Cheney: Powell's a GOP Traitor

"I didn't know he was still a Republican," the ex-veep says of Colin Powell

By CAITLIN MILLAT

Updated 1:15 PM EDT, Sun, May 10, 2009

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Vice-President Dick Cheney defended torture tactics and said that conservative Colin Powell had "left the Party" as he appeared on "Face the Nation" Sunday.

Colin Powell has left the GOP, Dick Cheney said Sunday.

The former Vice-President blasted the ex-Bush Secretary of State Sunday, saying Powell was a traitor to the GOP who'd abandoned the party for a more moderate stance.

"I think my take on it was Colin had already left the party. I didn't know he was still a Republican," Cheney said on "Face the Nation" when asked about controversy surrounding Powell's remarks that the Republican Party should become more centrist.

Cheney said he agreed with conservative trash-talker Rush Limbaugh's claim that Powell should officially defect to the Democratic Party in Arlen Specter's style, citing Powell's public endorsement of President Barack Obama.

"I assumed that that is some indication of his loyalty and his interest," Cheney said.

Cheney also said the proposed plan to close Guantanamo Bay would be "a tough sell" and that sending inmates to the U.S. wouldn't go over well with voting politicians.

He said he didn't know a single Congressional voter "that is going to say, great, they're sending us 20 al-Qaida terrorists."

The former veep also again defended torture tactics like waterboarding, saying harsh interrogations have saved "perhaps hundreds of thousands" of lives.