Patterico's Pontifications

10/18/2021

RIP Colin Powell

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:29 am



CNN:

Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, has died from complications from Covid-19, his family said on Facebook. He was 84.

“General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19,” the Powell family wrote on Facebook, noting he was fully vaccinated.

A source familiar with the matter said Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that suppresses the body’s immune response. Even if fully vaccinated against Covid-19, those who are immunocompromised are at greater risk from the virus.

We will spend the day with people arguing on social media (and, I hope, not here) about the Great Meaning of something everyone already knew: that a vaccinated person with severe comorbidities is far more vulnerable than someone without them. Those who show an understanding of this principle are as likely as not to be launching into diatribes about the Iraq war. Me, I’m working on strategies to stay off social media.

43 Responses to “RIP Colin Powell”

  1. A lot of grave dancing in MAGA World.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  2. May he rest in peace. He lived a long and full life of service to his country.

    nk (1d9030)

  3. A lot of grave dancing in MAGA World.

    It’s not like they ever cared about Karma.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  4. Colin Powell would have been a formidable candidate in 2000 for the GOP. He avoided it because he had a number of issues with the way the GOP was heading, but I think that the party would have been better off had he led in a different direction. Sadly, he was unwilling to do so, possibly because his wife was opposed.

    We were talking in another thread about a Centrist Party. The post-Iraq Colin Powell would have been the type of leader it should seek.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  5. a vaccinated person with severe comorbidities is far more vulnerable than someone without them.

    And other people’s refusal to get vaccinated results in more risk to the vulnerable.

    Radegunda (803a6e)

  6. @5: Such a person relies on herd immunity. Which the “I don’t need it” argument fails to consider.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  7. RIP, but I do worry his passing may strengthen the other -besides becoming sterile- of the “why black people should not vaccinate” rationales along with Hank Aaron’s and Marvin Hagler’s deaths.

    urbanleftbehind (d4e48a)

  8. Colin Powell would have been a formidable candidate in 2000 for the GOP.

    Perhaps, though I’m guessing that he would have taken a lot more votes from John McCain — his fellow American hero and someone else who flaunted his “maverick” status — than he would have from George W. Bush, around whom the GOP establishment seemed to coalesce. And I remember hearing definitively at the time that Powell told friends that he leaning towards a run until Mrs. Powell flatly told them she wanted nothing to do with it, though that of course could be the late general (who excelled at playing the press shrewdly to make them give him the exact coverage he wanted) embellishing for effect.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  9. Me, I’m working on strategies to stay off social media.

    True wisdom and it has the advantage of being simple.

    frosty (f27e97)

  10. I always had a lot of respect for Colin Powell. He was a great and we’re poorer for his loss.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  11. Affirmitive action at its best! See the history of doris miller during world war II. No african-american was allowed to be awarded the congressional medal of honor during both world wars. See what the first black officer to graduate from west point had to put up with before he led the tuskegee air men into battle.

    asset (8b6c79)

  12. I feel bad about his death, although he was at an age where a person is fragile.

    Here’s more about his sickness:

    Powell’s family says he died of complications from COVID, and CNN reports that Powell also had multiple myeloma, described as a cancer of the plasma cells that suppresses the body’s immune system. Powell was fully vaccinated, but immunocompromised people are at elevated risk of the virus.

    That’s all it says.

    Complications sounds like the medical treatment could have made things worse.

    I remember Colin Powell saying he didn;t keep printout f cables in basement – something like that. It seemshe misunderstood – Hillary had newly created them and supplied that to make them unscannable and elimiintae the metadata.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  13. No, Sammy, “complications” are like embolisms due to the damage the virus does to the lungs. Severe Covid attacks the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and brain. Lots of ways to die.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  14. nk (1d9030) — 10/18/2021 @ 9:16 am

    I second that!

    felipe (484255)

  15. nk, felipe.
    I agree.

    Never liked the “you break it, you bought it” school of Middle East relations because in practice it was more like Humpty Dumpty “All the kings horses and all the kings men” but it showed Powells very dignified sense of responsibility and compassion.
    Thank God for blessing us with men like Colin Powell and for peace upon his family

    steveg (e81d76)

  16. Fox News anchor deletes tweet suggesting Powell’s death ‘raises new concerns’ about vaccine efficacy
    ……..
    Roberts’s deleted tweet said “the fact that Colin Powell died from a breakthrough COVID infection raises new concerns about how effective vaccines are long-term.”

    It was met with an immediate backlash online, where plenty of those responding noted that Powell’s age and specific health history put him at a higher risk for COVID-19.
    ………
    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among the 187 million vaccinated Americans, there have been roughly 7,000 breakthrough cases resulting in death, Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine noted. 6,000 of those are over the age of 65, suggesting a breakthrough case leading to death is extremely rare.
    ………

    In a series of follow-up tweets, Roberts explained he’d deleted the tweet because it had been interpreted as being “anti-vax.”

