Carter was right, Carter was right! Carter was right!! Carter was right!

[PurgedVoter]

Yes, I can say this. You know it is true. Even if you are being paid to mod this down, you gotta known that he was freaking absolutely right and the best president in the lives of anyone around! You know it is true. The only president since Eisenhower to stand up to Business, and the only one who could see the freaking obvious truth.

Carter stood up to the oil companies!

P.S. Regan, he totally sucked.

[eleny]

1. K&R

[Mark D.]

137. Agreed

But not the first since Eisenhower. JFK did. He stood up against the corporate-tied interest, like the Military Industrial Complex (friend to many weapons manufacturers and big energy that powers them) the CIA and the Federal Reserve (a private entity as well). He had stood up too much actually. While Ike took on Texas oil-men verbally, he knew better to save his revealing view on something that did alright by him as a general (he learned a bit as president) that Military Industrial Complex. He had saved it until he was about to leave office and thus not a threat anymore they'd want to to punish. JFK had the audacity to actually stand up to them with time left in his presidency (and probably a second term if he was able to finish the first). He would have changed the world, more than anyone in our history. Even the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that the moron Rand Paul has issues with that would never have been if not for JFK's call for it, and nearly outlining its main components in his speech on it. Carter was politially taken out of power. The new technique they use.

[Bluebear]

2. K&R

[polichick]

3. Carter's 1977 Address to the Nation on Energy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tPePpMxJaA

[malaise]

6. Carter was light years ahead of the

ReTHUG morons.

[polichick]

12. Light years ahead of Obama too. nt

[AlbertCat]

46. Carter was light years ahead of the ReTHUG morons.

AND from the SOUTH!

He saw how the good ol' boy network and clinging to the past, making quaint situations that were dreadful, just drags the South down.... and everything else with the same attitudes....business, government, transpo, energy,...

I liked him when he was prez, and I was, like, in college then being dumb and young. To think the cardboard scripted actor Reagan gets to play hero after his crime ridden turn, and Carter is dismissed!

[malaise]

168. Did you read loser Bennett's attack on Carter

in his Op Ed yesterday

[keith the dem]

101. But not ahead of the rethug smear machine

[nichomachus]

112. Umm -- actually Nixon proposed energy independence by 1980

And even launched Project Independence. Any wonder he had to be taken down by the Bush Crime Family?

[OnlinePoker]

135. He was taken down by his own hubris. n/t

[bertman]

164. You might want to do some reading about the goings on to unseat Nixon, OnlinePoker.

Russ Baker's "Family of Secrets" has some excellent information about the maneuvering that took place to get Nixon out and how it was done by people in his own party (Can you say, Poppy Bush?). The details of the Watergate break-in and how these seasoned CIA types made so many rookie blunders is a very interesting read.

[xocet]

54. FYI...

There are several other speeches by President Carter at this site, http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive , in case you are interested in hearing other things which he had to say.

[polichick]

84. Thanks - great site! And welcome to DU :)

[swilton]

90. That speach is excellent - should be a separate thread!

Carter was right - Reagan got in and did away with planning....'the market would take care of everything' and we've been sinking ever since...

To think that the energy crisis and global warming were known about in the 70's - anyone remember the celebration of the first Earth Day in 1970? - we have regressed intellectually since then....Fools from the right (notice I didn't identify them by party) still don't accept global warming and the US is literally the laughing stock of the world.

[dotymed]

113. You're right and

I blame it on the killing of the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE by raygun. It has ruined our education system too. How can we teach our children to reason, when we are not given all of the facts so that we can reason?
Serfs are not supposed to think anyway. A strong back and a weak mind are all that is required.

[xxqqqzme]

111. And if you remember

he was ridiculed for that speech. 'Americans are not ready to hear this.....Americans will never do this.....Americans don't have to sacrifice anything....blah, blah, blah. As far as I know he is/was the only president w/ a vision of a future for this country beyond tomorrow.

[polichick]

141. "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you...

...then you win."

~Mahatma Gandhi~


I guess President Carter is finally winning.

[FLPanhandle]

4. Right about a lot of things.

Alas, incredibly ineffective.

[Bluebear]

10. Alas, this thread is about his being correct on the future of energy

[FLPanhandle]

17. Yes, and he couldn't sell his ideas to either congress or the people

Being right and getting your ideas into practice changes history. All Carter can claim now is an "I told you so".

