Colin Powell: C'mon, a tea-party candidate can't beat Obama

“The Tea Party point of view of no compromise whatsoever is not a point of view that will eventually produce a presidential candidate who will win,” he said on ABC’s “This Week With Christiane Amanpour.”

Powell said taking the no-compromise position isn’t helping get things done in Washington, and called on members of Congress to “come back to the center to compromise” in order to see progress.

“Compromise is how this country was founded,” he said, offering as an example the issue of slavery. “Can you imagine more difficult compromises today?” he asked. “We have a Congress now that can’t even pass an appropriations bill.”