Colin Powell - Too Busy to Go to the Republican Convention?

Colin Powell  -  Too Busy to Go to the Republican Convention?
 Or Just tired of being a GOP stage prop and not getting any props?
Probably rounding out his last months as a prominent public servant, Powell has declared he is obliged as secretary of state not to engage in "parochial debate." That is he will not attend the Republican Convention next month. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said last week that "on White House instruction, Secretary Powell as well as others among the Cabinet, will not attend" the Republican convention, which opens Aug. 30 in New York City. "This is in keeping with past practice," he said. And so it is, so far as secretaries of state are concerned. But being in Bush's Cabinet does not automatically disqualify officers from campaigning. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans will attend the convention and Education Secretary Rod Paige is scheduled to speak at the convention. Also Treasury Secretary John Snow is campaigning for the president in states where the contest is close. [more ]

• Pictured above: Colin Powell at the 2000 Republican Convention (8/2/2000). A hushed audience heard Gen Powell declare the following:
  
• "The party must follow the governor's lead in reaching out to minority communities and particularly the African-American community, and not just during an election year campaign. My friends, if we're serious about this, it has to be a sustained effort. It must be every day and it must be for real.
  
• The party must listen to and speak with all leaders of the black community, regardless of political affiliation or philosophy. We must understand, my friends, we must understand that there's a problem for us out there. We must understand the cynicism that exists in the black community. The kind of cynicism that has created, when, for example, some in our party miss no opportunity to roundly and loudly condemn Affirmative Action that helped a few thousand black kids get an education, but you hardly hear a whimper when it's Affirmative Action for lobbyists who load our federal tax code with preferences for special interest. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. You can't make that case.
  
• Overcoming the cynicism and mistrust that exists and raising up that mantle of Lincoln's about more--it's much more about than just winning votes. It is about giving all minorities a competitive choice. They deserve that choice. And if we give them that choice, it will be good for our party, but above all, it will be good for America, and we need to work to give them that choice." [whole speech ]
• Colin Powell attacks own party on race [more ]