Memo to Little Green Fuckballers:
If you swing first, anything goes. And believe me, anything will go, and your bud Falwell will have some more company in hell.
Carry on.
Posted by God Of War at May 20, 2007 08:21 AMI always admired Jimma Cartah, and he's called for Al Gore to consider running. What's not to love?
Posted by Sharon at May 20, 2007 08:24 AMI have to disagree, Paradox. Dick Cheney is the worst president ever. Bush is simply his pet monkey. It would be very interesting to watch a conversation between Shrub and Coco the gorilla who is fluent in sign language. She would kick his ass to Darfur, beat him in chess, and clean his clock in Jeopardy.
Posted by tempus at May 20, 2007 09:11 AMEven though I don't like Carter I second what he said about Bush.
Posted by JohnT at May 20, 2007 09:14 AMI voted for Carter twice, and will gladly protect him with my .44 magnum as long as I don't have to build another house.
Posted by TIKI AL at May 20, 2007 09:18 AMYou might want to step in the wayback machine, Mr. Peabody, and read this from Time.
As Jimmy Carter stepped before the television cameras in the East Room of the White House last Friday, his task was not just to proclaim another new anti-inflation program but to calm a national alarm that had begun to border on panic. Inflation and interest rates, both topping 18%, are so far beyond anything that Americans have experienced in peacetime—and so far beyond anything that U.S. financial markets are set up to handle—as to inspire a contagion of fear. Usually confident businessmen and bankers have begun talking of Latin American-style hyperinflation, financial collapse, major bankruptcies, a drastic drop in the American standard of living.
Unemployment rate was stubbornly high during the Carter years, too.
Posted by muckdog at May 20, 2007 09:27 AMThe wingnuts hate Carter because he swings a hefty amount of moral authority (real as opposed to Falwellian) and they feel free to demonize him because he doesn't practice their scorched-earth brand of politics, ie. he practices what Jesus preached, turns the other cheek and doesn't hit back. The press revoked his ex-President free pass and flayed him when Carter told the truth about Israeli mistreatment of Palestinians, so I guess he felt that in telling the truth about Bush and his own country, he had nothing to lose. Also, one could argue that the good opinion of the current MSM isn't worth the airwaves it's printed on.
Posted by dalloway at May 20, 2007 09:32 AMOn the advice of early PNACers, Carter developed the rapid response force in the Middle East to protect oil supplies which both Bush 1 and Bush 2 then used to attack Iraq. I don't know how the republi-cons can be against him. He took PNAC's advice.
Unemployment rate was stubbornly high during the Carter years, too.
That 7% was in the days when they counted all sorts of stuff as unemployment, like not having a job for more than 6 mos, or enetering the jo market for the first time. All it took was a few magic changes in the methodology and Ray-gun had the unemployment numbers -and inflation- under control.
Posted by phidipides at May 20, 2007 09:47 AMMuckdog, is there anything nice you can say about a man who, although not a great President like your Bush, has redeemed himself in actions?
You will know them by their fruits. Need I say more?
What is it with these conservative types who want to kill anyone and everyone they don't agree with? I can't believe that a website would encourage and call for the killing of anyone, much less a former President. Personally, if I was in control, I would close them down, and that's not censorship.
Posted by Judith at May 20, 2007 10:08 AMI think Carter did some good work with Habitat for Humanity after Reagan stole the 1980 election. But lately it seems Jimmy's a bit late in his game. I just wonder if all his mental faculties are still there.
I think Jimmy's at his best with a tool belt, hammer, and some nails. A blue collar guy who got in over his head, and then returned to doing what he does best: Pounding nails in 2x4s.
Posted by muckdog at May 20, 2007 11:31 AMMuck, Carter ended up holding the bag when Opec finally figured out what their fossil ooze was worth. If you are familiar with the author of Paper Money under the pseudonym of 'Adam Smith', you'll note that this marked the most unprecedented transfer of wealth yet for something that burns in the air and now screws it up.
Your glib and beloved stats don't seem to note this significant aspect or that a 2007 dollar is now worth a bit less than a pre Carter dime, we just added extra zeros.
ANd as for your puzzlement about a 7000 dow, just look at how bent the p/e ratios have been for more than a decade. The only thing fueling this market is 401k money clueless americans toss at it every week in payroll deductions, for questionable returns.
I don't care about muni return numbers as much as I like it that they are honest.
Now milk the mess while ye may and think carefully about your exit position when it chokes.
Posted by Chris Rich at May 20, 2007 11:57 AMwhat I wonder most is how Jimmy Carter was able to use logic and reason to govern. he is one of the only contradictions to a christian I have ever seen.
Posted by oldtree at May 20, 2007 11:59 AMOh and we also were stuck paying the bills for another idiot war, Vietnam, around the time the hapless Carter was elected. The President rarely has control of these broader macroeconomic factors. As I recall it was also when the Japanese were killing our bloated auto industry.
