Go Colin Powell! Now Muzzle Limbaugh and Cheney

Go get 'em, General Powell.

After months of ignoring Rush Limbaugh's attacks stating that he should leave the Republican party, Powell finally responded yesterday in a speech in Boston:"Rush Limbaugh says 'get him out of the Republican Party' and Dick Cheney says 'he's already out,' " Powell said, according to the The Boston Herald. "I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there's another version of the Republican Party getting ready to emerge again."

Powell had previously disregarded insulting comments by Cheney, who claimed Limbaugh is better for the GOP than Powell.

As I have written before, Cheney's claim that Rush Limbaugh and his 19 percent approval rating is better for Republicans than Colin Powell and his 79 percent approval rating is misguided at best and stupid at worst.

We are already at an all-time low of 21 percent of Americans identifying themselves as Republicans. We need to get MORE people to the party, not less. Sheesh.

And Rush went tit-for-tat on his radio show Wednesday, saying, "And now there's an agenda, an emerging agenda that he's waiting for, for the Republican Party? 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."

Attention Rush: JUST. STOP. ALREADY.

Colin Powell is one of the few shining stars in our party. He's a four-star general beloved by Americans across the spectrum. Wherever he goes, people love him.

Speaking as a conservative Republican, I believe Powell is one of the people who can bring us back in power. We need moderates like Powell to reach outside of our base and get us out of this hole we are in, namely a loss of the Republican White House and majority in Congress.

We also need conservatives, moderates, independents, and libertarians. Whoever wants to vote Republican, we welcome you to the team. We can build an agenda that stays true to our essential values AND elects Republicans. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Rush, one more thing. You said today that Powell's "version of the party that he's waiting to emerge is not the Reagan wing of the party."

Reagan is the CREATOR of the Big Tent Republican Party. He got us back into the White House by getting all those "Reagan Democrats" to vote for him. These are the same people you now say do not have a place in the party.

I, for one, do not want another 40 years of a Democrat-controlled Congress or another eight years of a Democrat in the White House. The only way to get back on our feet is to return to Reagan's ability to reach across party lines to show the GOP agenda is best for America.