“In a biting rebuke, the White House on Sunday dismissed former President Jimmy Carter as ‘increasingly irrelevant’ after his harsh criticism of President Bush. Carter was quoted Saturday as saying ‘I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.’ … ‘I think it’s sad that President Carter’s reckless personal criticism is out there,’ White House spokesman Tony Fratto responded Sunday from Crawford, where Bush spent the weekend.”
unfortunately, the Bush Crime Family will be considered the worst thing to ever happen to this great nation, forever. President Carter is relevant and he is correct…this administration of thugs made the worst blunder in American history.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:35 pmthe so-called “reckless personal criticism” is well deserved. Dubya & Co is the most reckless, ruthless government ever anywhere on earth.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:36 pmReckless is King Boy’s middle name while irrelevant is Cheney at an 18% approval rating.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:39 pm‘I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.’
Irrelevant!!!
Who gives a shit about the rest of the world… or history for that matter?
May 20th, 2007 at 5:39 pmPres. Carter is trying his darndest to inform true Christians and patriots, like himself, of what is really going down in this country.There is no doubt that he is well respected enough by the majority of people to be listened to. Keep speaking out Jimmy!
May 20th, 2007 at 5:39 pmWell, let’s wait and see how the “relevance” of these two presidents stacks up over time. Can anyone in their wildest dreams imagine Bush doing anything to make the world a better place in his retirement? Building a house for Habitat for Humanity? I don’t think so. Winning a — cough — Peace Prize? Only if it is one dreamed up by Liberty University. Working for — vomit — fair elections? Well, it’s true that Karl Rove is really into the voter-fraud-thingy.
What else could the White House say? They have NO DEFENCE against Carter’s statement! NO DEFENCE! Why? Carter is right! And the WH knows it.
By the way, how the hell many WH spokespeople are there? I guess even this crew can only lie so much and then they have to go and purge themselves and let someone else take over.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:43 pmI know it’s sad that gw’s reckless, criminal, personal mind is -way- out there.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:44 pmcarter is more relevant by far than he has ever been, and the fact that a former president is speaking out in such an unprecedentedly forceful manner, tell you something about just how bad things are…
And, yes, I DO take it personally
May 20th, 2007 at 5:45 pm.
Context matters…
Carter’s complete quote (now pay attention here, MSM) was:
“I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.”
Arguing against Carter’s evaluation would first require the person attempting it to put their right hand on their right ear, their left hand on their left ear and pulling their head out of their ass.
.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:45 pmWatch out for the spin. it’s already happening.
White house is calling it “personal” criticism even though Carter spoke about “administration” not about Mr. Bush as a person.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:49 pmYou know Carter is onto them when they take the time to issue a statement like this.
Just keep reminding yourself that we’re living in bizarro-world where everything is the EXACT opposite of what BushCo says. The more Carter speaks out, the more pointed his language, the more relevant and accurate he becomes.
The recent president who’s become “irrelevant” is Ronald Reagan, who’s (totally undeserved) legacy has been ransacked and burned to the ground by BushCo. The next phase of American politics will be a complete and systematic repudiation of Reaganism, which has been revealed for the greedy, cynical, hollow fraud it always was.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:50 pmHow irrelevant could you possibly be if the president of the United States responds to what you say?
May 20th, 2007 at 5:53 pmAre we sure the WH wasn’t describing itself?
May 20th, 2007 at 5:53 pmWhat is a fratto and under what rock did they find it?
May 20th, 2007 at 5:54 pmCarter is still more relevant than Darth ChEEney.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:54 pmCan anyone in their wildest dreams imagine Bush doing anything to make the world a better place in his retirement?
Comment by Jan #6
…This kind of talk INFURIATES me…
…why would Bushiva be allowed to RETIRE?
…he (THEY) MUST be imprisoned, adjudicated, impoverished and incarcerated…
…DO YOU PEOPLE realize what the criminal Bushite junta has done?
…if this were a regime of color I’ll bet you would…
May 20th, 2007 at 5:55 pmThe recklessness is not Mr. Carter’s observations, it is Mr. Bush’s behavior, his administration and his legacy.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:57 pmI like Jimmy Carter. But I hope he is aware of polling in Britain which shows 40% of British muslims want Sharia Law.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:57 pmJimmy Carter is right on the money…
…and more RELEVANT (to humanity) than the Busites will EVER be…
May 20th, 2007 at 5:57 pm“It seems that, if Carter really was as ‘irrelevant’ as the Bush White House would have us believe, the president’s aides would not be attacking the former president in such immediate and aggressive terms.
The truth is that Carter is relevant, perhaps more so now than ever. Even as Bush’s fortunes decline, the need of dissenting voices is great. And Carter’s dissents go to the very heart of the darkness that this administration has brought down upon the United States.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20070520/cm_thenation/1197253
May 20th, 2007 at 6:02 pmLandSurveyor:
You are more worried about what a British poll says than what has actually happened here. Our government is being largely run by unqualified hacks controlled by a tiny minority of religious fundamentalists!
Why oh why are some Americans more worried about Sharia Law than the influence of Regent University, James Dobson, etc.??????
May 20th, 2007 at 6:06 pmWhat else are they going to say? “Carter is right and we hate being associated with an administration that will be remembered as one of the worst things to ever happen to the United States, please God, make it stop!” Not likely.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:06 pmIs Bush on vacation again? Jeez, I’m lucky to get two weeks a year. And I actually know how to do my job.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:09 pmIt is extremely relevant that this administration feels threatened when an 82 year old ex president disses them.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:16 pmCarter wears depends and we all that know that means your either crazy, a psycho, or suffers from Alzheimers.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:19 pmSuspicions confirmed – Bush Administration officials are the Borg. We are all irrelevant!
