Powell: Palin, Limbaugh Killing GOP

Party needs to embrace minorities and stop 'shouting at the world'

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 12, 2008 4:45 AM CST

(Newser) – The GOP needs to listen more to minorities and less to loudmouths like Rush Limbaugh and polarizing figures like Sarah Palin if it's going to have a future, Colin Powell tells CNN. Powell, who endorsed Barack Obama but still considers himself a Republican, said the party's efforts to win votes by polarizing people have backfired.

"Gov. Palin pushed the party more to the right," Powell said. "I think she had a polarizing effect when she talked about how small town values are good. Well, most of us don't live in small towns. And I was raised in the South Bronx, and there's nothing wrong with my value system." He also slammed Limbaugh for appealing to "our lesser instincts."

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Former Secretary of State Colin Powell delivers a a speech in Seoul, South Korea, last month. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell speaks during a taping of NBC's "Meet the Press" in Washington in October. (AP Photo/Meet The Press )

Radio personality Rush Limbaugh, who Powell says appeals to our lesser instincts,' arrives for a screening of Bernard and Doris at the Time Warner Center in New York. (AP Photo/Gary He, file)

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Colin Powell discusses the future of the Republican Party. (heathr456)

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Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh? 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? - Colin Powell

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Powell: Palin, Limbaugh Killing GOP