Hey Mr. Carter! Don’t Apologize For Giving Gravity To What Most American’s Already Think
May 22nd, 2007 | by Ken Grandlund |I always liked Jimmy Carter, even more so after he left the White House. Modern historians look at the Carter presidency as being not the best or the worst, but rather somewhere in the middle. Carter assumed the helm at a low point in American confidence. The national psyche suffered from PTSD brought on by over a decade of turmoil- from the JFK assassination to Vietnam to Watergate- and Jimmy Carter, with his honest smile and his downhome goodness, seemed like a good shot at boosting the happy meter, if nothing else. Embroiled domestically by surging energy prices and heavy inflation, Carter, the political outsider, had a hard time of putting any constraints on the ruling Democratic party, who after decades of control were heading towards their own implosion of sorts. But in foreign affairs, Carter proved his endurance and commitment to peace through the Camp David accords, the SALT II treaty, and a commitment to human rights. The Carter presidency is surely a mixed bag, but when compared to the current administration, America in 1978 was in a much better place- internationally, politically, and morally.
If Jimmy Carter never did another thing after his presidency, he would still be a good and honorable man. But he didn’t kick up his heels and retire. Partly out of need and partly out of desire, Jimmy Carter took hold of those things which mattered most to him in life- helping people and working for peace- and continues to this day to press for the betterment of humanity. Part of that includes building homes for those who need them through his Habitat for Humanity foundation. He even uses tools. This is a man who walks the walk.
So it’s even more knowing when he chooses to advance the human conversation through his books or words. Because of his own personal gravity, when Jimmy Carter speaks, people listen. As well they should. Which is why I was so proud of him the other day in his interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette when he had the cajones to say with some decorum what the rest of us say more robustly- that basically, Bush is an incompetant buffoon who has denigrated American prestige back to the mid 1800’s.
Naturally, the Dittohead Brigade went on a rampage, with the White House calling him irrelevent and the talking heads and pundits calling him other things-less than kind things. They belittled his adminsitration as a failure too, but they neglected to highlight some finer points. Like the fact that Carter didn’t go out declaring war on anyone. And Carter didn’t assert for torture. And he didn’t try to spy on the whole country. And he didn’t run the country into massive, overbearing debt. They can blame him for the rise of radical Islam- he helped arm and fund Islamic ‘radicals’ in Afghanistan against the USSR- but you could also blame the moon for the tides. Both have existed for a long time and Carter didn’t create Islamic radicalism, he just stirred the ashes up again. Apparently it seemed a good idea at the time.
But then Carter offered a retraction of sorts. And this, I think, is a mistake. And for that, I am somewhat disappointed in Jimmy Carter. So I have a few words I’d like to share with him…
Dear President Carter,
When you termed the Bush administration as the worst in American history, you were right. Even the Nixon administration pales in comparison to this cabal running our institutions of law and justice into the ground. Many of us on the left (Democrats, liberals, progressives) have been saying this for years now, but with the particularly partisan divide in this country, we’ve faced mute reaction for the last half decade or so. Finally, the presidents own failures and shortcomings are becoming so apparent that even his own party members are jumping ship. But like a man who buys unseen land in Florida, Republicans are fearful of admitting to being wrong, and I think your comments could have helped ease the ‘buyer’s remorse’ so many on the right have these days. And buyer’s remorse it is indeed. It’s guys like Bush that they made “Lemon Laws” for.
That said, you should not have retracted, rephrased, or repaired your comments in any way, shape or form. The truth sometimes isn’t pretty, but it has to be said anyway. To hear it from the mouth of a man of peace and a former president only solidifies how far down the ladder we’ve slipped. You never apologized for criticizing President Clinton when he pardoned that sleazy Marc Rich guy. And you shouldn’t have. (That really pissed me off too. I really liked BC, but that little stunt took him down a notch or two in my book.) And you shouldn’t be doing it now either.
Forget about what the 25 percenters say- America is with you on this one. And your words seem to carry a little more weight than ours do- after all, the White House actually responds to you. They pretty much ignore the rest of the country when we speak.
Sincerely,
Ken Grandlund
Who knows? Could be I’ll actually send this one off to him.
