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I watched in admiration as Gen. Colin Powell addressed the Memorial Day Concert at the Capitol. This was right after he was blasted by so called “leaders of the Republicans.” He handled himself with great aplomb and grace. I left the Republican Party some years ago because I did not like the direction that the “leaders” were taking the party. Many people are saying that the GOP is dead after the last elections, I hope not. The country needs a strong opposition party. If the Republican Party is to survive and play a role in the shaping of our country, it needs to listen to people like Gen. Powell not a DRAFT DODGER OR A HATE MONGER.

S. Dodson

This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2009.

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A Diamond in the Rough

by Eric Flowers, The Source - Bend, Oregon
May 27, 2009

<h1>A Diamond in the Rough</h1> <p class="byline">by Eric Flowers, The Source - Bend, Oregon <br />May 27, 2009</p> <p>I watched in admiration as Gen. Colin Powell addressed the Memorial Day Concert at the Capitol. This was right after he was blasted by so called &quot;leaders of the Republicans.&quot; He handled himself with great aplomb and grace. I left the Republican Party some years ago because I did not like the direction that the &quot;leaders&quot; were taking the party. Many people are saying that the GOP is dead after the last elections, I hope not. The country needs a strong opposition party. If the Republican Party is to survive and play a role in the shaping of our country, it needs to listen to people like Gen. Powell not a DRAFT DODGER OR A HATE MONGER.</p> <p>S. Dodson</p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/opinion/a-diamond-in-the-rough-2133528/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com&quot;&gt;The Source - Bend, Oregon&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.bendsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/cropped-Untitled-design-4.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=17900&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.bendsource.com/opinion/a-diamond-in-the-rough-2133528/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/bendsource.com/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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