Listen Up Sooners: Gen. Colin Powell Urges Republican Party to Broaden The Base

Oklahoma Republicans might want to pay attention to retired general and former secretary of state Colin Powell.

Here in Soonerland, the GOP keeps pushing right. But the American public isn't following. Even in Oklahoma, the hard-right pitch seems to being losing steam.

One of the GOP's most respected members has some advice for the party. Here's the summary of Colin Powell's comments earlier today:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican Party needs to broaden its base rather than move farther to the political right to make gains against President Barack Obama's Democrats, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday.

"Let's debate the future of the party. And let's let all the segments of the party come in," Powell, a Republican who served in President George W. Bush's Cabinet but endorsed Obama last year, told CBS's "Face the Nation."

"And, if we don't do that, if we don't reach out more, the party is going to be sitting on a very, very narrow base. You can only do two things with a base. You can sit on it and watch the world go by, or you can build on the base," Powell added.