[tag]Jimmy+Carter, Bush+Administration, politics, Bush+Administration+Worst+Carter[/tag]
16 Responses to “Hey Mr. Carter! Don’t Apologize For Giving Gravity To What Most American’s Already Think”
By SteveIL on May 22, 2007 | Reply
Carter was a disaster as President. Quit whitewashing it.
If he would have stuck to just that, his “Habitat for Humanity” project, he probably would be considered an honorable ex-President. But he opened his big yap and hasn’t closed it yet.
The man has no standing on which to criticize. He wasn’t committed to any kind of “peace”; he let Islamofascists and the Soviets walk all over him, and truly made the U.S. a laughing-stock. He didn’t stir up radical Islamism; he didn’t stand up to it either.
By the way, this is wrong:
Read up on United States v. Truong, a 4th Circuit decision in 1980 from a 1977 espionage conviction of a Vietnamese national (and spy) and an American citizen. Evidence from a warrantless wiretap planted by the FBI was used to convict these two, and the appeal was rejected due to the President’s Article II, Section 2 Commander in Chief authority in the Constitution (the case never went to the Supreme Court). He did spy on the whole country, and didn’t use any warrant to do so. And got a conviction out of it.
I wouldn’t deny him his 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech. But there’s no place in the Constitution that says I have to listen to his stupidity. And I have my own 1st Amendment right to say that I think he is irrelevant.
By Myers on May 22, 2007 | Reply
SteveIL:
“If he would have stuck to just that, his Habitat for Humanity project, he probably would be considered an honorable ex-President. But he opened his big yap and hasn’t closed it yet.”
But you “think he is irrelevant” so why does it matter? If it takes you 340 words to whine about irrelevance, how many does it take for something substantive?
I do have a similar thought about W. If he had stuck to the things he was good at, i.e., snorting coke and being a falling down drunk, instead of being the destructive dry drunk he is ,he would not only deserve the Nobel prize I would personally carve his face on Mt. Rushmore.
By SteveIL on May 22, 2007 | Reply
Myers,
Too many others wrongly believe Carter is relevant. Especially those in the media. Even the reason why he won his 2002 Nobel “Peace” Prize is a joke:
This is the guy who blames Israel for the problems caused by 40 years of Palestinian terrorist leadership, and who sanctioned Hugo Chavez’s march to dictatorship. That pretty much reduces the above reason to the word “for”.
By SteveIL on May 22, 2007 | Reply
I do not consider Carter the worst President of all time. Plenty of others exist to take that prize: Pierce, Buchanan, Johnson (Andrew), Grant, Harding, to name a few. Carter, because of his big yap, has become the worst ex-President of all time.
By mr bigstuff on May 22, 2007 | Reply
ill steve,
do you still have a w sticker on the back of your suv? are proud of pumping hundreds of dollars in vastly over priced gasoline into your vehicle each month? do you delight in the fact that more american troops are dying in iraq every day for absolutely nothing? do you enjoy the demise of the world bank and the justice department? are you proud that america is a laughingstock to the rest of the world? aren’t you glad that this country cannot competently respond to any foriegn threat or natural disaster until sometime after february 2009? these are the things that the absolutely and without a doubt worst president in american history (your boy w) has delivered. keep up your support of this damn fool and his cabal of idiots and watch things get even worse. better yet tell us all how these w clones such as romney and giuliani will fuck things up even worse than that fool w. you obviously voted for w twice and probably would do so thrice given the opportunity. that makes you dumber than gomer pyle, who w couldn’t even quote correctly. keep it up fool.
By SteveIL on May 22, 2007 | Reply
Hey mr smallstuff, when you get a clue, come on back to make a real opinion.
By JT Davis on May 22, 2007 | Reply
Read up on United States v. Truong, a 4th Circuit decision in 1980 from a 1977 espionage conviction of a Vietnamese national (and spy) and an American citizen. Evidence from a warrantless wiretap planted by the FBI was used to convict these two, and the appeal was rejected due to the President’s Article II, Section 2 Commander in Chief authority in the Constitution (the case never went to the Supreme Court). He did spy on the whole country, and didn’t use any warrant to do so. And got a conviction out of it.