[polichick]

18. Sold them to a lot of us kids who became lifelong environmentalists. nt

[FLPanhandle]

24. James Watt made me an environmentalist

Scared me into one is probably a better way of saying it.

[polichick]

28. Yeah, his attitude still thrives among Republicans...

I actually got involved in environmental activism about the time of the first Earth Day, but Carter really inspired me to fight for alternative energy - he was way ahead of his time.

[Enthusiast]

62. James Watt turned me against fundies.

And that's the truth.

[Dappleganger]

78. He took being an asshole to a whole 'nuther level.

[madchick44]

38. That's more of a reflection on the people and Congress

Mob ignorance.

[AlbertCat]

49. All Carter can claim now is an "I told you so".

Are you kidding? We drove 55 for years!

One reason Reagan's message of "greed is good" was so successful is people were tired of conserving.... it being the "thing" to do. Especially after the excesses of the 60's and early 70's. That message of "Nah! Keep it up... Buy an SUV...they've gotten around government pollution standards. Do some more coke! That folksy, recycle-y, bicycle-y back to nature thing is old and no fun." But that doesn't work unless Carter's message was sinking in... or at least being heard. It's so much easier to give in to greed though.

[Kokonoe]

86. Your right, but we can't blame President Carter for the 55 speed limit.

Richard Nixon proposed a national 50 mph speed limit for passenger vehicles
And Ford was president when it became 55. Some states it was 50.

[NoSheep]

108. What do you mean "blame"? 55 is good. I think the poster is giving CREDIT to Carter.

[Kokonoe]

115. I mean Carter had nothing what so ever to do with 55 speed limits.

So do not give fucking credit to Carter.(what I said to the poster );)

[kenfrequed]

116. That is fine, whatever...

No one was actually actively giving credit to Carter for 55 mph.


They were contrasting Carter with Reagan in the increase in speed limits in 1987.

[Kokonoe]

119. I am actually NOT giving credit to Carter for 55 mph.

But I think the 55 may have been a Rove response to the Carter Juggernaut.

[Caliman73]

147. Just like parents can't sell "you need to be responsible" to a 12 year old

That he was not able to reach past the greed and lack of discipline or respect for others in this country is more a reflection of the nation than of his leadership.

You can sell "greed is good" or "you can take as much as you want" or "no you don't have to look beyond your own experience" easily until the world comes crashing down around you. Then people will just as quickly say, "What is the GOVERNMENT doing to save us".

Carter won't say "I told you so" because he has class. What we should all know is that we did this to us or we allowed it to happen by being greedy, complacent, and easily manipulated.

[PurgedVoter]

30. Carter was very effective.

He was however fighting thick thick corruption. Keep in mind that Phil Gramm was a Democrat Back then. Carter had two parties corrupt to the core. Even the folk that should have been on his side were scared to speak up. There was no internet, and the astro turf was everywhere. Carter Stood his ground and did not give in.

Under conditions like that, he still looked to his ideals and stood his ground. Carter was very effective. He stood firm against all odds. Imagine the world without him.

[FLPanhandle]

35. Fighting the good fight, doesn't mean he got his policies implemented though

Much as I love the guy and agreed with him, I have to admit he didn't get a lot of his ideas implemented. He wasn't a salesman but he was right.

[Art_from_Ark]

39. Before you spout off about Carter's energy "ineffectiveness",

you should educate yourself about what he did accomplish.

Here's something to start you off:

"New Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, D-Mass., gave energy such high priority that he immediately took the unprecedented step of establishing an omnibus committee headed by Rep. Thomas "Lud" Ashley, D-Ohio, to shepherd the complex Carter plan quickly through the House. Congress scuttled Carter's recommended gasoline tax, and a bitter divide over natural gas deregulation in the Senate stalled the whole energy package for a year and a half. But with considerable support on both sides of the aisle, most of his plan did become law.

Similarly, when the Iranian revolution led to another severe oil shortage in 1979, Carter took the politically dangerous step of starting to decontrol crude oil prices by executive order and produced a flurry of energy bills, many of which also won eventual congressional approval.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-04-22/opinion/17241100_1_renewable-energy-energy-independence-foreign-oil

Carter's problem was that he was replaced by an incompetent boob named Ronald Wilson Reagan, who believed that trees produce more pollution than automobiles.

