Cynical Nation

I too am just so sick of Carter's work to eliminate disease in Africa and his work in overseeing successful elections in Indonesia. And then there is his help building homes for the poor. Yeah, what a bastard he is for questioning that there might be bias in Florida in how they decide who gets to vote and who doesn't.

If he read this blog, he would know all fraud is committed by Democrats. What a jerk.

PE, Barry's comments were meant as satire.

The fact that Carter has done much good with his works in communities does not give him immunity to criticism when he sticks his unerringly-wrong nose into the political arena.

In truth, Carter has been carping on every president who succeeded him - including Clinton, who grew to detest him.

Historically, former presidents have keep their views of their successors to themselves. Carter has stood such protocol on its head.

As truly one of the worst presidents this country has ever suffered through, it would be nice if he kept his silence. Carter's ego is such, however, that he seemingly feels the need to trash the others - perhaps on the old idea that if he shoots them all down, they will be on a par with his reputation as chief executive.

And this is from someone who voted for him in both elections, my friend.

Well, I voted for Carter in 1976 and for Anderson in 1980, deserting Carter because of his ineffectiveness as President. Since then, Carter has done a lot of good work and stuck his nose in many places indeed in many places where it was not appreciated. That said, he has been a bulldog for human liberties, risking his life on many occasions going into countries as an election monitor.

Has he been mistaken and wrong on occasion? Certainly. However, in the case of Indonesia where he was invited to help bring about the elections, his tenacity helped bring fair elections to a country that never had them. He also confronted the Noriega regime during that election and his tenacity there helped to justify Bush 41's invasion that ultimattely overthrew Noriega.

All politicians have egos. Bush has a big one. He has to. That said, I have heard Carter interviewed by those critical of him and his responses are always informed and detailed, even if you disagree. I have never heard him get into defending his Presidency, such as Nixon did in "No More Vietnams." Carter discusses issues of the moment and what he has discovered in his work since his Presidency. It seems to me, in such interviews, that he has moved on beyond what he has achieved or did not achieve in his time in office.

I guess that you'd prefer former Presidents to just play golf like Gerald Ford or Bush 41 -- or to collect millions of dollars to give speeches like Clinton or Reagan. That may indeed be the historical model, but I don't see why that is the better model.

I mean, God help us, if a former President still cares about an issue, is willing to still fight for causes that he or she believes.

Admire him or not, but Robert McNamera was a success running Ford Motors, but a failure running the Vietnam War. He still kept going, however, running the World Bank and is still on the fringe of our discourse today. Theodore Roosevelt left the Presidency in 1908 only to try to regain it in 1912 and was criticizing Wilson until his dying day in 1919. People like Carter succeed and they fail and they succeed and they fail -- but they keep going until God takes their breath away.

Bully to him, I say.

Talk about irony.. what about a blogger telling a former President to "shut up," just like a famous talk show host who has written a book telling celebrities to "shut up." I'm sure that Teresa Heinz Kerry has used those two words on more than one occasion, but on the eve of the Iraq War, "shut up" was practically a mantra, often said by someone engaging in a lot of talking.

To those who might accuse me of hypocrisy, I have always supported the creation of Fox News and other alternative outlets that have grown to counterbalance the main stream media. This blogs and blogs like it are a healthy addition to democracy. I am not therefore telling Barry to shut up, I am questioning his telling Jimmy to shut up. If Jimmy ever tells Barry to shut up, I will admonish him as well.