is a dip whatever. The only problem had was being tricked into representing the lies at the U.N prepared for him by the Bush Administration, therefore I think some people are taking that denigration of Powell too far. Powell was and still is a very honest and loyal career soldier. If anything is keeping him in the GOP is probably because he has those traits. It was Ronald Reagan that gave Powell an opportunity and he probably find it too hard to break that loyalty to the Republican Party.
I suspect that is why some African Americans just as some Democrats find it hard to break with their Party. Some African Americans still confuse the current GOP with the Party of Abraham Lincoln but that is further from the case. A lot of those racists in the South fled the Democratic Party. What Powell has not comprehended as well as Demographics is the change in Geographical terms of the Political Parties. The GOP use to be the Party of the North. Most of the members have changed but not the Labels of each party. The ideas changed with the members. The main core ideas of the Republican Party is not conservatism but State's Rights.
In my observations, Lincoln's Party was hijacked by politicians from the South like the late Strom Thurmond and Jessie Helms. They have aligned themselves with vulture capitalists in different regions, who have the same goals. They just tolerate each other for now. Both see themselves as superior to others in this country and feel they should be incharge. It was the same situation you had which slave owners and people who didn't own them in the Old South. His assistant put it best.