aim or tearing down American government, instituting religious hegemony, and lining the pockets of their friends in the oil and military industries.

I’ll use your own words: quote: “totally baseless without links.”

Here’s another couple words for you to consider personally: “persecutory delusional disorder”
dannyboy

I’m not convinced that Powells opinion carrys that much weight with the public.

This is not surprising. He’s only a guy people were at one time talking about possibly becoming the first black president. War hero. An obvious outsider to the Bush/Cheney/Rove cabal.

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