The big news the weekend, of course, was the poignant endorsement by Colin Powell of Barack Obama. Powell threw his support behind the Democrat, citing the divisive campaign tactics of Republicans. Powell was specifically moved to endorse Obama by the reaction he had to a photo taken by The New Yorker of a mother morning the loss of her son. The striking fact of the photo is that her son was a Muslim American, born in New Jersey. He gave his life at the age of 20 for his county.

The Powell endorsement; Must see TV:

So what does McCain, an honorable, inclusive man, have to say about Powell’s criticisms? Well, he’s too busy laughing:

McCain dismisses Colin Powell’s criticism
CNN

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain discounted former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s criticism of his economic plans and scoffed at opponent Barack Obama’s promises.

“All I can do is laugh,” the Republican presidential nominee said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in Manchester, New Hampshire.

“We’ve been very consistent about cutting spending, cutting taxes, and the fundamentals of our economic message.”

His Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, has been “all over the place” with his economic proposals, including varying proposals on tax cuts, McCain said.

To see a man as principled as John McCain glide over the Powell endorsement with a chuckle is frankly surprising. I think the Republicans, once they absorb the weight of their coming loss, will find that shackling a man like McCain to the divisive politics of the past eight years was a huge mistake.

The “maverick” McCain claims to be would have had no problem getting Powell to endorse his campaign. But thanks to the right wingers, who think the electorate can be moved by fear, demagoguery and lies, McCain has had to shelf his centrist ways in an attempt to win this election the old-fashioned way.

Before sharing my predictions for the election (which have historically been notoriously inaccurate), I will blog about the honorable man, John McCain, who I believe will be a great casualty of this election. The fact is, McCain would be a great president. I truly regret that he fell prey to George W. Bush’s dirty politics back in 2000. McCain v. Gore? No contest. We would be better off today with two terms of McCain than we have been with Bush (and, ironically, Republicans would have been better off as well).

In the meantime, the right’s flippant reaction to Powell’s sober points is very telling. I know everyone is looking forward to Nov. 4, but I’m looking forward to Nov. 5. The reason being is that’s when you’re going to start hearing the mea culpas. That’s when the Limbaugh’s, the Hannity’s and the McCain’s will finally come forward and admit to the failures many of us see so plainly.

Until that day, this campaign will continue to stink. Try not to stay downwind.