[pitohui]

45. art has it right -- if carter was ineffective they wouldn't have spent so much trouble to remove him

i won't forget the hostages held until reagan was installed in office, i won't forget the deals cut w. evil to put reagan in office even if i'm the last american who does remember "the october surprise"

carter wasn't removed because he was "ineffective" he was removed because he was making too much sense

[laughingliberal]

48. +1000 nt

[kath]

58. + a brazillion

[suzie]

93. Double that.

[Beam Me Up]

73. exactly -- Carter frightened them -- and thus the war on "liberalism" ever since.

We have to keep in mind, too, this was in the midst of that farce called "THE COLD WAR" -- the very idea was meant to send a chill through your bones. Liberals and liberal ideas were made out to be as bad as Communism and Socialism. Carter represented much of the idealism that had grown out of the Sixties -- including the awareness from certain educated circles that building an advanced technological civilization on non-renewable energy sources was a recipe for disaster within a half century. Earth's resources, though vast, are finite. But there is a fundamental problem with renewable energy: It inherently decentralizes and flattens the centralized and hierarchical hydrocarbon market. This would mean the loss not only of wealth but the power that comes with it. Thus, it should come as no surprise to anyone that we've ended up at this particular historical juncture. Rather than use the last forty years to gradually shift the energy infrastructure of the "post-modern" world to a broad, renewable base, the hydrocarbon industry has led us literally to the brink of destruction. Why do you think Obama's government has taken a rather 'hands off' approach to this catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf? Do you really believe he has a choice? Why do you think that recovering this well, rather than stopping its eruption, is so damned important that human beings would risk losing an entire regional habitat (and possibly worse)? Do you believe it is "only" about greed, money? Certainly that is apart of it -- but there is a much bigger picture unfolding around us. The way I see it, the Gulf is the first regional casualty of a war that is just beginning. It will not be the last. Since Carter's leadership was thwarted by less visionary interests, the vast majority of the energy upon which our lives depend is at risk. Add to this an understandably nervous and volatile global economy and you have the makings for something very, very nasty.

edit typo

[NoSheep]

109. I recommend this a gazillion times!

[Jackpine Radical]

117. I assure you that you are not the last to remember the October Surprise.

Not as long as I'm alive and have not sunk into the depths of dementia, you're not.

[femrap]

124. OK + kazilion nt

[fascisthunter]

130. heck, the right wing is still threatened by the man

and his ideas

[fascisthunter]

129. still here?

[lark]

140. He was not allowed to be effective

since he didn't play the game the way it was scripted. Truth is not allowed, it must be highly ridiculed so others fear to go there. In South America, they worshipped Carter and still say he's the best American president ever. Their press didn't spend all their time painting him as a buffoon like ours did.

Obama could learn a lot from Carter, but he's a corporatist system tool.

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. Carter was right about many things.

And he still is.

[polichick]

9. Yep - that's why so many have used character assassination against him. nt

[MindandSoul]

7. Yes, Carter was right. . .that's why he had to go!. . . big business and Republicans could not

take the heat anymore. . .so they did a job on him!

[polichick]

11. And just like they do today, Democrats helped. nt

[MindandSoul]

41. Unfortunately, you're right. . .although it seems that some of those

"Democrats" in this forum fall more comfortably under the "libertarian" and Alex Jones' supporters!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

20. But it was the left wing of the Democratic Party that left him in favor of Ted Kennedy

At least in part, right?

:shrug:

Edited to add:

I've had to rely on other people here. But I've heard people say that Carter had gone too far to the right and thus they supported Kennedy. The acrimonious primary certainly didn't help Carter's battle with Reagan. In addition, the media just rolled over for St. Ronnie.

[FLPanhandle]

27. What small chance Carter had against Reagan Kennedy destroyed.

When does the party turn so viciously on their sitting president. Lost a lot of respect for Teddy for that.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

29. Well, I don't know that Carter would have won if Kennedy had not run against him

But it certainly didn't help.

I liked Kennedy and I like Carter.

But I think it's a little disingenuous for people to say that "big business" killed Carter *now* when Carter in 1980 was considered too Centrist.

[suzie]

92. There were a whole lot of the inside the beltway crowd who despised Carter.

And they loved Ted Kennedy--it wasn't so much about right or left as about charisma.

In their minds, Kennedy had it, Carter didn't.

Nothing Carter could have done would have changed that.

[baldguy]

8. Yes, he was. And yes, he is.

[The Damned]

105. about Israel

I read his book. He nailed it!