May 20th, 2007 at 6:22 pmCarter is only irrelevant in that he is stating the blatantly obvious to those with a modicum of honesty.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:22 pmThe administration’s duplicity is on display calling President Carter’s criticism personal. His is clearly a criticism of their policies!
May 20th, 2007 at 6:25 pmPatrick1. How do you know Dubya doesn’t wear depends? He certainly could being an alcoholic moron.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:29 pmI’m so sick of Americans comparing the American Christian Right with Muslims. Christians and Muslims are very different.
I don’t think it’s accurate or responsible to brand the Neocon movement as driven by religion. Yeah, I think they use Christians for votes and to stack the Justice Department, but I think foreign policy in Muslim countries is solely based in national security. Period.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:34 pmLee, #13, I was thinking the same thing myself. Bush is increasingly irrelevant.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:35 pmBush needs to appoint an “Ex-President Czar”
May 20th, 2007 at 6:42 pmWell done, President Carter. Please keep speaking out.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:45 pmWhen the White House chooses not just to respond but to vehemently attack Jimmy Carter, they only prove just how relevant his comments are.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:49 pmAt last, Jimmy has the BushCo’s pissing in their soup. They are suddendly out of the water.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:52 pmHe is a loser!. Our people remained hostage for over 400 days because of him. Not only that he is supporting the terroristic palestinians and their attacks against Israel. Not to mention the 14% rate of inflation he managed to bestow upon us. He should stick to peanuts.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:55 pmWe are Borg (Bush administration). You will be assimilated (sent to Gitmo). Resistance is futile (we will find you with domestic spying, for Constitution is nothing but goddamned piece of paper!).
May 20th, 2007 at 6:56 pm#36. Exactly how much do you know about Palestinian-Israeli history?
May 20th, 2007 at 6:59 pmSo, why the deafening silence from Bill Clinton? Oh, that right — he wouldn’t dare offend any of Hillary’s large corporate campaign contributors, particularly those benefitting from continuing the status quo.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:00 pm#36. Exactly how much do you know about US-Iranian history?
May 20th, 2007 at 7:00 pmThe only thing irrelevant at this moment is the Bush Administration and their corporate republican enablers. As always, when someone speaks the truth about them, they go into “attack and distract” mode.
The only relevance they will ever have in American history will be when our grandkids learn about how our country had a close brush with fascism via a complicit corporate-controlled media and vote fraud. Let’s hope we never make this mistake again.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:02 pm#38 quite a bit, since I have friends there. Additionally israel is a part of my heritage.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:05 pmComment by Douglas G. — May 20, 2007 @ 6:55 pm
Did you get the memo that the criminals in the GOP were working against Jimmy during that 400 days so they could bail it out the first day? The same criminals who were involved in Iran-Contra and found guilty then pardoned by daddy Bush so they can serve for the current Bush Crime Family. Go eat shit dumbass. Carter has more morals in his pinky than the entire group of thugs in the GOP. You should crawl back under rock, asshole.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:05 pmComment by Douglas G………
Obviously you never read about the deal Ron Reagan had to keep the hostages right where they were until the moment he was President.
A little something to do with weapons exchange.
Jimmy Carter is under-appreciated.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:07 pmComment by Douglas G. #36
…It’s ignorant right wing scum like you Douglas…
…who never neglect to let us all know that…
…successful presidents like Clinton…
…who enjoyed great economic successes…
…inherited much of the “framework” for such successes to happen…
…but YOU neglect to apply the same standards to troubled economic presidencies…
…But, having said that Carter is STILL (even with all your al Ceeracker Bushit criticisms) heads and tails above the criminalBushites…
…a Nobel Peace Prize Winner and world renowned (respected) humanitarian…
…your god Bushiva will hopefully go down in history as the ONLY (to date) American President…
…prosecuted for War Crimes and Crimes against humanity!
May 20th, 2007 at 7:07 pmThis from an Administration that is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:08 pm#40 too much actually. In fact was with battle group echo in 83/84 in the indian ocean/red sea and surrounding areas.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:09 pmRe #36: Think you need to read history rather than try to revise with wishful thinking.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:11 pmBTW, “Our people” thesedays are our soldiers, and are held hostage by an arrogant, out-of-control administration whose only goal is to line their own pockets with ill-gotten riches.
American Satisfaction at New Low
May 20th, 2007 at 7:12 pmObviously you never read about the deal Ron Reagan had to keep the hostages right where they were until the moment he was President.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:14 pmA little something to do with weapons exchange. – - Gosh, and here I thought it was because the Iranians looked Reagan in the eye and got scared. (Thanks, Rudy.)
Comment by big papa — May 20, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
No, i am pointing out he has as much baggage as any president. I realize you probably hate bush, and he has screwed up quite a bit, BUT, if you look, our country now has the LOWEST unemployement rates we have had in a long time, home ownership is at an all time high.
He also lost over 3000 American lives in that stupid war in Iraq, no he has a lot of negatives right there. I am an equal opportunity butt kicker.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:15 pmI never thought much of Carter as a president. However, his works since leaving office have been completely humanitarian and almost saint like.
Bush becomes more irrelevant by the second. I look forward to the day when he’ll be tried before the International Criminal Court.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:15 pmIran did not kill Carter’s hostages. They did not cut their heads off and stick it on Youtube.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:16 pmLandSurveyor:
What exactly do you mean when you say “Christians and Muslims are very different”? What is sodifferent about the adherents of these two religions that makes you so very, very scared of Muslim fundamentalists, but unconcerned about Christian fundamentalists?
Are you aware that the greatest act of home-grown terrorism, the Oklahoma City bombing, was carried out by a man who considered himself a Christian activist? And the bombings of women’s health clinics, the murders of doctors in the name of Christianity? How about Christian-based death cults like the People’s Temple and David Koresh.
