0 are total opposites. mr. obama entitlement state of social justice, of big government providing for those who don't have very much with very few strings attached. collin powell, self-reliant guy, rising from poverty in the south bronx to the powerful position of secretary of state and powell did it the old fashioned way. he under it. while attending city cleaning in new york -- college in d.c. he won the bronze star in vietnam. came back a respected army officer. he then went to washington as a white house fellow during the nixon administration. from there, general powell rose through the ranks, becoming national security advisor to president reagan, the first black american to ever hold that post. he continued in the administrations of bush the elder and the younger. general powell presents himself as a rather conservative individual, a so, last night the general and i finally commiserated. >> so, general, i would like you to be very specific and i would like you to be very brutal tonight about the republican party. what is it that you object to mostly that caused you to vote for president obama twice? >> i voted for the president twice because first and foremost i didn't think that the economic plans put forward by the campaign in 2008 or 2012 really were suited for the times we were in. so i had an economic reason to do that. secondly, i became a republican officially in 1995, after i decided not to run, and i have voted previously seven straight times for republican candidates. i have spoken at the 1996 convention, the 2000 convention, i worked for reagan, i worked for weinberger, i worked for nixon as a white house fellow. i think my credentials are fine. but in the last several years, i have been troubled by the right shift of the republican party too far to the right and i have said this on a number of occasions. and so in 2008, i found as an american, the best choice for america at that time and continuing in 2012 was senator obama and now president obama reelected. >> bill: here is what perplexes me? >> politically correct? i appear to be. >> president obama's economic plan hasn't worked among african-americans. when you voted for him, 12.7 unemployment. december of 2012, a month after you voted for him again, 14% unemployment. up. okay. hasn't worked. income, black income $32,000 compared to white 55,000. gone down under president obama. hasn't worked. so, you basically said to yourself i'm still going to support the guy even though his economic policies haven't worked for african-americans and pretty much anyone else. >> well, you have only seen me as an african-american, bill, that troubles me. i'm an american. >> bill: ill know that you cited that in some of your criticisms. you said and correct me if i am wrong, that the disengagement of the republican party from the minority community, blacks and hispanics troubled you. >> the economic situation in the country has improved but not enough. >> bill: not for african-americans. not for minorities. >> i'm not speaking as an african-american. i will come to the minority part of my criticism in a moment. but, we have seen a doubling of the stock market, the financial system has stabilized. the economy is starting to improve. i want to see it improve even faster. and in a broader sense, so that those who are at the lower end of the economic scale, including african-americans, latino americans and others can start to come up. ultimately, those numbers that you just cited are going to be fixed by an improving economy and an economy that is spread out more. and more and more african-americans will benefit and latino americans if they also get the education needed for the more demanding jobs. >> bill: you seem to be voting again on hope in 12 because we haven't seen an economic improvement in this country very much. and, in addition, the big spending policies of the democratic party and the president have driven the debt as you know to close to $17 trillion and he is the biggest spending president in history. you said something very interesting. education. we spend more per capita on education than any other country in the world than switzerland. all right? it isn't the money. but the money continues to flow. it's the discipline. it's the descent congratulation of the family descentration of the public structure. you have drifted away from them. i'm saying to you it's not about money and education, am i wrong? >> it is money and education. but it's more fundamental than that. with respect to some of the things been critical of the party. i don't think the party recognizes the fundamental demographic changes that are taking place in the country. and one more generation, african-americans, asian americans and latino hispanic americans will be the majority of the country. and we have to educate those youngsters for the positions of leadership that they are going to occupy. >> bill: you don't think that's being done now? >> i don't think it's been done adequately. and the important point i have been making is we have to understand that if you want these people to come to the republican side, you can't have immigration policies that effect them in a negative way. >> bill: okay, you believe in amnesty? >> one more point. >> bill: all right. go ahead. >> you can't have policies that try to make it harder for minorities to vote. i think one of the most terrible things that happened in the past election season is when we had a number of states that were going out of their way way. claiming outright fraud when there really wasn't any fraud to be of concern to us. but we were doing things to making it more difficult for those people to vote. >> bill: i want to get very micro on this. the voter i.d., you object to showing an identification card when you vote? >> no. of course not. >> bill: that's what the republican party wants. that's all they want just a voter i.d. >> i object to putting in place additional levels of voter i.d. >> bill: one? show one. >> disenfranchise those of our fellow citizens. i want to see a republican party that rather than trying to make it more difficult to vote and restricting the number of days and hours you can vote, a republican party that says we want everybody to vote and we're going to give you a reason to vote for us. >> bill: all right. i don't know if asking for an i.d. is trying to restrict the vote, i mean, i'm sorry. you should be able to prove how are before you cast a ballot. >> no, you should be able to prove you are when you register to vote. and when you make the proper registration, identify yourself, you shouldn't have to go to some higher level restricts them. >> bill: you certainly know fraud is committed in boston and chicago, you register and show up and it's not you. >> i have not seen any study fraud is a problem of such significance that these kinds of procedures were in place. i'm glad to see that governor scott in florida has recently said he is turning his back over to his local community -- >> bill: i think showing an i.d. to vote is the bare minimum. all right, when we come back, we will talk to general powell about sarah palin and other republicans he finds objectionable. that in just a few moments. my wife takes centrum silver. i've been on the fence about it. then i read an article about a study that looked at the long term health benefits of taking multivitamins. they used centrum silver for the study... so i guess my wife was right. 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