[RobertPlant]

13. carter left office ten years before I was born

but from what I know of him, I think he is living proof that nice guys finish last. He was the most authentically christian president ever and had a strong sense of community and helping your neighbor. The problem was that he was president at the wrong time. If he had been president in the 50s, he would have been a hero.

[polichick]

15. He IS a hero. nt

[Enthusiast]

64. I'm glad some of us recognize that.

Back then I loved President Carter. I was sick by the way the media treated him.

[izquierdista]

32. He was President at the right time

You could believe him, which was what the country needed after "I am not a crook" Nixon. Unfortunately, he told the truth, and there were a lot of saps who didn't want to hear it, so they replaced him with someone who couldn't remember all the lies he told.

[Kitty Herder]

44. Wow. You summed it up well. nt

[aquart]

133. Then you know absolutely nothing about the 50s.

[onpatrol98]

143. Authentically Christian

I think I read about that. He was America's first evangelical Christian president. He's still a deacon and Sunday school teacher at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. He must still have quite a bit of energy.

I think he was a strong supporter of private schools, even when they were segregated. Many (not all) private schools in the south exist solely for purposes of segregation even to this day.

"Carter visited a private segregated school in the Piedmont region of Georgia and told backers for 13 south Georgia counties at a rally not to “let anybody, including the Atlanta newspapers, mislead you into criticizing private education.”

http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Jimmy_Carter_Education.htm

He refused to join the segregationist White Citizens' Council, prompting a boycott of his peanut warehouse. and was one of only two families which voted to admit blacks to the Plains Baptist Church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter

(hmm...although, his segregated church didn't seem to bother him enough to actually leave it.)

Carter intends to be buried in front of his home in Plains, Georgia. In contrast, most Presidents since Herbert Hoover have been buried at their presidential library or presidential museum, with the exception of John F. Kennedy, who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and Lyndon B. Johnson, who is buried at his own ranch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter


He sounds like an interesting person. He's the first president I remember, but the first president I was able to vote for was Clinton.

[Zen Democrat]

14. Of course he was right. He was hounded and ridiculed by the media -

who gave Reagan a pass on everything. Reagan was teflon because the media hid or excused every blunder he made, and they were plentiful. Carter received despicable and duplicitous coverage from NBC, CBS and ABC. Why? Can you say windfall.profits.tax? Can you say conservation? How about energy independence? Or the best one ... real progress with peace in the Middle East? The only friend Jimmy Carter had in the American media was Walter Cronkite.

[polichick]

16. Don't forget solar panels on the WH - which Reagan the idiot so proudly removed. nt

[onehandle]

19. I met him a few days ago. Told him I'd vote for him again ----->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4377697#4377854

[polichick]

22. Lucky you! He's one of the few politicians I admire and respect. nt

[BrklynLiberal]

21. I agree 100%

[treestar]

23. And no one wanted to listen

They wanted to hear Uncle Ronnie's feel-good crap.

[polichick]

34. It's morning in America - tra-la-la-la-la! nt

[HillbillyBob]

132. That was the first election I was old enough to vote for him

or raygun..I knew /understood that raygun was a pos from the get go. Hearing how he ran Cal into the ground. . . I knew he would not bode well for US and us personally. If I had known that gassybastard would win I would have stayed out of the navy and the atc programs. I voted for Carter again in the primaries and was in boot camp during the general election.

[unkachuck]

25. I would the honor of K&R-ing this for President Carter....n/t

[flamingdem]

26. Iran screwed him up, brought to you by repukes nt

[Enthusiast]

65. It was another Republican

'dirty trick'. And they have not changed one bit. Who would want a country run by Republicans? Only the wealthy and connected.

[lark]

142. Iran hostages, kept there at the request of GW

just another example of the BFEE ruining our country so the rich oil folks could put in their talking head (Raygun) and they could rule thru him.

[iamjoy]

31. But he Was Such A Downer

I mean, all that glum stuff about our energy consumption and how we had to be frugal.
:boring:

The way the American people willingly bought the villification of Carter while lionizing Reagan just goes to show, the American people are stupid. This is not a partisan or political leaning insult. Over the past 30 years, too many Americans of all parties and all political persuasions have bought into the idea that we could have it all and not pay the price. Or maybe stupid is too strong, maybe we are a nation of Scarlett O'Hara's determined to "think about it tomorrow."