    Uh-huh. Right.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  17. A lot of grave dancing in MAGA World.

    I’m seeing the same from left wingers too. They are calling him a war criminal.

    Mattsky (55d339)

  18. They are calling him a war criminal.

    Tough words from the pro-Saddam crowd.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  19. “For the week that Powell’s death will be discussed, comorbidities will be pushed to the forefront…..only to be locked up in media cold storage once again while they resume demanding the jab for healthy young adults and children.”

    Meanwhile in Chicago:

    NEW: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the city’s Fraternal Order of Police is attempting to “induce an insurrection” by opposing vaccine mandate.”

    That means it’s worse than 9/11, right?

    Obudman (3ad45c)

  20. A great deal of ‘prebunking’ and ‘frontlashing’ at these funerals, eh? Afraid of them getting drone striked?

    “Powell’s age and specific health history put him at a higher risk for COVID-19.”

    Ah, so you only note these relevant clinical factors when you’re personally offended and not when you’re making one-size-fits-all public policy. Real bunch of logical thinkers around here!

    The sophists shall silence their solemnities, you have already proven on all other days that you hold nothing sacred, and there will certainly be no sacred ground respected in kind. He will get the eulogy he deserves and not the one you wish he got. He died as he lived-trusting the experts.

    The ideal time for a Colin Powell would have been as President around, say, 1996, where it’s likely he would have taken a harder line on Osama bin Laden and his sponsors, likely stopping 9/11 and its consequences entirely. His conduct afterward, I’m sad to say, hasn’t been nearly as prevention-focused.

    “A lot of grave dancing in MAGA World.”

    I tell you the truth: He has already received his reward in full. Now let’s all laugh uproariously at the Darwin award for dying of an avoidable disease, because that is, in fact, punching up, instead of when you all laugh at HVAC technicians in Boise for dying of what may or may not have been Covid.

    But seriously, what an irony that his death would be from an actual biological weapon.

    Wellstone's Bulldog (056111)

  21. Seriously, what’s wrong with Donald Trump?

    https://thehill.com/homenews/news/577355-trump-criticizes-media-for-treating-powell-beautifully-in-death

    Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday,” Trump said in a statement.

    Trump referred to Powell as “a classic RINO” referring to the acronym “Republican in name only.”

    “He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!”

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  22. You mean Cadet Bone Spurs? He’s a pig.

    nk (1d9030)

  23. This was a nice comment for Donald Trump. Never forget – he is always right and opponents are always wrong. He never lets that slide.

    Sammy Finkelman (c49738)

  24. Hope that happens to me someday,

    For Trump, it’s always about Trump, first and most. A person has to be willfully blind to overlook something so obvious.

    Radegunda (96c736)

  25. This type of behavior from Trump is what never trump despises, and rightfully so.
    Trump could have said America is a great country. I respect his service, thank his family and may God Bless America and the Powell family, but no.
    Trump being an a$$#ole. I recognize this behavior in myself, so I think I am uniquely qualified to understand how bad this is, how bad this looks.
    At least Trump won”t say “oh, my Twitter was hacked by Russia”, but when the only positive is the lack of another negative…. its time to shut up.

    PS: Demosthenes. THis reminds me. I apologize for being an A$$

    steveg (e81d76)

  26. “You mean Cadet Bone Spurs?”

    Is someone on Senator Richard “Stolen Valor” Blumenthal’s side really going to take this line?

    “what’s wrong with Donald Trump?”

    He gives a fitting final evaluation of a man who wasted the potential of his twilight years on on Cold-War-era institutional turf protection and generalized apologia for the military-industrial complex instead of the national interest.

    A common problem of people who had their chance and blew it…you go back to your old job after failing a once-in-a-lifetime promotion opportunity and all of a sudden it’s THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD and you start raging at the ungrateful peasants who could not recognize your greatness for what it was.

    “Never forget – he is always right and opponents are always wrong.”

    You have less nuance than Trump himself. “Made big mistakes” is generally an implication that he did some good things, but that the path he took later outweighed them.

    “This type of behavior from Trump is what never trump despises, and rightfully so.”

    This type of behavior is what pro-Trump treasures, and rightfully so. If every decision by anyone in the military is forever unquestionable and every reputation must remain unsullied in perpetuity, you end up alienating the military from the rest of the public (which may be part of the lefty cultural aim, to be fair.) We got generals of the calibur of Grant and Sherman because we were able to say generals like Burnside and McClellan were terrible at their jobs.

    Maybe national leaders back then had kinder things to say at their funerals-but those generals also probably had the sense to avoid running into politics for the rest of their miserable lives on the strength of their already-sullied reputations. And military service was common enough back then that rank-and-file soldiers with memories of how the actual fights were conducted would have made Trump’s criticisms seem gentle and indulgent.