Have you studied history? Are you aware of the torture, mass murder, and genocide carried out in the name of Christ? Look up the St. Barthlemew’s Day Massacre in 1572, the Inquisition, and the close coordination of mainstream Christian churches in Germany with Hitler’s regime.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:17 pmDouglas. Oh, you have friends there? Would that be in Iran? Or maybe with Ollie North’s contra’s that the Bolan ammendment prohibited dealing with? But that’s ok because daddy Bush pardoned everyone for their illegal activities?
Have you ever bothered to read a book? Any book? Never mind.
Your ignorance is manifest. I won’t bother to list the ways.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:17 pmPresident Carter was and is a humanitarian and an intelligent man.
I don’t see the Bush Crime Family being the least bit philanthropic.
I think the only book Maureen Dowd found in the study in Maine was “The Fart Book”
May 20th, 2007 at 7:24 pm“Iran did not kill Carter’s hostages. They did not cut their heads off and stick it on Youtube.”
Comment by LandSurveyor
Reagan’s actions actually spurred additional hostage-taking. From an Ollie North memo:
the following proposal has evolved which the Iranians today said they wd like to discuss in detail on Saturday: — The total “package” from the Israelis wd consist of 50 HAWKs w/PIP (product improvement package) and 3300 basic TOWs. — Deliveries wd commence on or about 12 December as follows:
H hr: 1 707 w/300 TOWs = 1 AMCIT
H+10hrs: 1 707 (same A/C) w/300 TOWs = 1 AMCIT
H+16hrs: 1 747 w/50 HAWKs & 400 TOWs = 2 AMCITs
H+20hrs: 1 707 w/300 TOWs = 1 AMCIT
H+24hrs: 1 747 w/2000 TOWs = French Hostage
An AMCIT meant “American Citizen.”
May 20th, 2007 at 7:25 pm#54 That would be in Israel, where they were trying to live in peace, before Hamas missiles started slamming into their city, starting another Israely counterstrike situation.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:28 pm#25, or in your case, haven’t been potty trained yet.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:32 pmOK City bombing was revenge for Waco (Koresh) disaster.
Clinic bombers have serious mental disorders.
Despite the airtime that religious fanatics get here in America I think America is tempered. A super majority of Americans support Roe, despite Bush’s stacking of the courts. And I think the courts will change (I know they will).
Yeah lots of Christians have done lots of bad things throughout history. Just like the Muslims are doing now. But Christianity hit a roadblock: Civil liberties, the Enlightenment, etc. Even in Italy today the poor Catholics are trying to muscle their influence all over again, in vain.
I think the modern Republican reached out to the Christian Right, abused them, and ultimately ignored them (except for Justice Dept assignments). And I think their relationship is doomed. But the Muslim? OMFG they missed the enlightenment. They would Democratically vote to take away Democracy! Just ask the Dutch! Screw Sharia Law and old world patriarchs. Screw them. I dare them to f*** with my world.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:33 pm#42, #46. Then why do your comments reek of ignorance?
Maybe I should ask, what do you know about those histories that causes you to have those views?
In particular, you have to go back farther than 1983-84 to have an informed opinion of US-Iranian relations.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:36 pmDougie is a Neocon Zionazi
May 20th, 2007 at 7:39 pmI look forward to the day when he’ll be tried before the International Criminal Court.
Comment by Sg1234
Hmmmm…. I was wondering how many war (majority of them are War of Agression) this country has fought over last 35-40 years… and how many leaders have been “Tried” within from this country, froget about “International Court”.
thought some of you might be interested in seeing this small film, runs around 23 mins.
SPIN: The Art of Selling War
Also, I read an artical by Patrick Foy titled “The Kissinger Connection” and one the para in that artical goes like this Do not hold your breath waiting for a long-overdue Congressional investigation into how and why America was railroaded into invading Iraq and who is responsible for destroying that country in the aftermath of the invasion, because there is not going to be one. Not now, not ever, no matter who is in charge of Congress.
Oh..and by the way talking about Mr. Kissinger and Vietnam war… remember that Peace Prize ?
May 20th, 2007 at 7:39 pm#57. So your friend were in Israel rather than Iran, which is what you claimed to be an expert in.
Isreal wants peace like Rudy wants to be reminded that he is a cross-dresser…. Like Mitt Romney wants people to know he never actually shot a gun… Like Newt wants people to know he gave his wife the finger when she was in the hospital with breast cancer…like McCain wants people to forget that he french-kissed Bush…like all the republicans want us all to believe that 911 didn’t happen after Bush was warned and ignored it –> after all, he was on VACATION!
May 20th, 2007 at 7:45 pmJimmy Carter’s book on Palestine is right on the money.
And he’s right on the money. on Chimpy destroying our world reputation.
That’s why the smear job on Carter will continue to be brutal.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:47 pmDoes Bush still think he’s doing a good job?
History will give him the proper rebuke!
May 20th, 2007 at 7:49 pmour country now has the LOWEST unemployement rates we have had in a long time, home ownership is at an all time high.
Comment by Douglas G. #50
I’m gonna try this post 1 more time…
..TP posted it…then took it down…
…TP really sucks today…
…Doug You REALLY ARE stupid…
…the unemployment numbers are “CREATED”by government bureaucrats…
…with an agenda…
…they don’t include the chronically unemployed who have STOPPED looking for work…
…the chronically UNDERemployed…
..those who are hiredby factories towork for 89 days then laid off…
…so that the company doesn’t have toinsure or pay benefits for them…
…and as for the housing market…
…foreclosures are the highest they’ve EVER BEEN…
…take your dumb a*s to:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2006/06/foreclosures-rise.html
…and you’ll find out why…
…I despise propagandist Bushites like you…
…so I willno longer engage your ignorant a*s in ANY more of my posts…
…you’re intellectually dishonest, morally bankrupt, and a hypocrite to boot…
May 20th, 2007 at 7:49 pmTP REALLY SUCKS TODAY!