[polichick]

33. Well said! nt

[Enthusiast]

66. The American people only

are naturally vulnerable to a huge propaganda effort. In seeing how successfully they destroyed Carter the Reagan Administration went on to dismantle the Fairness Doctrine. Republicans have been reaping their rewards ever since.

[WinkyDink]

80. And the mockery of McGovern, Dukakis, Gore. We allowed the R-W media to destroy them and the nation.

[DutchLiberal]

154. Wait, wait... You mean the media is *not* liberal?!

'Cause that's all I ever hear. :eyes:

[suzie]

149. Carter was a Southerner.

Just check out any of the South bashing threads that arise on DU in 2010 and it's easy to see how Carter was villified within his own party.

Ted Kennedy was the smart guy--he got kicked out of school for cheating. Carter was a dumb Southerner who finished at the Naval Academy and served in the nuclear submarine program.

Kennedy was the liberal Northeasterner. There was always a good deal of discussion in Washington circles about why African Americans tended to like Carter better than Kennedy.

Something about Carter having been a businessperson in a small town who refused to join the White Citizens' Council didn't count with the Beltway crowd.

Rosalyn Carter was mocked endlessly and unmercifully by the Washington Press Corps. She had the temerity to feature American craftspeople at toney White House luncheons. Pottery made by Americans instead of Europeans? Horrors.

Wineglasses hand blown in American instead of Ireland? So declasse.

Democrats themselves did a terrific job of hammering Jimmy Carter before Republicans ever got around to it.

[HillbillyBob]

157. Well, put I looked up to Mr Carter and still do.

We are on the way to personal fossil fuel independences as a household..I have written about it before. I saw strip mining messes made in WV as a kid growing up and learned to drive in 74 75 I remember lines for gas.
Still any trip to town has at least 4 stops to make on best time/fuel route. We do pretty well, cutting electric use by a good bit and working to make the house efficient enough that solar panels will be a good investment and am really looking forward to the day when we can tell the power company "come cut the cord".
Our power is mostly coal generated.

[Seneca]

36. "paid to mod this down"?

Paranoid delusions to the contrary, no one would waste their money paying people to post on a discussion board. :rofl:

[Prof Lester]

88. Really? Or are you one of 'em?

Put all the little laughing stick men in there you want. Either you're one of 'em.. or you're too dumb to follow the news. Shoving paid shills and whores into websites is EXACTLY what they do now. Just ask Cass Sunstein. Or Karl Rove for that matter. It's SOP in today's world.

But don't let mere truth stop you from posting little cartoon men if that's what cranks you up, baby. Go for it.

[Recursion]

98. I've been on online forums (fora?) since 1989

And from day 1 people have accused those who disagreed with them of being paid. I hate to break it to us, but nobody cares enough about DU (or Slashdot, or Free Republic, or Denver Freenet, or alt.politics.democratic, or...) to pay people to neg posts.

Instead, a lot of people do feel, rightly or wrongly, that Carter's mismanagement set back the Democratic party by decades, and opened the door for DLC-type triangulation, and that his embrace of the "deregulation" idea weakened resistance to it when Reagan put it on steroids.

[Seneca]

150. YES! YES! I CONFESS!!!!11

I am one of those paid operatives by Karl Rove. :tinfoilhat:

You busted me. :evilfrown:

No one with any sense would consider Sunstein or Rove reliable sources. They want you to think people are being paid to post on websites (and unreccing! teh horrorz!!) because they know how the paranoid-delusional mind works, and that it's a prevalent mental illness on chat boards. They play you like a fiddle. :D

Oh, and here are some more, because it seems to please you: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :evilgrin:

[madokie]

37. No doubt in my mind that he was the best President in my lifetime

The SOB's behind the curtains were working overtime to keep President Carter from doing any more for the average Jane and Joe just like they did with Clinton and are now doing with Obama. The powers to be don't want you our me to have anywhere near an easy life. They're bleeding us like stuck pigs right now and have been pretty much since JFK's assassination. For proof all you have to do is read the bottom line of the big corporations that control pretty much every aspect of our lives whether some of us want to admit it or not. Any and all the energy corporations, healthcare providers, and I mustn't forget, the deadbeats, the insurance companies. Hell the insurance companies add no value to anything that they are taking our money for.

[daleo]

40. Imagine how much further solar, wind, etc

would be now, had Carter been heeded.

