(CNN) — The Republican party must stop "shouting at the world" and start listening to minority groups if it is to win elections in the 21st century, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.
In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria for Sunday's "GPS" program, President Bush's former secretary of state said his party's attempt "to use polarization for political advantage" backfired last month.
"I think the party has to take a hard look at itself," Powell said in the interview, which was taped Wednesday. "There is nothing wrong with being conservative. There is nothing wrong with having socially conservative views — I don't object to that. But if the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities. In another 20 years, the majority in this country will be the minority."
Powell, who crossed party lines and endorsed President-elect Barack Obama just weeks before the election, said the GOP must see what is in the "hearts and minds" of African-American, Hispanic and Asian voters "and not just try to influence them by… the principles and dogma."
"I think the party has to stop shouting at the world and at the country,"Powell said. "I think that the party has to take a hard look at itself, and I've talked to a number of leaders in recent weeks and they understand that." Powell, who says he still considers himself a Republican, said his party should also stop listening to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
"Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?" Powell asked. "Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?"
Zakaria's full interview with Powell will air Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on CNN.
Mr. Powell what Republican better embodied your brand of moderate non-confrontational "reach-across-the-aisle Republicanism" than John McCain?
The fact is that RINO's like you got exactly the candidate that you wanted in McCain. John McCain was the "only Republican candidate who could win", at least that is what you spent the last four years telling anyone who would listen.
Well we all saw how that worked out didn't we?
The only reason that McCain's four point loss wasn't a 14 point loss was the presence of genuine conservative Sarah Palin on the ticket.
Mr. Powell are you and your fellow RINO's so stupid, so blind, so caught up in your delusions that you can't open your eyes and see simple reality. We tried it your way and we got exactly what your way will always bring - defeat.
When you were at West Point or the War College did they teach you to repeat losing strategies over and over again in the forlorn hope that they would somehow become winners?
Mr. Powell if you can't stand to be in the same political party as people like Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, the memory of Ronald Reagan (and myself, bty) then leave it and become a Democrat.
Become a Democrat and attempt to use your influence to drag that party back from the lunatic fringe of extreme leftism where it finds itself now.
And what is it exactly that is "in the hearts and minds of African-American, Hispanic and Asian voters"?
Asians want an end to affirmative action in college admissions so that their children stop losing places to less qualified black, Hispanic and white applicants. I stand behind them 100% in this. If the student bodies of Stanford and Berkley and Harvard and other elite schools become 98% Asian it will give the rest of us a wakeup call and cause us to see to our own childrens' education.
Hispanics want unlimited immigration from south of the border and amnesty and easy citizenship for those illegals already here. That would have the effect of turning America into a virtual carbon-copy of Mexico. Is that what you really want Gen. Powell? Really?
And blacks seem to want (on issues not involving race) many of the same things that real Republicans want. Things like school choice and no gay "marriage". It's just that they have been brainwashed to believe that all Republicans are genocidal racists who want to send them back to the cotton patch in chains.
Well, Mr. Powell, the fact that you are at least nominally a Republican seems to argue that you don't buy into that fantasy so why don't you use your influence with your fellow African-Americans to educate them about the fact that the only form of slavery in force in America today is the enslavement of those who depend upon some form of government handout.
Oh, wait. If you did that you might not get asked to all the right Gerogetown cocktail parties and you might get so many interview requests from the mainstream media, at least not for friendly interviews.
Never mind.
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