I shouldn't be surprised. It only took two minutes for some Republicans to mention race after Gen. Colin Powell's amazing announcement this morning. Clearly in an attempt to discredit a potentially harmful endorsement, Radiocon Rush Limbaugh and columnist George Will drew the same conclusion.
This is from the Huffington Post:
Colin Powell's decision to endorse Barack Obama has sparked a mini-debate of sorts over both the significance of the endorsement itself and the role that race has and will play during this campaign.
In the immediate aftermath of his appearance on Meet The Press, several prominent GOP officials - ranging from the established to the extreme - defined the announcement more by skin color than ideology.
The most crass interpretation came from talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who wrote the Politico's Jonathan Martin the following:
"Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race... OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."
Around the same time, esteemed conservative columnist George Will was also explaining Powell's decision as part of a larger, more psychological sway that Obama held over other African Americans.
There will be "some impact," Will declared. "And I think this adds to my calculation -- this is very hard to measure -- but it seems to me if we had the tools to measure we'd find that Barack Obama gets two votes because he's black for every one he loses because he's black because so much of this country is so eager, a, to feel good about itself by doing this, but more than that to put paid to the whole Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson game of political rhetoric."
(I'm not at all surprised by Limbaugh's assessment; his idiocy knows no bounds; I thought Will, while I don't usually agree with him, knows better.)
Of course, if they bothered to even listen to the statement made by Colin Powell, they wouldn't be able to draw these conclusions. This clearly is a Republican attack to refute the damning things Powell said about McCain's smear campaign, and direct attention away from them. I can hear the Rightcons thinking (or lack of it) now: When you can't argue the facts, let's just bring it back to race, because that's a nice, divisive issue.
If we follow this train of thought the, Mitt Romney endorsed McCain for President. Obviously, the only reason he did it because they are both white. Got it.
Thanks GOP! Go back to the south in the 1930's. You'll be happier, and so will the rest of the country.