[L0oniX]

42. This country didn't deserve Carter.

He was too good to be of any use to the MIC or the sheeple of the USA.

[Enthusiast]

67. +1 nt

[ladjf]

43. Carter was intelligent, courageous and honest. We could use a

few like him in politics today. nt

[pundaint]

47. Whatever happened to his party, they had some fairly progressive ideas?

Oh yeah, I voted for Change.

[daughter of liberty2]

50. K&R

:kick:

[NYC_SKP]

51. True. Carter's "malaise" Speech, text here:

Just a snip:

"We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."



the whole thing here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_crisis.html

:patriot:

[Wetzelbill]

52. He had his problems but he was a president well

ahead of his time.

[bahrbearian]

56. His problems were the Repugs and Raygun

[Wetzelbill]

61. well yes

and he had a recession towards the end of his term and was president during a tumultuous era for the oil markets etc. He was hurt by things that weren't his fault, but he had to deal with and become identified with to an extent.

[Enthusiast]

68. His problems were

the misinformation campaigns waged by the Repugs and Raygun.

[JDPriestly]

53. Thanks, Purged Voter

Carter was the only one who was right on energy issues. The absolute only one.

Our energy disaster started under Nixon in 1973-74. Carter tried to change our policy in a meaningful way.

Since Carter, no president has seriously tried to wean us from our dependence on the big energy corporations.

We could be energy self-sufficient, you know. We are perfectly capable as a nation, as a people, as individuals, with more investment in technology and less in corporate dominance, of being energy independent.

Many of us could be producing energy on our roofs if only the investment and R&D money went into solar energy, not oil, not nuclear.

[upi402]

55. Raygun was wrong! Raygun was wrong! Raygun was wrong!

And the media needs to be punished for letting them get away with it.

[bahrbearian]

57. A living National Treasure.

[charlie]

59. REAGAN WAS RIGHT!

Reagan agreed -- Carter was right.

Hear him eviscerate his own legacy in 4 blistering minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJDhS4oUm0M

[Granny M]

60. and then his brain liquified

and he could no longer tell the true from the false. And we elected him president. Now it looks like we have a terminal disease, too.

[femrap]

127. WOW....

what the hell happened to him? Was he 'reprogrammed' or what?

[political_Dem]

63. Carter always said what was on his mind. And people ridiculed him for it.

In fact, Reagan's funeral was an entire beat down on President Carter, if I remember correctly.

[Sherman A1]

69. Precisely

He & Harry Truman were among the Best we ever had.

[zenprole]

70. Reality Check

Try telling that to the East Timorese. In addition, the deregulation that has steamrollered America began under Carter, not Reagan. If you're still not clear, ask a Palestinian.

Carter paid lip service only to a few liberal ideas, but otherwise was indistinguishable from presidents dating back to the 50's.

[brewens]

71. "P.S. Regan, he totally sucked." Yeah! But did he swallow? n/t

[WinkyDink]

81. You're thinking of Nancy.

[barbtries]

72. history will be kind

to this underrated president. i've always believed that.

[spicegal]

74. Carter was right about many things, and he was a very decent man, who

was demonized and mocked by the right wingers. That's what they attempt to do to every Democrat in high office.

[reggie the dog]

75. I am 31, carter is the best president i ever had

[Skratchez]

76. K&R this so hard.

I've always been a fan of Carter. The fact that he only got one term was an Uhmerican travesty. I wasn't able to vote for him--wasn't even born then, but I've never heard anything bad about him from the oldsters except, gas prices went up. F********ck. I'd love to see Obama put the solar panels back on the White House. You'd think they'd at least have value in an emergency wherein the capitol lost power... even just to charge up his Blackberry.

He was also awesome on King of the Hill. And no, I'm not retarded I just think that he's done a lot since his presidency for low income families. There aren't a lot of former presidents that act like they give a crap about people after leaving office.

Dear George W. Bush, I have some brush that needs clearing, can you lend me your manly muscles?

[Swamp Rat]

77. k&r

[NewJeffCT]

79. In 1980, Carter was viewed as too right wing/centrist by many Democrats

So, Ted Kennedy challenged him from the left...

just goes to show you how far right the mentality of this country has gone.

[WinkyDink]

83. I know how DU lionizes Ted, but I never, ever forgave him for that challenge.

AND for humiliating the President on the stage by having Jimmy look like a beggar for a handshake.