May 20th, 2007 at 7:53 pmCarter wears depends and we all that know that means your either crazy, a psycho, or suffers from Alzheimers.
Comment by Patrick1 — May 20, 2007 @ 6:19 pm
Why Patrick1, something you’re fianlly qualified to comment on – the use of depends adult diapers. Probably your one true area of expertise, other than masturbation.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:54 pmwhy big papa? Because your ideas are being challenged? Suck it up.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:54 pmThirty years ago, Tricky Dick said “If the President dies it, its not illegal”
Chimpy still thinks so today.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:56 pmI see your post, big papa.
The global economic analysis, right?
And yes they do suck by ignoring our pleadings re: the trolls, not listening to our suggestions, ignoring out emails to them….
but I’d still like you to stay.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:57 pmHilarious, Carter must have forgot the 23 % interest rates, double digit inflation, botched resue attempts of the hostages held my Iran,
May 20th, 2007 at 7:57 pmand on and on and on of his presidentecy. I think Carter was looking for a way to change his place in history and by placing this label on Bush, he somehow escapes. I am not saying anything good about Bush you understand but I lived through this guy and he was the real BOZO !!!!
LandSurveyor:
I regret that I cannot share your faith in the influence of the Enlightenment on Christianity. You talk as if it’s something that only had to happen once, rather than an endless, ongoing struggle to contain the irrational, anti-science, fanatical, fundamentalist elements within Christianity.
I happen to live in a very red part of a red state and I know how the Enlightenment and it’s traditions are attacked here every day —on the radio, in the pulpit, even in the public schools. Didn’t some high profile Evangelical just call church-state separation a myth to a group of graduating college students?
For the life of me I cannot understand why any American could possibly fear the specter of living under Sharia Law. It has less of a chance than Ron Paul’s candidacy for the Republican nomination. But living under retrograde, anti-Enlightenment, patriarchal Christian law is a very real possibilty—more real than it’s been in a long time, thanks in part to the endless flogging of the non-existent threat of Muslim domination.
The whole point of fascism is that it attaches itself to the native ideas, traditions, fantasies, and bogeymen. When fascism comes to the US it will be waiving a US flag and bearing a cross.
Also, you cannot get away with writing off antiabortion extremists as mentally disturbed individuals acting alone. You know very well that these people are supported, funded, indoctrinated, and defended by a very wealthy and well-organized extremist Christian infrastructure.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:58 pmDouglas G.:
Stock ownership was at a rather high level too back in 1929. Ownership does not equal weath.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:59 pmComment by LandSurveyor #68
…we’re ALL entitled to our own ideas…
…but NOT our own FACTS…
…I’m trying to post facts…
…and TP keeps scrubbing them…
May 20th, 2007 at 8:01 pmOK, big papa,
Now it’s gone.
TP: STOP MESSING WITH YOUR BASE!
HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING?
May 20th, 2007 at 8:02 pmI agree with President Carter.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:03 pmWhy is the Dim Son on vacation in Crawford? What gives him the right to go on vacation, when we have soldiers missing and likely dead over in Iraq, kidnapped by “terrah-ists”?
May 20th, 2007 at 8:04 pmFatherflot there’s a line. Before 911 Bush wanted to force public school children and expectant mothers to have psychiatric exams. Forced exams. FORCED.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:05 pmRon Paul went straight to Christian radio and started the process of killing the plan because Christians were opposed to this. We’ll never know how it would have turned out but I trust that privacy and technology will prevail in America. Men are sinners. They are their own undoing. And God takes care of the hypocrites.
Jimmy Carter is an elder statesman and it is reprehensible for Chimpy to smear him.
Carter’s work on free elections around the world is a phenomenal contribution.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:07 pmComment by buckShep — May 20, 2007 @ 7:57 pm
I lived through both as well and Carter was there for four years with an economy he inherited from Nixon, Ford and Johnson. He didn’t get us into any quagmires and he deficit was not what it is today. We were not a third world country and we were fighting a cold war against communism… today we are as bad as Russia was back then. We are in a war with no end. Everyday there is another scandal from the thugs in the White House. We are the bad guys. Carter is right, Dubya is the worst of all and you disagreeing makes you a 28% fool.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:09 pmIf Carter is so irrelevant, why is this story all over the internet? It’s on both liberal and conservative blogs.
Carter doesn’t seem so irrelevant. Carter’s was not a successful presidency, but it wasn’t the disaster that is the Bush administration. Anyone saying otherwise if full of shit, and I lived through it as well.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:12 pmWhatever Newt did with his finger…I do NOT want to know!
May 20th, 2007 at 8:13 pmWhat I don’t understand about Carter was his choice for National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski a “Geostratagist”, and Globalist who was a NeoCon before the word was ever coined, is deeply involved in the present day Project for a New American Century (PNAC). And you thought I only read Strauss? Everyone should read Zbigniew’s book, “The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives”, published in 1998, basically blueprints everything that is going on today as it relates to the military primacy of the US and it’s domination of the world.
I have been saying for a long time, and everyday it just keeps ringing more true, that there isn’t a two party system. Just social engineering of two types of thinking (politically right and left) in society. Follow the money and the people that plan, and execute these stratagies for world governance and they are always the same people. Hopefully, i’m wrong.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:14 pmLandSurveyor:
I don’t understand your last comment. Are you somehow claiming that Christian radio helped protect us from Bush’s over-reaching? That would be a new one on me.
As for your faith that God will sort things out, I’m glad it gives you comfort, but it does not do so for me. Such sentiments means no more to me than similar protestations about Allah’s greatness, justice, and wisdom.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:26 pmCarter’s “unsuccessful” presidency is looking more brilliant with each passing day! And Carter has made himself more relevant than any currently living president. Yes, I agree with the poster above who said the Bush White House was talking about itself when it said “increasingly irrelevant.”
