Col. Lawrence Wilkerson Says Republican Party Is "Full of Racists" As He Defends Powell's Endorsement of Obama

I returned early last night from an event to catch this memorable interview with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief-of-staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell on The Ed Show. Typically, I don’t watch Ed, preferring Eliot Spitzer.

Col. Wilkerson is responding to Mitt Romney campaign surrogate John Sununu’s suggestion on Thursday that Powell’s endorsement of President Barack Obama’s re-election was motivated by race.

My party, unfortunately, is the bastion of those people — not all of them, but most of them — who are still basing their positions on race. Let me just be candid: My party is full of racists, and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander-in-chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin, and that’s despicable.

Former New Hampshire Governor Sununu — who has previously called President Obama “lazy”, leaving CNBC host Andrea Mitchell visibly shocked — told CNN’s Pierce Morgan Thursday night that he believed Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama was motivated by race. Sununu has led the charge in calling President Obama unAmerican, saying specifically that he wishes the president would “learn how to be an American.”

Col. Wilkerson himself is known for not mincing words and his Ed Show comments are a jawdropper. Earlier this month, the retired Army colonel said of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy team “These people make me sick.”

Speaking specifically of Mitt Romney’s chief adviser John Bolton who has totally trashed the United Nations as U.N. Ambassador, Col. Wilkerson said:

“The man scares me to death. He would defeat all the enemies in America and the world—and believe me they’re plentiful—and he’d do it with everyone else’s blood. John is like Dick Cheney, never served a day in his life and wouldn’t serve a day in his life.”