Maybe you were just a kid then.
Posted by Chris Rich at May 20, 2007 12:01 PMAs a former president, both Jimmy and Rosalyn have secret service protection. Carter has been offending dictators and torturers anytime since the 1976 election, why should he change now?
Oh, and for anyone stupid enough to try something with Carter, how well did killing Chamorro work for Samoza? Ninoy Acquino for Marcos?
Bush would be forced from the White House within hours of such a murder.
Posted by Alice Marshall at May 20, 2007 12:46 PMI wouldn't worry too much about the Carters -- they are still under Secret Service protection and will be so for the rest of their lives. (I believe the rules were changed recently for post-W Presidents, in that they'll only have it for 12 years after leaving office, but the Carters are still protected. I doubt anyone from LGF will be able to touch them, anyway.)
I've been thinking a lot about this, and I have to wonder if Carter isn't, at least in part, speaking for his fellow ex-Presidents (including the current one's father) as well as himself. As you mentioned, this sort of criticism from a former President is extraordinary; at the same time, there's a certain collegiality that develops among former occupants of the Oval Office (as I understand it, Bill Clinton and Poppy Bush have become very close since Clinton left office) and I can't help thinking that, if they wanted to communicate their displeasure with W, they'd choose the one among them with the most gravitas to do it. Clinton's legacy is too tainted (at least in the MSM's view) and we already know W doesn't listen to his father.
Posted by Doug at May 20, 2007 12:57 PMMuckdog, I was going to respond to your spitballs against Carter, but other commenters have handled them pretty well. I'll just say that Carter is as responsible for the inflation and unemployment of the late 70s as Clinton was for the prosperity of the 90s.
Posted by abi at May 20, 2007 01:24 PMCarter's unemployment rate may have not been listed as qualified but he was and still is a much better president that any Bush. Carter cares for the people and always has. Nor you or I can say that about the Bush's or the Bush Administration. Thanks Carter for all you have done!!! Hats off to Carter
Posted by at May 20, 2007 01:50 PMA blue collar guy who got in over his head, and then returned to doing what he does best: Pounding nails in 2x4s.
From Wikipedia: Carter was a gifted student and finished 59th out of his Academy class of 820. Carter served on submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. He was later selected by Captain (later Admiral) Hyman G. Rickover for the U.S. Navy's fledgling nuclear submarine program, where he became a qualified command officer.
And let's see ... he was the driving force behind the only peace treaty signed Israel and Egypt for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Now let's compare to your guy - alcoholic and drug-addicted until the age of 40; unable to complete a TANG committment and a failure at every business endeavor except clearing brush on his Potemkin ranch. You remember - the cowboy who's afraid of horses.
muck - you're right - one of these guys is a "blue collar guy in over his head." We all make choices and those choices define us. What do you think your choice says about you?
MuckClown showing what an ignorant fool he is and having his ass handed to him (again), which he will be blithely unaware of.
In short, a regular BushAmerica weekend at TLC. Carry on.
Posted by euzoius at May 20, 2007 02:21 PMJimmy Carter hired federal reserve chairman Paul Volker. It was Volker who finally put the breaks on inflation with tight money policies. Of course this had a tendency to contract the economy. The cure was painful, but it led the way for an expansion that lasted a long time.
Carter was the last president to attack public problems directly. He attacked energy problems with a host of bills that directly addressed resource conservation and alternative energy. Gratefully the 55 mph speed limnit is gone, but standards on energy efficiency for buildings and appliances remain. And so do epa milage estimates for automobiles.
The media machine that sold America Reagan and Reaganomics found it easy to trash Carter because he called upon our sense of shared social responsibility, which generally requires of us some sacrifice. And nobody likes pain, even in the service of a better future. The longer Americans delay in re-adopting Carter's point of view, the more costly it will be for us when we are forced to do so by circumstances beyond our control.
Posted by steve at May 20, 2007 02:22 PMIn 8th grade, we had a mock election, and I made up this little song, sung to the tune of the Oscar Mayer ditty,
Our candidate has a first name
It's J-I-M-M-Y
Our candidate has a second name
It's C-A-R-T-E-R
We hope you vote for him today
And if you ask us why we say,
"Cuz Jimmy Carter has a way
With A-M-E-R-I-C-A!"
And actually I was with a choir which sang political songs for him and Rosalyn in Detroit at a Habitat for Humanity gig in 2005. Full circle I guess.
I was and remain a Carter supporter. He was under-rated then, and he is under-rated now. I donot believe he needs to behave tactfully as an "ex" president by any protocol, formal or informal, and the reason is that he is till active in global politics unlike most of his predecessors who chose only to play golf. If he is to remain active, and if he is to have any moral authority in the conduct of those activities, the man has to call them as he sees them. And he does. You may disagree with his observations, but he has done more than the Habitat for Humanity, a fine domestic service.