May 20th, 2007 at 8:33 pmFor some reason, I’m far more interested in what Jimmy Carter has to say than what Tony Fratto (who?) concocts as a comeback. I think experience and standing weigh in Carter’s favor.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:33 pmNo, i am pointing out he has as much baggage as any president. I realize you probably hate bush, and he has screwed up quite a bit, BUT, if you look, our country now has the LOWEST unemployement rates we have had in a long time, home ownership is at an all time high.
Comment by Douglas G. — May 20, 2007 @ 7:15 pm
I’m going to nip this one in the bud. Look here, buddy. The statistics you are quoting (lowest unemployment rate EVA!) are bunk. Those stats only count people whoe are collecting unemployment. They do NOT count people who are not looking for work for pay (i.e. homemakers, voluntary or no; anyone on welfare; in fact, the definition is anyone who hasn’t been looking for work, while physically able, for the past four weeks!). They do NOT count the homeless. They do NOT count anyone in jail. They do NOT count people who own their own business, but can’t find any work. They do NOT count people who can find part-time work, but cannot find full-time work, and thus cannot attain a living wage. It does NOT count anyone working full-time that STILL cannot make a living wage. Both of the latter require a person to work well beyond overtime OFTEN WITHOUT OVERTIME PAY. It does not provide anywhere near a reasonable account of how the economic status of the citizenry is in any meaningful way.
Home ownership is up, but the largest market increase is from second (or third, or more) homes. While there have been solid sales of new first homes, there are also record levels of foreclosures, and of people buying homes on scaling mortgages that they cannot afford to pay after a few years time. The citizenry is also living in the red, with the average American having a owing more than they are worth, because of how much money the average Jane or Joe is putting on credit. This is illusionary market that is being spun by the bastards on the right. They are snake-oil salesmen, and they are allowed to do it because Reagan screwed us all, and the whole world, in fact, when he began the horrible deregulation of industry in this country, combined with the lax attitudes law enforcement and the courts have had in regards to the atrocious anti-union actions (illegal actions, mind you) corporations in general have been engaging in for the past couple decades. It’s infuriating.
You are being taken in by the game, and you are being played by the players. Just like you need to look at the question, verbatim, in a poll to accurately gauge the bias or lack thereof, you need to look at exactly what number you are being given when a politician tells it to you.
It’s a pure bullshit right-wing talking point. Nothing more. So go forth, look it up, look at the rise in homelessness, in prison populations, in people living off of the tax-payer’s dollar, and in people who have just plain given up in this horrible economy and just don’t look for work, or work off-jobs for no boss but themselves. This is what Reaganomics has given to us all! This is full-blown class warfare! The strength of this country lies with it’s middle class, and the only way to keep a strong middle class is to keep the BOTTOM rising economically, keeping the money flowing through Capital and Labor equally. If the base is strong, the whole economy is strong. If every single American were forevermore guaranteed a LIVING WAGE as the lowest tier of job, the economy would have the firmest foundation an economist could ever imagine, for every member of the society would contribute to the Market, willingly, happily, and to the betterment of us all.
So really, just quit spewing these garbage talking points and READ. Read history, read truth and fact and LEARN. Stop regurgitating what those in authority tell you. Use your brain, the greatest tool mankind has been given, and really, what separates us from the vast majority of the other animals on Earth.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:37 pmThat third sentence was supposed to say, “…collecting unemployment or actively looking for work.“
May 20th, 2007 at 8:40 pmJeez, nice disssertation. 8^)
Waste of time with Dougie, though. He can’t read all those big words.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:42 pmThe only thing foolish is to not face facts. I don’t want to belabor the point but to call Carter’s presidentecny anything but a disaster is to stick your head in the sand and ignore facts. He was incompetent, inept, useless at best. Just because he is on our side and he made a statement we like does not changes facts.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:43 pm#86 & 87: Good for you. I couldn’t say it that well. There are many who have lost their jobs, not drawing unemployment and are working as consultants with no benefits. They are considered employed even though they have not found gainful employment. The companies do it because it reduces their overhead: they don’t have to pay the overhead burden which averages 30% of salaries. They outsource and hire temporary and the lying thugs in the crime family tell us things are great. Try buying health insurance as an individual. You can’t in most cases.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:48 pmGeorge Bush take professional criticism (i.e., “…this administration has been the worst in history”), claim it is a personal attack, not address the substance of the criticism and then respond with a direct personal attack against President Carter (i.e., you are irrelevant)?
How stupid does George Bush think his supporters are?
May 20th, 2007 at 8:56 pmI have to disagree with those who have said that the White House talking heads are referring to GDumbya when they say “increasingly irrelevant”.
Even they know that GDumbya isn’t increasingly irrelevant . . . he’s terminally irrelevant.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:58 pmbuckshit is full of it.
I was in college during the Carter years. He didn’t lie to start any wars. He didn’t rat out the CIA. He didn’t wreck the Bill of Rights or Habeus Corpus.
Chimpy did ALL those things.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:59 pmHow stupid does George Bush think his supporters are?
He hasn’t underestimated them for the past six years.
May 20th, 2007 at 8:59 pm#89… buck shep
May 20th, 2007 at 9:05 pmwhat exactly were you doing in life during the carter presidency, just so that i can have a point of reference…if i’m not being to nosy…
White House calls Carter ‘increasingly irrelevant.’
Pot meet kettle.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:07 pmDouglas #50
Actually the economic picture is not as rosy as you try to paint it. Foreclosure rates are skyrocketing. And unemployemnts rates can be down for various reasons — if someone is out of work long enough, or if the economics of the area are so bad they are no longer seeking a job they can no longer claim unemployment. Plus, with the number of people serving in Iraq, is it any wonder that there are temporary jobs for people to be working? Jobs which go away as soon as the Guards and reservists return.
