Yeah, he did say that before ... I wonder if his mind will change. Minds have a way of doing that, you know.
Some minds don't. The term "diehard" will always have its use. But some do...and I think Bob is probably one of them, in spite of his self modifications with Super Glue. Or "gloo," or however it's spelled.
I don't think Powell's endorsement will have any other purpose than to have other Republicans "come out of the closet" and 'fess up their support for Obama. Expect more.
Elsewhere I listed conservative newspapers, pundits, and politicians that have endorsed Obama. Powell's endorsement comes on the heels of the endorsements of the conservative Chicago Tribune and L.A. Times (of which the latter I forgot to list). These, along with Christopher Buckley's endorsement, all came within a week of this one. This suggest a tipping point might have been reached.
I note too that the Houston Chronicle, Texas's largest daily, announced yesterday that they're endorsing Obama. They supported Bush in 2004. The third largest paper in Texas, The San Antonio Express-News, has also endorsed Obama. They also supported Bush in 2004. To be fair, the Dallas Morning News today endorsed McCain. Yet it does indeed seem that Texas has been messed with.
While not a conservative in any sense other than his anti-Islamic neo-con leanings, polemicist Christopher Hitchens endorsed Obama last week. What is odd about this is that Hitchens is extremely hawkish regarding Iraq, and one might've thought he'd have gone for McCain. Hitchens, however, describes Palin as "a national disgrace." Of McCain and Palin he further writes with his characteristically beautiful, but vicious, eloquence:
"But the difference in character and temperament [Between Obama and McCain]
has become plainer by the day, and there is no decent way of avoiding the fact. Last week's so-called town-hall event showed Sen. John McCain to be someone suffering from an increasingly obvious and embarrassing deficit, both cognitive and physical. And the only public events that have so far featured his absurd choice of running mate have shown her to be a deceiving and unscrupulous woman utterly unversed in any of the needful political discourses but easily trained to utter preposterous lies and to appeal to the basest element of her audience."
So those from which we expected the least have done the most surprising of things. The underdog in this race is not who we would have thought it would be four years ago, and certainly not twenty or more years ago.
The zeitgeist has shifted permanently, no matter the outcome.
Regards,
Steve