Referring to then-presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, Cuomo said, "You can't shuck and jive at a press conference."

So you see, Gen. Powell, there is bipartisan recognition of Obama's "shucking and jiving."

Powell's second example was almost as ludicrous. The former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sees racial overtones in former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu's claim that Obama lost last year's first presidential debate because he is "lazy."

"That may not mean anything to most Americans," Powell harrumphed, "but to those of us who are African-Americans, the second word is shiftless, and then there's a third word."

Said third word would be the dreaded "n" one, which Sununu never even came close to using. He didn't broach the word "shiftless" either. Powell, in his insipid effort to make his point, tried to impute racist motives to Sununu that were not in evidence.

And I have some bad news for Powell: Just because black Americans were -- and, among some, still are -- stereotyped as "lazy, shiftless" and that third word, doesn't mean that there aren't black people who are indeed lazy.

As for that third word: I challenge Powell to find a Republican that has ever used that word to refer to Obama. Oh, it has been done, but not by Republicans.

The person that did it was a member of the New Black Panther Party, those darlings of tolerance closer to Obama and his fellow Democrats on the political spectrum than any Republican Powell would dare hint is a racist.

Powell's "dark vein of intolerance" cry sounds like the excuse of a man trying to justify voting for Obama -- twice. It appears that Obama isn't the only one "shucking and jiving."

Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is a Pulitzer-nominated news and opinion journalist who has covered people and politics from Baltimore to the Sudan.