I worked on that Carter campaign in PA.

[caraher]

94. I've never liked Ted because of that

I was in high school at the time, and my lasting impression was that Kennedy was an egomaniac.

[NewJeffCT]

97. I was in middle school in Connecticut

I know a lot of the working class Democrats were not big fans of Carter in my neck of the woods. My father always voted Democrat, but he so disliked Carter that he ended up voting for John Anderson in 1980.

[NewJeffCT]

120. Just imagine what DU would have looked like

if it existed back then... it would have made Obama-Clinton look like a game of patty-cake.

[Recursion]

96. Deregulation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act

That was when Carter lost my parents, at least (I was a kid).

[femrap]

125. Thx for the history lesson...

It was Raygun who killed the Air Traffic Controllers Union.

Did Carter do any other 'deregulating?' I wonder if Carter actually thought deregulation of the cost of fares was a good idea or was he 'encouraged' to do this. Was it all to end up as a way to bust the Unions?

[Recursion]

128. Eh. He hired Kahn

Here's a good take by MotherJones on the Carter-Clinton line of the Democratic Party and their embrace of the idea of deregulation: http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/03/its-deregulation-stupid

Here's a batshit conservative scholar admitting Carter started Reagan's anti-union, pro-corporate, anti-government momentum: http://mises.org/daily/535

Now, I give Carter some credit in that at that point a lot of government spending was wasteful and corrupt, just like I give Clinton some credit in that AFDC was fundamentally broken -- but they both got the answers wrong (deregulation on the one hand and TANF on the other didn't improve things).

I've heard interviews with Carter (back in the 90's) in which he said getting the ball rolling on deregulation was the part of his presidency he was proudest of.

My only point is that it's odd to see how DU, which has such hatred for the DLC, seems to have boundless love for Carter who was essentially the DLC's Godfather (or, for that matter, Gore, who was one of the first members).

[femrap]

134. Thanks for the

links...my memory is returning and yes, Carter-Clinton were the beginnings of the pro-biz arm of the Dems.

Gore...yeah, I guess he cares about the environment....as a way to make money, maybe. He has such a 'reptilian' look about him...especially when he slicks back the hair. Creepy. :tinfoilhat: But I would have been glad to have him as Prez over W.

[femrap]

Read the Mother Jones article

and it certainly seems like Obama has 'changed' his tune. I don't think there is 'reform' w/o a Glass-Steagall-type bite in the legislation.

Regarding Clinton and AFDC...I was very pissed at him over this. Being a woman, but not yet needing public assistance, I thought there were much bigger places to find waste...PENTAGON, for example. HUD is a sewer of laundered cash.

Picking on unwed mothers with kids and making them go work at Taco Bell while their kids are in some crappy day care center with women being paid minimum wage to care for them???? No, Bill Clinton lost me then and there. Go pick on the dudes who fathered these children. Castrate them, for all I care...give them some $$ in return for their balls. I don't like seeing poor women getting picked on. Hell, an abortion costs $500 these days. Birth control pills are $40/month. Do your children eat or do you get the pill? Oh...that's right, abstinence is the answer.

Clinton....best Repugnant prez, ever.

None of this rant is directed at you personally, unless of course you owe child support.
:evilgrin:

[Recursion]

138. Ha. Luckily I had sex ed in high school

So I've managed to avoid any little Recursions running around (ironic given what my screen name means).

And yeah, TANF still pisses me off, as does the prevalance of the whole "welfare queen" myth. There are even facebook groups titled "they should require drug tests for welfare" and I want to rip people's heads off and ask them what "welfare" they imagine still exists.

[Stuart G]

82. K and R

[mdmc]

85. kick

[disillusioned73]

87. I was too young at that time and even....

during Reagan( I had a feeling about that guy though) - but you are absofuckinglutely right on this one. Time has shown the light on the truth but unfortunetly we won't here this from the corporate media whores that control most of our polulation....

[randr]

89. Our dependence on foriegn oil is the moral equivilance of war

[MissDeeds]

91. K&R

:patriot:

[Recursion]

95. He was also an micromanager. And he "deregulated" the airlines.

Look, I love the guy, but he got his hands way too far down the chain of command in everything he did. I'm sure it was hard for him not to, because he did actually know better than most of his subordinates, but part of being a leader is accepting that and letting people beneath you do a less than optimal job.

