Colin Powell notes "dark vein of intolerance" in GOP

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Colin Powell only seems to make the news these days when he's stating the obvious about the party to which he supposedly still belongs. It's like the media treat him as a lone voice of sanity in an otherwise insane party, providing him with a platform to say what many in the media would no doubt like to say but for various reasons can't or don't want to.

And it was the case again today, with Powell saying this on Meet the Press:

There's also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party. What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is they still sort of look down on minorities.

He went on to identify Sarah Palin and John Sununu as examples, with their various racist comments about President Obama, as well as the whole Birther nonsense, and then provided some advice to the party:

In recent years, there's been a significant shift to the right, and we have seen what that shift has produced: two losing presidential campaigns. I think what the Republican Party needs to do now is take a very hard look at itself and understand that the country has changed. The country is changing demographically. And if the Republican Party does not change along with that demographic, they're going to be in trouble.

Of course it isn't just demographics. Yes, Republicans have been losing the "minority" vote, and the gender gap is also significant, but the problem with the Republicans isn't just that they're too white, and out-of-touch with a demographically changing America, it's that they've embraced an extremist far-right ideology that places them well outside the mainstream of American life.

This doesn't mean they don't, and can't, still win at the polls. Fearmongering and race-baiting and otherwise playing to, and feeding, voters' ignorance often works, and, obviously, they'll remain a relevant and powerful force in America's rigid two-party system. It just means they're becoming increasingly a party of the fringe, and a party "in trouble" electorally.

Tell me again why Powell is still a Republican?