In an ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos, the four star general said:

“Republicans have to stop buying into things that demonize the president. I mean, why aren’t Republican leaders shouting out about all this birther nonsense and all these other things? They should speak out. This is the kind of intolerance that I’ve been talking about where these idiot presentations continue to be made and you don’t see the senior leadership of the party say, ‘No, that’s wrong.’ In fact, sometimes by not speaking out, they’re encouraging it. And the base keeps buying the stuff.

And it’s killing the base of the party. I mean, 26 percent favorability rating for the party right now. It ought to be telling them something. So, instead of attacking me or whoever speaks like I do, look in the mirror and realize, ‘How are we going to win the next election?”

Oh and one more thing. He accused them of voter suppression. Yes, he did.

“The Republican Party ought to be out there not restricting voting by voter ID, but saying we want everybody to vote,” he said. “It’s a party that has to stop saying, ‘We are going to appeal to you with new messages.’ You need policies — the country is becoming more minority.”

And he said the same thing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show:

“Should we really have gone after reducing the turnout of voters in those places where we thought it would make a difference?” he asked. “The Republican Party should be a party that says, ‘We want everybody to vote,’ and make it easier for people to vote and give them a reason to vote for the party, and not to find ways to keep them from voting at all.” (Source)

Many conservatives are calling Powell a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only), but he maintains that he’s still a Republican. Why?

“I grew up under Ronald Reagan and Cap Weinberger and George Schultz and George Herbert Walker Bush — that’s the Republican party I know — the Howard Bakers of the world, and I think we’ve drifted from that. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to drift a little bit back. Not because it’s just good to be moderate, but because that’s where the American people are. They lost an election — two.”