Former Secretary of State Colin Powell continued to offer harsh but constructive criticism to his own party on Monday, advising Republicans to loudly reject "birther nonsense" and develop new policies to improve their outreach to the nation's shifting demographics.

“Republicans have to stop buying into things that demonize the president," Powell said during an appearance on ABC News. "I mean, why aren’t Republican leaders shouting out about all this birther nonsense and all these other things? They should speak out. This is the kind of intolerance that I’ve been talking about where these idiot presentations continue to be made and you don’t see the senior leadership of the party say, ‘No, that’s wrong.’ In fact, sometimes by not speaking out, they’re encouraging it. And the base keeps buying the stuff."