Powell: Obama, "Transformational "- McCain, "Over the Top"

Retired 4-star general, former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama as president of the United States.

From The New York Times:

Powell, "endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president on Sunday morning as a candidate who was reaching out in a “more diverse and inclusive way across our society” and offering a “calm, patient, intellectual, steady approach” to the nation’s problems."

While Powell has been a friend and advisor to McCain for decades, he criticized the McCain campaign's attempts to smear Obama for his passing acquaintance with William Ayers. "I thought that was over the top,” Mr. Powell told reporters. “It was beyond just good political fighting back and forth.”

Powell added that McCain would simply be a new face pasted on the "orthodoxy of the Republican agenda."

I suspect we're beginning to see the Republican Party undergo a healthy re-alignment with the moderates - Powell, Chuck Hagel, even the Chicago Tribune, rejecting the neo-conservative movement of Bush/Cheney now embraced by John McCain. Sounds like they want their party back. They're drawing a line in the sand, telling the neo-cons that they would prefer to back a Dem than allow their party to languish in the far right of extremism. I wonder when progressive Conservatives will catch on.