Powell is a moderate Republican and he said he was troubled by the drift to the right of the Republican Party. I agree that it has gone too far to the right, and I think that is a problem for a lot of moderate Republicans. Powell described almost exactly the same misgivings I have about McCain.

He said he would be concerned about any more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court.

He also said he was very troubled about the kind of campaign McCain is running --- the focus on Ayers, the xenophobia, trying to label Obama as "socialist." He was very put off by that, and I think a lot of moderate Republicans are offended by it too. He said that the strategy was very "narrow" and divisive and what the country needs is a much broader and inclusive way of dealing with things.

He said he watched the two candidates and how they handled the financial crisis and he found McCain lacking. McCain seemed to him to be constatntly shifting his response every day with a new idea, while Obama was much steadier.

I thought the Meet the Press transcript was interesting and I saw a short interview on CNN that was also interesting. I think Powell gave voice to the frustrations of many moderate Republicans. His point if view is a very moderate one, and you could tell that his support for Obama is not coming from a strongly partisan perspective. So often all the voices you hear are from partisan hacks who try to spin everything into a positive for their own candidate or a negative for the opposition, and this was a much more thoughtful, reasaoned and nuanced point of view.

The ironic thing to me is that I always thought of McCain as being a moderate Republican, but he has shifted so far to the right and he has adopted so many dishonorable, nasty, partisan, hate-mongering tactics, that I don't think of him as moderate at all anymore. I used to think of McCain as someone who could reach across the aisle, but he is burning down all those bridges with how he is campaigning. Powell did a great job of describing that same frustration I feel with McCain.
dragonrider Reviewed by dragonrider on . Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama Colin Powell endorsed Obama for president. It was a wonderful interview. I have always respected Colin Powell. Perhaps this is the October surprise everyones talking about. Oct. 19: Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell (Ret.), Chuck Todd, political roundtable - Meet the Press, online at MSNBC - MSNBC.com Rating: 5