This whole Republican thing, the fight for the party’s leadership and soul, the search for a voice and a message, is every bit as funny and ridiculous as the Democrats’ commercial lampoon  of a Survivor take-off.  That well-deserved dig  doesn’t provide half the theater, though, of the Limbaugh/Powell tit for tat.

General Colin Powell’s comments earlier in the week were aimed at Limbaugh the Entertainer’s legs, and did knock him down a bit.  Limbaugh’s retort was once again to raise the specter of race as the General’s only motivation in endorsing candidate Barack Obama for president last fall.

It’s often a suggestion that one consider the source when assessing the value and worth of public comments, so let’s do that.

On the one hand, Colin Powell holds a Bachelor’s Degree from City College of New York and an MBA from The George Washington University, the latter of which was earned after his second tour of duty in Vietnam.  He is a former four-star general in the United States Army.

He was the 65th United States Secretary of State (2001-2005), serving under President George W. Bush. He was the first African American appointed to that position. During his military career, Powell also served as National Security Advisor (1987–1989), as Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Army Forces Command (1989) and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), holding the latter position during the Gulf War. He was the first, and so far the only, African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On the other hand, Rush Limbaugh is a radio personality and entertainer.  He dropped out of college after two semesters and one summer, and according to his mother, “he flunked everything”, even a modern ballroom dancing class.

In a spirit of full disclosure, I had the honor of meeting General Powell in 1989 at the Pentagon when he was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  I remember standing with a group of  three and four star generals when he entered the room, and although these men were straight-backed and upright before that, they became even more so when General Powell entered.  He had a “presence” that was, even to these veteran soldiers, impressive.

I’ve never met Limbaugh, and don’t expect I ever shall.

If we consider the source, then, of this he said/he said, the nod goes to the General.  As for substance, well, we have thoughts and words from a man who has actual government service in positions of the highest responsibility, and whose perspective is through the window of authority; and, we have the thoughts and words from a man who has never served his government, and whose perspective is through a microphone as a self-appointed gadfly.

Never mind which of the two you’d want to share a foxhole with, or the one you’d follow into battle.  On source and substance, General Powell gets the nod of respect, and Foghorn Leghorn Limbaugh should get shown the door.

The Republican party, and the Foghorn, are stuck in a 2005 political playbook, and have yet to come up with a revised edition. Yes, they are held in low regard at the moment because President Obama is so personally popular in the country.  But, they are held in low regard, also, because the best they can come up with at the moment is a knee jerk no to everything.

When a party membership bows and cowers to an entertainer for approval,  it does take a man of General Powell’s courage and character to call him out.  Well done, sir.  Well done.