THE TELEGRAPH: Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State in the Bush administration, has launched an attack on former Vice President Dick Cheney and radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, accusing them of issuing "diktats" that will make Republicans unelectable.
His stern words threatened to widen a rift within the party that was laid bare last week when Mr Cheney became the most prominent foreign policy critic of President Barack Obama, to the chagrin of moderates and to the delight of the Right.
Mr Powell, a moderate who publicly announced just before last year's presidential election he that would vote for Mr Obama, the Democratic candidate, rather than his old friend John McCain, insisted: "I am still a Republican."
The former Gulf war commander lambasted Mr Cheney for saying that he believed "Colin had already left the party" and Mr Limbaugh for saying that he'd supported Mr Obama "solely based on race" and should become a Democrat.
He told CBS television they were "not members of the membership committee of the Republican Party" arguing that the party needed to build a broad base of support rather than falling back on conservative principles.
"Rush will not get his wish, and Mr. Cheney was misinformed. I am still a Republican", he said. "I would like to point out that in the course of my 50 years of voting for presidents, I have voted for the person I thought was best qualified at that time to lead the nation. >>> By Toby Harnden in Washington | Sunday, May 24, 2009
