"I think Skip [Gates], perhaps in this instance, might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer and that might have been the end of it," Powell said in an interview with CNN's Larry King.
"I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal. 
Watch what Powell would advise Gates »
"I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department," Powell said. "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.' "
"...Powell, who has previously been critical of radio host Rush Limbaugh, restated his opinion that members of his party ought to do the same.
"The problem I'm having with the [Republican] Party right now is that when he says something that I consider to be completely outrageous and I respond to it, I would like to see other members of the party do likewise, but they don't," he said. Watch Powell talk about Limbaugh and the GOP »
Asked whether he thinks Republicans are afraid to take on Limbaugh, Powell pointed out that several prominent Republicans have criticized Limbaugh but that "within 24 hours, they were backing away because there is a strong base of support for Mr. Limbaugh."
"..."If the party is going to succeed in the future, the advice I'm giving to my Republican friends is you've got to find some way to reach out and draw moderates and independents more toward the right so that we can build a party that will win," Powell said. "A base, as I've said before -- the base is no particular use if all you can do is sit on it and you can't build on it."
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