Our Worst Ex-President

First of all - don't panic, it is not about the Israeli worst ex-president, for the simple reason that the jury is still out on the question. Besides, the current one seems...

Anyway, it is the title of an article by Joshua Muravchik about the ex-POTUS James Earl Carter in Commentary magazine. The article is a breathtaking history of Jimbo's shenanigans, so I made a few decisions re this post:

• To focus on subjects unrelated to Israel. Too much words are spilled lately on the subject, including accusations of anti-Semitism. Indeed, some bloggers would do better throttling down a bit... The man is 82 years old, FFS! He is not anti-anything, rather pro-everything, which makes him cuter than any time before.
  
• To avoid extensive quoting. The original article should be read as a whole, this post notwithstanding.
• To prepare a picture gallery instead based on (some of) the Jimbo's bosom buddies, which gallery could serve as a teaching aid for the reading challenged youth.

So, to start with quoting:

...one of Carter’s personality tics, strange in a man who boasted so often of his honesty: a compulsion to engage in flattery. At times, this could manifest itself toward a rightist ally like the Shah of Iran. Just months before the outbreak of the revolution that culminated in his toppling, Carter declared in a toast that Iran was an “island of stability” thanks to the “love which your people give you.” But the impulse expressed itself most strongly toward leftist strongmen.

So let's embark on the tour of the photo gallery: Jimbo and the dictators. Barf bags at ready!

Jimbo and Shah of Iran

Jimbo and Josip Broz Tito

Carter hailed Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito as “a man who believes in human rights”...

Jimbo and Polish Stalinist Edward Gierek

Visiting Poland, then ruled by the Stalinist hack Edward Gierek, he offered a toast to its “enlightened leaders” and declared that “our concept of human rights is preserved in Poland . . . much better than other European nations with which I am familiar.”

Jimbo and Romanian tyrant Nicolae Ceausescu

Our goals are the same... [ain't it delicious?]

Jimbo and North Korean Kim Il Sung

"The U.S. desires to live in peace and harmony with North Korea. We don't believe our different government systems should be an obstacle to full cooperation and friendship." The fruits of these "peace and harmony" will feed generations to come...

And now brace yourself and keep your young ones and/or pregnant ones away:

Jimbo and the Wet Kisser signing SALT II

From Wiki: An agreement to limit strategic launchers was reached in Vienna on June 18, 1979, and was signed by Leonid Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter. Six months after the signing, the Soviet Union deployed troops in Afghanistan...

I hope you have a picture now of what in many places would be sufficient legal grounds for a court martial and summary execution.

And this man continues to roam the world, generously sharing with us from the bottomless pool of his wisdom...

What can one say about the whole storm in a teacup? It seems that Jimbo is trying to deflect the arrows from all directions but one:

"I have been called a liar," Carter said at a town hall meeting on Saturday, the second day of a three-day symposium on his presidency at the University of Georgia. "I have been called an anti-Semite," he said. "I have been called a bigot. I have been called a plagiarist. I have been called a coward."

How about being called simply dumb?



to Andrew Ian Dodge.

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