No, I’d have to say Bush has pretty much botched the job across the board. Unless, of course, you’re in the top 1% of the nation financially. For those folks he’s done a heckuva job.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:10 pm#89
May 20th, 2007 at 9:12 pmHow do you take the four years of Carter and ignore the Vietnam war, Nixon, Ford, and then the Ronnie Reagan years afterward? Try putting it all into context. Carter didn’t create all the bullshit he inherited. He did in fact have some GOP criminials working against him. You are spouting some facts but things were bad when he took office. Iran has been a problem since we helped overthrow their duly elected leader in 1953…Ronnie Reagan pulled the troops out after the bombing of the embassy. This is a big world and Carter has done more good in his lifetime than the entire Republic Party has done since it’t inception. The Republic Party caused the Great Depression and now we have Dubya and his crime family. Go figure.
How stupid does George Bush think his supporters are?
If the trolls in here are any indicator, Chimpy thinks his base is dumber than he is.
And that’s incredibly stupid.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:13 pmI’d think that reckless would be a banned word at the WH.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:15 pmI think the Segway is banned at the White House.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:21 pmOn the contrary, any criticisms of the Bush Syndicate are increasingly relevant. THAT, my friends, is democracy.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:36 pmI have lived threw a number of presidents and I must say at no time in History have we ever been the third most hated country in the world.
Goerg Bush did that all by himself. ‘
He has wrecked the Justice dept so they can not investigate him.
The day Gonzo leaves Bush might as well resign because he will be indicted and arrested. The Dems know this that’s why the pressure is on for Gonzo to leave.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:37 pmHe was incompetent, inept, useless at best. Just because he is on our side and he made a statement we like does not changes facts.
Comment by buckShep —
Yeah, that whole successful Israel/Egypt peace accord stuff; what a friggin’ loser.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:41 pmWhy does Carter hate America?
Why does Carter want the terrorists to win?
Clinton did it too.
/troll mode off
May 20th, 2007 at 9:43 pmCarter’s statement is more polished then any of those coming from the Cheney/Bush administration. Since Reagan cut him off at the knees Jimmy Carter has done more for the benefit of mankind and world peace than anyone who has followed him.
May 20th, 2007 at 10:19 pmI have seen a few comments calling Carter “inept, useless at best”…. Most of what Carter inherited was due to the Nixon/Ford administrations ineptitude. Specifically speaking about the gas crisis, federal deficit, and the issues of the Shaw in Iran getting overthrown. Thus, leading to the American hostage crises. What Carter had control over was brokering safe release of the hostages. What we didn’t know then, but we do know now is those administration officials that sabotaged foriegn policy, and specifically the early release of the hostages. Zbigniew Brzezinski was the person in charge for brokering the release of the hostages. This failed.
Enter Ronald Reagen. A Goldwater-conservative nominates George Bush Sr who brings into the adminsitration this fresh team of conservatives that consider Zbigniew Brzezinski as one of the main architects of a sound foriegn policy. These new conservatives where Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Elliott Abrams, William Bennett, John Bolton, Lewis Libby, Rumsfeld, Donald, Woolsey, James….what we call today as the NeoCons.
Zbigniew Brzezinski is a very active NeoCon today. he is deeply involved in the present day Project for a New American Century (PNAC). Again, everyone should read Zbigniew’s book, “The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperativesâ€, published in 1998, basically blueprints everything that is going on today as it relates to the military primacy of the US and it’s domination of the world.
May 20th, 2007 at 10:41 pmFatherflot,
May 20th, 2007 at 10:43 pmI really didn’t intend to get philosophical or spiritual. My attitudes about Christianity are complex. My relationships with Christians are complex. I really don’t think an examination of Christianity is a part of addressing terrorism, that’s all.
Christianity in America and Islamic Terrorism abroad have zilch in common for all practical purposes. And it’s not fair either to drag one into the other. Our religious bad guy is encroaching on their religious bad guy?! Who cares! I don’t trust the Muslim community to get a handle on their radicals and they’re going to suffer for it.
At the same time I trust Americans to get a handle on their fanatics. We do it everyday. It’s a constant process.
The Bush administration dares to call President Carter “reckless”? The current administration has no concept of integrity, christianity, or basic moral values. It is appalling. The current administration engages this nation into a preemptive attack on a sovreign nation and claims a right to do so? What is the matter with Americans? What has happened to our sense of justice.
We currently have hundreds of people incarcerated in Guantanomo without Due Process of Constitutional rights and one Navy officer is going to prison for six months because he released their names. All he did was release their names. Our current Attorney General says it is a quaint notion to think that torture is immoral. Billions of dollars are made annually for no bid contracts in Iraq. We are killing their children and their families over there. WAKE UP AMERICA. These acts are egregious. They are immoral. We need to bring all our troops home immediately and we need to impeach this president and all his staff and his attorney general for the sake of our nation’s integrity and values.
May 20th, 2007 at 10:43 pmIt is not President Carter who is irrelevant. It is our current administration who does not believe in America’s Constitutional rights, and limits to war powers. Shameful. Shameful acts.
May 20th, 2007 at 10:45 pmWhen you’re afraid and feeling insecure, it is easy to criticize others in order to make yourself feel more important.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:11 pmIf Carter – a former President of the U.S. and Nobel Peace Prize winner – is so irrelevant to the White house, then why did they even bother to respond to his remarks with an attack? Answer: Many millions of Americans still listen to him and, Lordy, how the truth doth hurt.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:13 pmIt is the common tactic of this failed administration, so arrogant and so incompetent to shoot the messenger instead of doing a better job. This is a group of thugs in the Bush Crime Family. They are no better than the mob.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:23 pmbuckshep’s been listening to limpballs and inshannity run Jimmy down. I lived through Carter too… he was a hell of a lot better for this country than NixonFordReaganBushChimpy all lumped together.