Posted by gtash at May 20, 2007 04:44 PMI heard white house whatever Fratto said something about Carter being "increasing irrevelant" regarding these comments.
Carter has always been a very effective diplomat and doesn't wear his religion like some displayed medal....
Too bad Bush doesn't have the courage to take a look at the validity Carter's criticism and learn something from it....
But, hey, what on earth am I thinking of by even considering that would be even a course of action taken by Bush, anyway?
Posted by past,present,future at May 20, 2007 05:01 PMVolker was the worst appointment Carter made.
Carter's record on jobs is pretty good
http://www.musicforamerica.org/node/1323
but then so is every other Democratic president.
Carter was the only President who even tried to have a rational energy policy. Which is why the oil cartel pumped millions into discrediting him.
Posted by Alice Marshall at May 20, 2007 05:41 PMCarter has always been a very effective diplomat and doesn't wear his religion like some displayed medal....
Too bad Bush doesn't have the courage to take a look at the validity Carter's criticism and learn something from it....
That would require Bush acquiring compassion and intelligence, both are as likely as Britney Spears winning a Nobel Prize in Physics, or possibly Dick Cheney the Nobel Peace prize.
Bush doesn't take anyone's criticism, except Pickles, simply because if he doesn't she'll cut him off (what a revolting subject). He has the brain of a chicken on crystal meth, and the learning capacity of flatworm. No wonder the fundies love him. If it's in that bibely novel, it's all ya need to know, you know. If it's not, it's a lie, and I'll kill you so you'll eventually read the Good Book and learn the Truth.
He doesn't even listen to Rove. He just says "make me Emperor Nero, Turdblossom, and I'll pardon you if we really have to leave after two terms. Oh, fix that, too. I like my office, all the groveling, and I can torture people I don't like, just like when I used to blow up frogs. God, that was fun. Well, get goin', Sweetums, make me the Messiah. Well, maybe Messiah II."
I was really proud of President Carter at Coretta Scott King's funeral.
From Wikipedia:
President Carter and Rev. Joseph Lowery provided funeral orations. With President George W. Bush seated a few feet away, Rev. Lowery, referencing King's vocal opposition to the Iraq war, noted the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. President Carter, referencing King's lifelong struggle for civil rights, noted that her family had been the target of secret government wiretapping. Their comments were met with thunderous applause and standing ovations. Some conservatives expressed dissatisfaction with these comments.
Standard response from the troll -- I mean, authoritarian follower. Attack the source, don't address the argument itself.
This follows logically, in the distorted thinking of the authoritarian follower like muckdog. Their thinking starts with the postulate "our side is perfect, all others are evil and wrong". If you accept this as true, then anyone who criticizes "our side" is biased -- any facts that make "our side" look bad are wrong -- and any publication of such facts is proof of a biased media against "our side".
Posted by anony at May 20, 2007 09:05 PMMuckClown showing what an ignorant fool he is and having his ass handed to him (again), which he will be blithely unaware of.
Ha! Reminds me (more than a bit) of Titus Andronicus.
Also, re: Righties threatening Lefties...It should scare the Righties something awful that the Lefties have all the really smart scientists on their side. Though I suppose sending a copy of "Lucifer's Hammer" to any of these braindead troglodytes would be a waste of paper.
Gotta love pure partisanship. If Lincoln were president today, every Lib would be talking about how he was the worst president in history and if Bush were a Democrat they would be singing his praises.
Posted by pbmc at May 21, 2007 05:37 PMYou go Jimmy!!! Most honest president we have ever had...And still telling it like it is!!!
Posted by Debbie at May 22, 2007 01:11 AMCarter lost himself a presidentin' job when he went on national TV during the energy crisis and asked america to conserve energy. Nobody tells americans they're spoiled, wasteful, selfish louts ruining the environment adn gets to keep running the country!
Gotta love pure partisanship. If Lincoln were president today, every Lib would be talking about how he was the worst president in history and if Bush were a Democrat they would be singing his praises.
Posted by pbmc at May 21, 2007 05:37 PM
You mean, the way the Republican'ts impeached a Democratic president for having sex with someone who was not his wife (which, by the way, is not illegal)? While they brought their mistresses into congress to watch? That kind of pure partisanship?
Anyone else's irony alert go off when this Republican't Putsch fellator took his mouth off Dim Son's member long enough to spew this?
Posted by (: Tom :) at May 22, 2007 11:50 AMDo some historical reading on carter's administration (one that I lived through and was mercifully cut short, even if by a joke named Ronald). Jimmy Carter criticizing ANYBODY's job performance--be it apresident or a janitor--is laughable and shameful at the same time.
Posted by at May 23, 2007 06:04 PM