Rush Limbaugh strikes back

Rush Strikes Back at 'Turncoat' Colin Powell
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 12:07 PMBy: Phil Brennan

Talk show legend Rush Limbaugh wasted no time in answering Colin Powell after the former secretary of state said on CNN that the Republican Party should stop listening to the radio host.
On Monday, Rush told his 20 million listeners that what Powell was doing was telling the GOP to throw them under the bus.
"I think Powell's premise is all wrong," Rush said. "The Republican Party needs to stop listening to me. Basically, what that means is the Republican Party's gotta throw you overboard. The Republican Party can't win as long as it is defined by people like you and me, those of you in this audience."
Powell is a bit late in telling his party to stop listening to him, Rush said, noting that the party had already stopped listening to him.
"The simple fact of the matter is, folks, what makes this funny to me is that the Republican Party's not listened to me in the last two years," he explained. "And you might even say in matters of policy and so forth, the Republican Party hasn't been listening to me for the last six years.
"And you might even say that the Republican Party is in the situation it's in precisely because of the people like Colin Powell and John McCain and others who have devised this new definition and identity of the party which is responsible for electing Democrats all over this country."
After recalling that Powell voted for Barack Obama, Rush charged that the Bush's administration's first secretary of state was upset because he said that Powell's endorsement of Obama was about race, and he is not supposed to say those things. "These things are supposed to go unsaid," Rush said
Rush also took aim at GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.
"The Republican Party nominated Powell's perfect candidate. The guy's going after moderates, independents, Democrats, a guy who is not conservative at all, McCain, didn't stand up for much conservative [principles], and he's out there now saying he won't support Palin if she seeks the presidency again, or he might not."
Turning back to Powell, Rush said that Powell "insists that conservatives and Republicans support candidates who will appeal to minorities like I guess McCain who led the effort for amnesty. He insists that conservatives and Republicans move to the center like McCain, who calls himself a maverick for doing so.
"General Powell insists that conservatives and Republicans provide an open tent to different ideas and views, like I guess McCain, who repeatedly trashed Republicans and made nice with Democrats. I mean, their tent's big, they just don't want us in it."
Having been what Rush described as Colin Powell's ideal candidate, after McCain won the GOP at the last moment Powell switched sides.
"Once McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, largely by independents and Democrats voting in Republican primaries, Colin Powell waited 'til the last minute, when it would do the most damage to McCain and the Republicans and endorsed Obama. And when I said it was largely about race, that's what set 'em all off, you're not supposed to say these kinds of things. This is supposed to go unspoken.
"Let me get this straight," Rush said. "The guy who has supported the Republican candidate for president should be thrown out of the party. That would be me. But the guy who bolted and sabotaged the Republican nominee by endorsing the Democrat candidate should stay in and be part of the team that determines what the Republican Party is going to be. The turncoat, General Powell, is the one who the party is gonna listen to? McCain's a moderate. I supported McCain. Powell, who wants a moderate, did not support McCain