An End to the Powell Vice Presidential Candidacy

And with one interview, Powell kills his chances of taking Cheney's place in the 2004 elections, by stating the answer to the question: Would you have recommended an invasion knowing Iraq had no prohibited weapons: "I don't know, because it was the stockpile that presented the final little piece that made it more of a real and present danger and threat to the region and to the world." He said the "absence of a stockpile changes the political calculus; it changes the answer you get."

The killer phrase: "I don't know." Bush and his administration are nothing if not certain. They offer ambivalence no quarter, no shades of grey twixt light and shadow. You're either with them or against them. Seems Powell is against them.