    McClellan War College (a27ab8)

  27. And the Troll once again revealing itself to be a garbage that can type.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  28. This type of behavior is what pro-Trump treasures

    Pro-Trump treasures gross self-centeredness and an utter lack of charity toward other human beings.

    The reason that Trump publicly trashes Powell is not about policy. It’s that Powell didn’t revere Trump.

    People who voted for Trump and supported his policies most of the time are now called RINOs and traitors because they didn’t put unconditional, personal loyalty to Trump ahead of duty to the Constitution. Any policy question will always take a back seat to Trump’s voracious ego.

    It isn’t just Trump who puts his ego first. His devotees align their own sense of right and wrong with whatever serves Trump’s desires.

    Radegunda (96c736)

  29. Someone put together a collection of the presidential statements on the passing of Colin Powell.

    https://twitter.com/patdeklotz/status/1450463592105533457?s=21

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  30. It’s hilarious that someone would imagine Trump’s dislike of Powell to be rooted in a superior understanding of defense policy and military strategy, and a deeper compassion for soldiers on the front lines.

    Radegunda (96c736)

  31. Seriously, what’s wrong with Donald Trump?

    Why is anybody surprised?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  32. A lot of grave dancing in MAGA World.

    I’m seeing the same from left wingers too. They are calling him a war criminal.

    Mattsky (55d339) — 10/18/2021 @ 5:56 pm

    The left never supports the military, so it is not a surprise. They would apologize to Japan for Pearl Harbor.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  33. There’s also the little point that Powell voluntarily joined the military adn put himself at risk in the defense of the United States. Trump did everything he could to avoid service. But yeah — Trump is the true patriot, entitled to demean anyone who doesn’t worship at his altar.

    Radegunda (96c736)

  34. R.I.P.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  35. From Obama’s words about Powell: “although he’d be the first to acknowledge that he didn’t get every call right, his actions reflected what he believed was best for America and the people he served.”

    Try to imagine Trump acknowledging that he “didn’t get every call right.” He is congenitally unable to do so — unless it’s to say that what he did wasn’t sufficiently beneficial to himself.

    Radegunda (96c736)

  36. The lack of self-awareness in Trump’s petty screed is glorious: he says that Powell was “always … the first to attack other Republicans.”

    As if Trump wouldn’t do such a thing. As if Trump were offended by attacks on Republicans.

    Radegunda (96c736)

  37. “Never forget – he is always right and opponents are always wrong.”

    You have less nuance than Trump himself. “Made big mistakes” is generally an implication that he did some good things, but that the path he took later outweighed them

    Yes, Trump is not saying he wishes to disagree with what Colin Powell did.

    He knows Powell is regarded highly. He wishes to point out, however, the thing Powell is most criticized for by others and that Powell did not endorse him for president and voted also for Obama (and so was a RINO. He wants his followers to know he hasn’t forgotten that.

    He’s also jealous of the media treatment and obituaries Powell got and wishes to tell everyone he’d like the same. Someday. If Powell can get that despite some criticism, why can’t he?

    Sammy Finkelman (c49738)

  38. If Powell can get that despite some criticism, why can’t he?

    Because Trump is a self-centered cretin who is quick to attack others and unable to show the minimal level of grace that is expected in leaders.

    His devotees love the fact that he is utterly lacking in grace, or even the normal politician’s public show of grace. They love the way he’s always lashing out at someone and demanding praise for himself. Then they whine that it’s so unfair that the elites and the media don’t say nice enough things about him.

    Radegunda (96c736)

  39. He’s also jealous of the media treatment and obituaries Powell got and wishes to tell everyone he’d like the same.

    Trump has done nothing in his life to justify such treatment.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  40. Humans are fearful. Liberals fear damage to the environment and have been known to embrace man-made climate change to fix it. Conservatives fear man-made medicine and have been known embrace disease as an alternative. But the common denominator is fear of things they can’t control.

    DRJ (02d0b8)

  41. Bill Kristol boomed Colin Powell for the 1996 Republican nomination in The Weekly Standard. He claimed Powell would breeze to the GOP nomination and trounce Bill Clinton in the general election.

    The only supporters Powell had were the neocons and some Bush Republicans. Aside from those, there were maybe 10-12 Colin Powell Republicans. Powell would have been a dud in the GOP primaries.

    DN (181662)

  42. Powell would have been a dud in the GOP primaries.

    An assertion that you cannot back up. They picked DOLE, after all.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  43. 42, You can’t back up your own assertion. After writing the article, Kristol said he had no idea what Powell’s policy positions were. A strange, but revealing statement.

    When did Powell ever say anything that would appeal to the GOP base? After declaring he wouldn’t be a candidate in 1996, Powell attacked the GOP congress, sounding like a garden variety Clinton supporter. An individual who told me there were practically no Colin Powell Republicans is a political professional who has worked in several campaigns.

    It’s also my own opinion as a political junkie going back a good many years.

    DN (181662)


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