Ever have I viewed Powell as Clinton's matchless grovelling to the black population - he sure as hell didn't earn his ascendancy on the merits, and he is a blot on American history.

Powell certainly did manage to distinguish himself from Malcolm X or MLK quite effectively.

My Lai was nothing aberrational, either with respect to what else happened in Vietnam or as compared to the rest of our Asian Wars. The Phillipines, WWII, Korea Vietnam--they were all full of unspeakable viciousness. Usually Generals just gave orders, rather than murdering people with their side arms, but orders are direct. Here's a ittle excerpt I recently ran across in a fine new book from a fine slightly older book:

“Early in the war, Filipinos shot and cut open the stomach of a U.S. soldier. General Lloyd Wheaton ordered a massacre of civilians in retaliation. In a letter home, a soldier from Kingston, New York, recalled: "Immediately orders were received from General Wheaton to burn the town and kill every native in sight; which was done to a finish. About 1,000 men, women, and children were reported killed. I am probably growing hard-hearted, for I am in my glory when I can sight my gun on some dark skin and pull the trigger.”

Bradley, The Imperial Cruise (2009), Chapter 4 at 104 and note 27, citing Miller, Benevolent Assimilation at 88.

I note that unlike Romans, wolves hold no such view of glory.

Powell speaks very well, and cuts a fine figure in either his uniform or his well-made suits. He is well received in the highest circles. He is also Malcolm Gladwell's cousin.

mistah charley, that's too weird! And unlike all the other lies on the internet, there might be some truth to it. At least per Malcolm himself maybe: http://gladwell.typepad.com/ (see the bio section and, per his instruction, look at his picture!)

But I think Colin's son, formerly of the FCC, is the real prize of the family. I am reminded of that because the DC Circuit gave the internet to Comcast today. So long blogging, hello advertising!

Every time someone mentions Powell I think of General Casey from Mars Attacks!.

"But didn't I always tell you honey, if I just stayed in place and never spoke up, good things are bound to happen."

(Jesus Christ, that flick is thirteen years old!)

Comrade Ochoa considers Gen. Powell "a blot on American history" - that's not a flaw, mi hermano, it's a feature.

And I invite you to expand your view to include Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's appointment by George H.W. Bush to replace Thurgood Marshall. There's a remarkable event.

May the Creative Forces of the Universe stand beside us, and guide us, through the Night with the Light from Above (metaphorically speaking.)

What can I say? cream rises, I guess, or something.

mistah charley:

David Brock in his memoir about his seedy past at the heart of darkness (no obnoxious pun intended) before he became a mostly irrelevant atoner at Media Matters discusses the fun of the Thomas appointment, which he knew from abundant personal knowledge was cynically carried out to make it politically hard for some of those "liberal" bastards in the Senate to oppose the nomination after what happened to Bork. So yes, it was a remarkable event.

I know someone who attended law school in Kansas, and Justice Thomas visited the law school, but Thomas declined to talk about his job as a Justice on the Supreme Court, preferring to talk about something more interesting. I think it might have been golf, but something like that.

The fruit of cynicism is bitter.

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Well Powell had done such a nice job assisting on the My Lai coverup he was naturally the go-to guy for this.