This comes from the “irony is not dead” dept.
And when Ill Steve says “read up on” he means in the Moonie Times. He’s better off watching The Hitler Channel and A&E. You are a first class laugh riot, Ill Steve. You are comedy gold.
United States v. Truong Dinh Hung, 629 F.2d 908 (4th Cir. 1980) was before the establishment of FISA.
By mr bigstuff on May 22, 2007 | Reply
ill,
nice comeback. 14 words and 2 a’s. but not one iota of support for boy george. come on man, sing w’s praise loud and clear for us all to here.
By SteveIL on May 22, 2007 | Reply
JT,
You can read. How about that. Yes, it was before FISA. So what’s your point? Again, you still have to work on comprehension. What the statutes say in the U.S. Code means squat if it isn’t constitutional. FISA has never been tested in the Supreme Court.
And it doesn’t mean Carter didn’t spy on Americans without warrants. He did. Case closed.
mr smallstuff, this is about Carter, not about Bush.
By JT Davis on May 22, 2007 | Reply
You are funny guy, Ill Steve. Funny “ha-ha” and funny “strange”.
My point is Truong Dinh Hung wasn’t a US citizen or even permanent resident alien. Under existing law at the time, his communications could be monitored in compliance with DoD5240.1-R without needing to request permission from a FISA court. There is a distinction, lost on you appraently between monitoring of US citizens and foreign citizens who just happen to be inside the US at the time they’re being monitored.
By JT Davis on May 22, 2007 | Reply
You read the moonie times it makes you a freaking idiot. Sorry. Them’s the facts.
By SteveIL on May 22, 2007 | Reply
JT, have you ever read United States v. Truong? Did you know that the the co-defendent in the case was a Ronald Humphrey, an American-born U.S. citizen? Oh you didn’t?
Maybe one day you’ll get it. Today, obviously, isn’t the day.
By Myers on May 22, 2007 | Reply
SteveIL:
Myers,
“Too many others wrongly believe Carter is relevant. Especially those in the media. ”
I see, so now you are saying he his relevant, presumably because there are “too many others” who think he is. What then is that magic irrelevant number he must crack ,so I will know when all the ditto heads and craven politicians can get their panties out of a twist every time he says something. I believed Carter even said, the other day, that he never claimed he was relevant. He was asked a question and he gave an answer and so what? Jesus, he’s been out of office for over a quarter a century and in case you weren’t around then, there was no shortage of people criticizing his every move then, and based on everything W has ever done, he doesn’t give a damn what anybody says anyway.
The paranoia of this administration and that, which it engenders in its 29% dead enders, dwarfs that of the Nixon administration ( something I never thought possible) and this episode is just the latest example of rich ,thin skin, white men bitching because, they ain’t feeling the love.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t need Carter or anyone else for that matter, to convince me that W is a disaster, which is the only relevant point to all this. . Fear not though, W still has plenty of time to make things worse: disaster with a bullet.
By JT Davis on May 22, 2007 | Reply
JT, have you ever read United States v. Truong?
Have you? And could you understand it if you did?
Bring me a link to the case U.S. v. Ronald Humphrey. I’d be interested in that one since you allege he was a citizen. And put your helmet back on. Your pea brain is going soft.
This is how the right wing noise machine works. Crap gets printed in the Moonie Times and all the wingnut blogs pick it up so cretins can read it and go ballistic.
By windspike on May 22, 2007 | Reply
Here’s what the Prez had to say:
Interesting…
By JT Davis on May 22, 2007 | Reply
Yes,
Interesting.
What “allies” is he talking about? Pakistan?
We don’t have allies anywhere. Not anymore. Thanks to this boob. Afghanistan? Sure. Too bad you took your eye off that ball. Does this idiot think his little adventure into Iraq has improved the conditions for women there? He’s delusional and all he can do is play the same old record. It’s getting to be rather sad. Rather pathetic. The POTUS used to be called “the leader of the free world”. Now he’s just a sick, tired joke spouting bullshit and rhetoric about endless war with Eurasia… Or was it Oceania?