Video: NBA legend with political aspirations, Charles Barkley: 'It's an easy call. We've got to get out of Iraq.' David Edwards and Josh Catone

Published: Wednesday February 21, 2007 Print This Email This NBA Hall of Fame player, Charles Barkley announced his intentions last July to run for Governor of Alabama, perhaps in 2010. "I was a Republican until they lost their minds," said Barkley at the time. In a talk with Wolf Blitzer on CNN this afternoon, Barkley may have begun to sketch out a platform on which to launch his political career. "I want to be a politician," Barkley said. "I think I understand how the system works, I think a lot of politicians are corrupt, and it's about time we put some people in there who are going to look out for the majority of the people instead of the rich people." When asked about the war in Iraq, Barkley replied that the situation was simple, "It's an easy call for me. We've got to get out of Iraq. [Saddam Hussein] is dead. That situation hasn't gotten better. So, anything that the Republicans say about the war in Iraq -- it's just bogus. I mean, it's a terrible situation. We've got a lot of innocent kids getting killed over there, and we're never going to be safe over there." Classifying himself as an Independent, Barkley told Blitzer, "I think the Republicans are terrible, and the Democrats are not much better. ... But I think the Republicans have took the country in a terrible situation. And let's get one thing straight about the last elections: the Democrats did not win, they won because the other team wasn't any good. They've got to get their act together, because this country right now is in serious, serious turmoil."



