Talk about speaking truth to power! A former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell charged the Republican Party with racism after remarks in which John Sununu, a surrogate for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, suggested race was a factor in Powell’s endorsement of President Obama.

Retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a Republican, condemned the former New Hampshire governor’s comments while also slamming his own party during an interview with Ed Schultz on MSNBC on Friday night.

“My party, unfortunately, is the bastion of those people — not all of them, but most of them — who are still basing their positions on race,” Wilkerson said. “Let me just be candid: My party is full of racists, and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander in chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin, and that’s despicable.”

— Posted by Tracy Bloom.