You repugs have to tune into something other than Faux Noise to to get a fair look. Some dumbshit said on here today that Faux Noise has differing view points…I suppose they meant poor ole Alan Colmes…he’s nothing more than inshannity’s Ed McMahon.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:26 pm#111
Did you just wake up from a six year hibernation? Chimpy and gang are ruining this country and more people in leadership, or past leadership positions need to stand up and denounce these criminal bastards.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:38 pm#114 — Patrick
I agree. Carter didn’t dazzle, but his humanity was and is intact.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:45 pmLandSurveyor:
After six years of Bush II you “trust Americans to get a handle on their fanatics.”
That tells me all I need to know.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:46 pmFunny that they didn’t call Carter “totally irrelevant”, just “increasingly irrelevant” -meaning they still give a damn about what he says. Which is presumably the reason why they even bothered replying.
This is the same group of people who has used the word “irrelevant” against anyone who dares criticise them -does anyone remembers how the UN was in danger of “slipping into irrelevancy”?
The White House doth protest too much, methinks. Perhaps because the truth hurts.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:49 pmStrong, tough words from President Carter. All true, too.
Jimmy, more than any President since, understood the geopolitics of oil. He, unfortunately, lived through the 1st oil shocks when OPEC was formed.I’m not sure any President could have mitigated the domestic impact to the doubling of oil market pricing overnight (back when we had a heavily industrialized economy).
More importantly, he recognized the need to become energy independent on ME oil. He promoted the Department of Energy to a cabinet level position, pushed for alternative/renewabale energy develop (remember the solar panels and hot water heaters on the WH?), and conservation strategies. All things the Republicans hated and ridiculed…and which Bush/Reagan dismantled after they came to power (by cutting a deal to HOLD American citizens until after the election…how unAmerican). So Bush cut cheap oil deals with the Sauds and enriched himself and the Republican Party’s #1 benefactor Big Oil in the process. What they really did was avoid the hard decisions and delayed our ability to become energy independent. Now that the Sauds have maximized production in their oil fields, the price continues to climb as demand is far exceeding supply.
Carter had the right, long term vision for America…the Bush Republican Party sold us out by keeping us addicted to cheap oil. And we are paying the price in this oil grab disaster from the son of the architect of this policy. How sadly ironic.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:55 pmInnocent Bystander—you said it man!!
May 21st, 2007 at 12:02 amThe more this administration speaks, the more it sounds like they are speaking from a bunker. Much of what they say and do sounds like so much “us against the world”. They don’t care much about world opinion, never have, and now, even less so. They don’t care what the Congress thinks, especially the “Democrat” Congress. They don’t care about what you and I think. The only opinion in which they are interested is best heard in an echo chamber. If you don’t agree with them, they only thing they care about is whether they can mess with you.
This is one damned scary bunch we have hunkering down now, trying to last, and talking and acting like they are in absolute control of everything that really matters to them.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:03 amSo, what is Carter’s approval rating as compared to Bush’s. I’d be willing to bet that Carter’s approval rating, even today, is much higher than Bush. That makes Bush irrelevant, not Carter.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:18 amThe White House is projecting. It is THEY who have obviously become irrelevent. Even Bush’s own party is telling him to fire Gonzalez and that their support for Iraq is over. Karl Rove went from “genius” to the man who lost all of Congress for Republicans. There are fewer and fewer people who consider themselves Republicans. The money is flowing into Democratic candidates, who now raise as much or more than their Republican counterparts (unheard of in the pre-Bush years). Bush threatens Congress that he will veto a bill, and they send it to him anyways. It won’t be long before funding for the war is cut-off. Bush is polling at an all-time low. Nixon post-Watergate had better numbers than the current idiot “commander guy”. The White House is even losing their guy in the World Bank (Wolfowitz). It’s done Bushies. Criticize Carter all you want. He’s just saying what the entire PLANET feels. Bush has done more damage to our country than any President in history.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:31 amIf we stayed on the path Carter set, we would not be in this mess. He saw this future problem and knew it was best we became energy independent. We did not. Now we blow up countries to control oil
May 21st, 2007 at 12:41 amCarter, after the second gas “crisis” of the 70’s, earmarked money for SynFuels, Hydrogen research, etc..
When Reagan, backed by oil for so many years, got into office, ALL the funding was eliminated, except for incentives for OIL and NUCLEAR, and GUESS who owns the nuclear….
So, 28 years later, we could have ALREADY been energy independent. The oil companies, along with the WAR CRIMINAL of the BushCrimeCo, Inc., all OIL execs, have CONTINUED to do this to the USA.
Our soldiers in Iraq are DYING for OIL;
they are NOT dying for America’s “freedom”.
Osama STILL EXISTS 5 1/2 years after 9/11.
And our soldiers are DYING in Bush’s ILLEGAL WAR of LIES.
Bush and his WAR CRIMINALS are TRAITORS TO THE USA…
May 21st, 2007 at 1:56 amNotice how early the 2008 election has become big news?
May 21st, 2007 at 2:34 amThe American people are looking forward to George Bush becoming increasingly irrelevant.
HEY DECIDER COMMANDER GROUPIES- LISTEN UP; YOUR BOY IS THE ABSOLUTE PITS!!!
May 21st, 2007 at 2:37 amPRESIDENT CARTER COULD NOT BE ANY MORE RELEVANT!!!
PLEASE, some of you are still referring to bushcrimes as “blunders.” They are not blunders, they are CRIMES…and he/they did it ON PURPOSE, ALL OF IT.
Was it a “blunder” when poppybush orchestrated the murder of JFK in Dallas?
Was the near-murder of Reagan by the son of a bush oilman crony a “blunder?”
Was IranContra a “blunder?”
