The reptilian Jimmy Carter slithered into public view again during the past week, emerging from whatever dark hole he currently fouls with his presence, to lower the level of political discourse with a bit of poisonous venom.
In a gratuitous aspersion on the character of John McCain, the former president accused the Arizona senator who is running for the presidency of "milking" his military service record for political gain.
Insofar as I can recall, McCain hasn't ever even referred to his military record, let alone claimed that his widely admired heroism entitles him to any political reward. If public recognition of one's service constitutes "milking," the same charge could be leveled with equal validity against George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter. -- yes, himself too -- and George Bush, all of whom also served honorably.
In fact, of the recent military veterans who went on to become presidents, Mr. Carter is the only one I remember as having cited his service among his qualifications for election. So lets look back and remember what Mr. Carter's failed presidency did for us. Remember his policy of rewarding America's enemies and punishing its friends? Remember the way he pulled the rug out from under the friendly shah of Iran and brought the ayatollahs to power there? Remember how that brought us gas lines and brought and is continuing to give us high gas prices. Remember his economic policies and stagflation, a stagnant economy along with interest rates over 20%? Remember the Iranian mob storming our embassy in Tehran and taking the Americans there hostage and holding them while Mr. Carter endlessly dithered but did nothing about that overt act of war against the U.S.? Or his antisemitism and ongoing efforts to undermine Israel? Or his endless befriending of anti-American despots around the globe such as Yasser Arafat and Hugo Chavez (to mention just two examples) for which he was awarded the Nobel anti-American prize?
For a time after he left the presidency that was diminished by his tenure Mr. Carter engaged in admirable Habitat for Humanity endeavors. But his ego apparently requires periodic exposure to the public spotlight so he reappears more or less regularly to buddy up to, and try to legitimize some third world dictator or make some outlandish political pronouncement. And the press always follows and publicizes what he does and says, knowing that it will be sufficiently bizarre to garner a sizable audience of dummies.
Attesting to Mr. Carter's lack of stature is his having been kept under wraps at the just completed convention of his party in Denver. I'm not sure if he was even there but, if he was, he certainly was not assigned a role that a party that respected him and was proud of his presidency would have asked him to play.
The best appraisal of Mr. Carter was that of his mother, the late Lillian Carter, who cogently said:
“Sometimes when I look at all my children, I say to myself, "Lillian, you should have stayed a virgin."”
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