can't edit the other one

*there were

Theoretically it will skew the votes towards the conservative side of politics, but then again you may find it has no effect at all. There'll be some similarly arbitrary disagreement between kinds of conservatives which will lead to conflict and complaints about demagogues or whatever.

Anyway, what's wrong with the current system, where only those who give a damn vote? It seems to give fairly balanced results - both parties get a go at the top office every few years.

I don't think his military service is very interesting, but his willingness to obey superiors and accept being consistently sidelined could be a legacy of that (what you call timidity and indecision may well have been respecting the chain of command, even in the party).

I don't think he had any problems with John McCain. It was the move towards the right that happened in the Republican party independently of John McCain (or George Bush). The selection of Sarah Palin scared many people off. I liked her at first but ultimately wasn't impressed. Powell likely knew more about her and her supporters than I.

Good point. And that would have made Sarah Palin President.

You see, that's the problem. Republicans should listen to him. The party is losing voters and it's not because of Powell's popularity among liberals.

I don't think your average Obama supporter has anything bad to say about John McCain, but about the religious right they do. I personally don't want the "teach our religion in science class" crowd in the White House and the way it looked the Republican Party was trying to make that happen.

McCain/Lieberman would have been my dream ticket.

However, I take it many of the crowd who point at RINOs would rather stay pure in their ideology than win elections.

Maybe they could have asked his mother what they thought his chances of living 4 more years would have been.

Funny thing. Conservatives were fearful of Palin's inexperience. Liberals embrace Obama's inexperience. At least she had more political experience than Obama.

As I stated above, anyone as old as McCain whose mother is still alive, I'll give the benefit of the doubt (as I do believe genetics are involved in longevity). Anyway why were people so worried about Palin being president? Since many people feel the US is such a racist country, wouldn't Obama be more of a risk? Does anyone (democrats included) really want Biden to take charge? Seems too many conservatives worried about small variables with small percentages of possible occurrence. The left fueled these concerns, yet disregarded them when they could easily apply to their own candidate as well. The left obeyed the golden rule, "don't smoke/snort your own product", and they won.

Her inexperience was not what scared people off.

Republican voters do not usually think that the US is a racist country.

This is exactly what those liberals in the media wanted us to believe but it was simply not true.  As you said, her inexperience was not what 'scared' people off.  Palin was not one of the 'teach our religion in science class' crowd.  Yet there was more 'froth' & 'fearmongering' in the mainstream media over a successful, devout but tolerant solid citizen governor than there was about the Alinsky-inspired, Ayers-&-Wright-influenced community organizer.  He was idolized, she was ridiculed.  Even then it was 52-48, and I can't imagine her being any worse than Biden has proven to be.

And why does no one ever talk about the existence of a religious left?

Getting back to the OP:

OK. 

Those liberals in the media just want to lecture you. They are still right though.

And Palin's inexperience not being the main reason people voted against her has nothing to do with that.

I agree, yet that has also nothing to do with the fact that Republicans should LISTEN to Colin Powell rather than try to get rid of him and focus on some ideological and fanatical "core" perceived to be the Republican half of the country despite representing less than 20% of the population.

No, but she seemed like she might have been.

The way to 'broaden the appeal' of the party is not to become Democrats but to stand for a point of view, justify and defend it and make the case.  There is a lot of opportunity to do just that because the things currently happening or being proposed are in stark contrast to core conservative principles (which are not 'fanatical', BTW).  In a somewhat bizarre disconnect, people are far happier with Obama as an individual than they are with what he's doing, and there is not simply political opportunity in that.

No, that's exactly how you LIMIT the appeal of the party.

It does matter which point of view the party choose and currently they are choosing a stupid point of view with very little appeal to most.

Then we agree to disagree.  No point in election for simply election's sake.  Unless you're in it for the money.

It was my only concern about her, anything else I either liked or was irrelevant to me. I wasn't concerned about her being a woman, a mother, a gun owner, or some of the other issues her opposition brought up. I knew the left was stoking a religious fear aspect that just was not true. Some fell for it though.

Very true, but apparently they didn't like the left suggesting it over and over, and it intimidated some.

Listen to Powell? What has he ever said? Did he make his concerns known? Did he try he make his position known to the GOP in advance. I know he had some issues with the Bush administration, but the the first thing I hear out of his mouth was "I support Obama". Sorry, I don't think jumping ship fixes anything. If he couldn't use his influence to fix his perceived problems, he doesn't warrant a voice now. Had he made some effort and decided due to irreconcilable, he could have walked away and retained my full respect for him.

Of course one must ask what conservative values does this man have to support perhaps the most liberal presidential candidate in history? Lots of black Republicans abandoned their political principals and voted for Obama, for no other apparent reason than race. Perhaps Powell did the same. If that is the case, the GOP is much better off without him as race should never trump your deepest beliefs.

And he would have had my vote in 96 as well.

I remember him criticising certain Republican positions as early as 2000 before George Bush was elected.

But then I still had television back then.

http://www.wikiality.com/Dick_Cheney