Was the Enron scam by bushbuddies a “blunder?”
When NORAD control was passed to Emperor VP Cheney months before 911 (never before seen in the history of NORAD, or in USA history), was that too a “blunder?”
When bush was warned of imminent attack but continued clearing brush, was that a “blunder?”
When WTC air quality was rated “safe” only hours after the attacks, was that a “blunder?”
Does Downing Street memo indicate a “blunder” into Iraq?
Was Plame outed by some “blunder?”
Has our USA Treasury been pillaged and plunderered due to some innocent “blunder?”
Are a million dead and displaced Iraqis the fruit of bush “blunder?”
Need I continue? These are CRIMES AGAINST AMERICA and against world peace. If we citizens do not DEMAND AND OBTAIN a Neuremberg-style tribunal against this CRIMINAL bush regime, our nation is FINISHED.
May 21st, 2007 at 2:51 amJob Growth Per Year Under Most Recent Presidents:
Johnson 3.8%
May 21st, 2007 at 6:38 amCarter 3.1
Clinton 2.4
Kennedy 2.3
Nixon 2.3
Reagan 2.1
Bush 0.6
Job Growth Per Year Under Most Recent Presidents:
Johnson 3.8%
May 21st, 2007 at 6:39 amCarter 3.1
Clinton 2.4
Kennedy 2.3
Nixon 2.3
Reagan 2.1
Bush 0.6
Fatherflot we’re at the mercy of midterm elections. We took away Bush’s super majority in 2006 and I have a good vibe about 2008.
Nice read, Innocent Bystander-
May 21st, 2007 at 7:20 amBush WISHES he could be as relevant as Carter is right now, much less 27 years after hs administration is over.
Denial and Projection. I am amazed how much these two psychological conditions have permeated our society…
May 21st, 2007 at 7:29 amEx presidents and the truth should be seen and not heard.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:46 am“As Iraq’s government compiles a record of failure, the Bush administration is under growing pressure to intervene to rearrange Baghdad’s dysfunctional political order, or even install a new leadership,” the LA Times reports today.
Hmmm . . . getting GDumbya’s administration to intervene in Baghdad’s dysfunctional political order. Isn’t that kind of like having a peodophile in charge of security at the local grade school.
If GDumbya is going to rearrange any dysfunctional political order, I would suggest that he begin in the U.S. A good first step would be for him and Darth Cheney to resign.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:59 amAnd I think it is sad that America is still in the thrall of the worst, most corrupt administration in the history of our nation, a regime that spits on the Constitution and grinds the Bill of Rights under its jackboots daily. A regime that has instituted a near-police state, with warrantless search and surveillence and arrest, with no opportunity of access to legal counsel, at the whim of a tyrant, a president who over a 1,000 times now has issued signing statements to legislation declaring he is above the law.
Whereas Jimmy Carter has devoted his life to free and honest democratic elections, and to clothing and feeding the poor and homeless.
Let me think about this. Who would Jesus vote for?
May 21st, 2007 at 8:10 amNot that Carter is irrelevant (far from it, actually) but if there is one thing this administration knows about, it’s irrelevance!!
May 21st, 2007 at 8:36 am‘increasingly irrelevant.’?
Is Tony Fratto confusing presidents again?
#36, Sure and Reagan’s people “negotiating” to delay the hostages release was totally ethical. So was selling Iran arms, right? Also, I think most would think that GW’s “Baggage” is somewhat heavier then any of Pres. Carter’s.
May 21st, 2007 at 8:36 amI like how Carter’s criticism of “this Administration” is framed as a “personal attack.” Words against the war are spun into words against the soldiers, words against the administration are spun into attacks against G.W. Bush, as though it’s a personal thing.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:05 amI am thinking that BushCorp is becoming irrelevant.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:16 amWe love ya, Jimmy. As said before, “just keeep speaking out Jimmy.” Americans are starving for the truth.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:53 amIrrelevant??
Have they seen “The Decider’s” poll numbers lately??!!
May 21st, 2007 at 12:07 pm#111
Did you just wake up from a six year hibernation? Chimpy and gang are ruining this country and more people in leadership, or past leadership positions need to stand up and denounce these criminal bastards.
Comment by Patrick — May 20, 2007 @ 11:38 pm
I should have been clearer. It is BUSH and CO. who are afraid and insecure and thus criticizing others to make themselves feel better about themselves. That was my point.
I agree with you. This administration is f**king up this country and it will take a long time to recuperate from their actions.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:33 pmOh yeah, I signed #111 lossoffaith because I have lost all faith in this government. It is a joke.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:34 pmWho’s Jimmy Carter?
May 21st, 2007 at 12:46 pmThis administration has made some serious mistakes around the world. Take it from me, it’s much better to let the world hold you hostage, so you can be friends.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:48 pmComment by Moderation — May 20, 2007 @ 8:37 pm
You fail to mention that all thos same unemployement factors were the same ones that were in place during Carter’s reckless administration.
Carter was a LOUSEY president, however his humanitarian work after his presidency is noteworthy.
We are dealing with some of the lowest intrest rates in a long time, while under Carter they rose to double digits! As for foreclosures and such, that is because some companies made reckless loans to credit risks, and lost ther bets. This happens quite frequently in the automobile industry also.
The bottom line, using the same statistics, Carter had some of the highest interest rates, highest rate of inflation, and highest tax rates, when compared to bush, using the SAME basis for statistics. That translates to Carter’s presidency gave us the LOWEST BUYING POWER of the 2 presidents.
Bush still needs to extricate us from this mess in Iraq. It’s hosed up and he was a fool for doing it.
May 21st, 2007 at 2:09 pmThe word ‘increasingly’ is not needed to describe Carter. He was irrelevant when Reagan took him to the outhouse and dumped almost 500 electoral votes on his sorry behind.
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