Powell slams McCain's negativity, Rep. Bachmann, calling Obama a "socialist," etc.

Question: Sir, what role did McCain's negativity play in your decision, the negative tone of the campaign?

Powell: It troubled me. You know, we have two wars, we have economic problems, we have health problems, we have education problems, we have infrastructure problems, we have problems around the world with our allies. And so, those are the problems the American people wanted to hear about, not about Mr. Ayers, not about who's a Muslim and who's not a Muslim. Those kinds of images going out on Al Jazeera are killing us around the world. And we have got to say to the world, it doesn't make any difference who you are or what you are, if you're an American you're an American.

More after the "flip"

And this business of, for example, a congresswoman from Minnesota, who's going around saying, let's examine all congressmen to who's pro-America or not pro-America, we have got to stop this kind of nonsense, pull ourselves together, and realize that our great strength is in our unity and in our diversity. And so, that really was driving me.  And to focus on people like Mr. Ayers, these trivial issues, for the purpose of suggesting that somehow Mr. Obama might have some terrorist inclinations, I thought that was over the top, that was beyond just good political fighting back and forth. I think it went beyond.

And this sort of...throw in this little Muslim connection - you know, he's a Muslim and my goodness he's a terrorist - and it was taking root. And we can't judge our people and we can't hold our elections on that kind of basis. And so, yes, that kind of negativity troubled me, the constant shifting of the argument.

I was troubled a couple of weeks ago when, in the middle of the crisis, the campaign said "we're gonna go negative," and they announced it, "we're gonna go negative and attack his character through Bill Ayers."  And now, I guess the message this week is "we're gonna call him a socialist, Mr. Obama's now a socialist, because he dares to suggest that maybe we look at the tax structure that we have."

Taxes are always a redistribution of money.  Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who pay them in roads and airports, hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good, and there's nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more, who should be paying less. And for us to say that that makes you a socialist I think is an unfortunate characterization that isn't accurate.

And, I don't want my taxes raised, I don't want anybody else's taxes raised. But I also want to see our infrastructure fixed, I don't want to have a $12 trillion national debt, and I don't want to see an annual deficit that's over $500 billion heading towards a trillion. So how do we deal with all of this?

Question: Are you still a Republican?

Powell: Yes.

Comments