Morning talk show people are the worst. They are in love with coffee (or worse) and the sound of their own voices. The truth is way down their list of priorities.

Colin Powell is just barely Republican. Some of you might recall that there was actually talk of trying to draft him for the Democratic Party ticket at one point, and he makes no secret of the fact that he is left of most Republicans.

Calling him an Uncle Tom is hurtful and prejudiced, and it's words spoken with no knowledge of where the man's come from and what he's accomplished in his life.

We do not talk about it much, but the truth is that Colin Powell is more respected within the State Department than anyone has been for a long time, and he's more respected among foreign governments than anyone has been for a long, long time.

He is a quiet performer and very well liked by everyone who's met him, including the person writing this.

Unfortunately, he will probably personally never live down that we made him go to the UN and basically tell a lie about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction...but history itself will forgive him this because we know he was ordered to do it, the evidence was given him, and he had no reason to doubt the evidence.

Ms Rice I don't know as much about, except that she has always looked up to Gen Powell and considers him a confidante and mentor. She is closer to Bush's politics than Powell is, but she is still not as far to the right as Mr Rumsfeld.

And even if I don't knew her, I still take umbrage for our society that we have tolerated an idiotic, unschooled and underachieving morning talk show host to call her an Aunt Jemima. Disgusting.