Colin Powell Bites Back at Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh

I've been waiting for this moment.

Ever since Dick Cheney essentially disowned Colin Powell on behalf of the Republican Party -- mostly for his endorsement of Barack Obama during the White House race -- and Rush Limbaugh said Powell should just become a Democrat already and be done with it, I've been wondering when Powell would emerge. Well it seems like now he has, and he isn't stooping quite as low as Cheney or Limbaugh.

Speaking before 1,500 business leaders in Boston -- as well as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen -- Tuesday night, the former Bush administration secretary of state took jabs at the other two men for trying to kick him out from under the GOP tent.

"Rush Limbaugh says, 'Get out of the Republican Party.' Dick Cheney says, 'He's already out.' I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there's another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again," Powell said, according to The Boston Globe.

Powell also called Obama "a transformational figure" who "has met the standard of being president."

Not to be outdone, Lmbaugh fired back on his own show today, saying (h/t Media Matters):

"The only thing emerging here is Colin Powell's ego. Colin Powell represents the stale, the old, the worn-out GOP that never won anything. The party of Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Bill Scranton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and those types of people. Has anybody heard Colin Powell say a single word against Obama's radicalism? Or Pelosi or Reid, for that matter? Maybe he has, but his fawning media sure hasn't reported if he has said it. He supports massive debt, I guess. He supports slashing the military budget, I suppose. He supports federal funding of abortion, I guess. He supports activist judicial nominees. He supports rationalizing private industries -- nationalizing them. He supports all kinds of things even so-called moderate Republicans like him used to oppose. But he's voted for Obama, endorsed him. I just told you what Obama's policies are. He doesn't speak out against them, and yet he's waiting for a GOP to emerge that will include him? They don't like what happened in California, mark my words."

Now, we're not exactly sure what that "version" of the Republican Party is that's just waiting for the right moment to present itself, as Powell mentions. Hopefully it's one that doesn't seem to pride itself on alienating each other -- or acting as if it doesn't need support from anyone besides the believers from the far-right wing. Hopefully it's one that recognizes it needs to change its message tone from one of pure nasty from a bunch of crotchety older guys to one that's more welcoming of new ideas. And here's a concept, wait for it, wait for it ... bring on the women! There are some great women in the Republican Party (i.e. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine) who likely will be received with far less vitriol than guys like Michael Steele are, for example.

And there are moderate Republican voices out there, they're just being drowned out by the louder, more childish ones. Powell for sure isn't the only one waiting to hear more from them.