And his "deregulation" of the airlines was a horrible idea, and started a lot of very bad boulders rolling.

But, yeah, he was right. It's just that being right isn't nearly enough.

[madmom]

99. I've been saying this for years, One of his bigger problems was he was TOO honest!

The PTB couldn't let that happen.

[Bitwit1234]

100. Carter was in business administration HE

knew about business. And he wasn't given a chance. Reagan blind sided and caused a lot of trouble under minding the fact that Carter had negotiated the release of the hostages.

Reagan's people went to Iran and held the transfer up, making it seem as if Carter wasn't doing any thing. He PAID Iran to wait til after he got elected to make it seem as if he did the job. He was low down and dirty from the get go, a typical republican politician.

[Kokonoe]

102. I'm sure it was a Bush operation.

Oh well there I go again.












spelling

[redqueen]

103. Yep, funny how the liberal media never cleared that up.

But it's not like there's any bias! (I know cause a very wise DUer told me.)

[Kokonoe]

104. dupe

[nannah]

106. sooo true

[1955doubledie]

107. So, he was right. Too bad he won't get a cookie.

He won't get anything. Even though he deserves a medal. :banghead:

[disndat]

110. We should remember

that he tried mightily to bring peace to the Middle East. Tragically, that failed and that brought on the messes, lives, and $$trillions that both Bushes brought on to this country. Not to forget, Carter's re-election was the first G.O.P. heist of the U.S. political system followed by Gore v. Bush and Kerry v. Bush.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

114. Been saying it for years.

He is a wonderful man, one of a handful of decent politicians in my lifetime.

[Uncle Joe]

118. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, PurgedVoter.

[Individualist]

121. K&R

[janet118]

122. I've always thought this . . .

Jimmy Carter was an outsider and too honest for the Washington corporate apologists. Here is a journal I wrote after McCain criticized Carter during his campaign.

Jimmy Carter: A Second Look

[janet118]

136. Link to movie trailer . . .

The entire film has been taken off YouTube but here's the trailer.

A Road Not Taken

[femrap]

123. I think there is a YouTube

of him talking about the OPEC embargo and looking straight into the camera and saying HOW SERIOUS the situation was. I don't think a prez has ever told The Truth to the American People since that time.

I still keep my thermostat low in the winter and wear a sweater...just as he advised.

I was absolutely stunned/shocked/flabbergasted/revolted when the American People elected Raygun. Months before I had said that there would be 'NO WAY' that the American People would elect a B-rated actor to the Presidency. As I look back, I guess that's when I lost hope in this country....that is when the country began to fall steeply down the abyss of greed, corruption, willful ignorance, and hatred.

Yep, Jimmy Carter is a good man....hard to find these days....very hard to find.

[valerief]

126. From the So Obvious It Hurts file! nt

[McCamy Taylor]

131. You confuse the post president Carter with President Carter who went middle of the road

while in office. He did not turn into a flaming lefty until after he left the White House.

And before everyone has orgasms over how critical some folks are being of the oil industry, please remember that Obama and GE/MSNBC are rooting for nuclear and so oil is their bitter enemy. It is about the dollars, not the environment.

[defendandprotect]

166. Also keep in mind during his administration, CIA/Gates and Brzezinski

If you're interested, US created Taliban/Al Qaeda under Carter . . .

and worked to "bait" the Russians into Afghanistan in hopes of giving the Russians

"a Vietnam type experience."



The CIA's Intervention in Afghanistan
Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski,
President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser

Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris, 15-21 January 1998

Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs <"From the Shadows">, that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?

Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.

Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?

B: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.

Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?

Q: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?

Q: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?


http://www.takeoverworld.info/brzezinski_i ... ...


AND --

Here's a look also at how they worked to create a view of a violent Islam!!

The US spent $100's of millions shooting down Soviet helicopters yet didn't spend a penny helping Afghanis rebuild their infrastructure and institutions.

They also spent millions producing jihad preaching, fundamentalist textbooks and shipping them off to Afghanistan. These were the same text books the Western media discussed in shocked tones and told their audiences were used by fundamentalist teachers to brainwash their charges and to inculcate in young Afghanis a jihad mindset, hatred of foreigners and non-Muslims etc.


Have you heard about the Afghan Jihad schoolbook scandal?

Or perhaps I should say, "Have you heard about the Afghan Jihad schoolbook scandal that's waiting to happen?"

Because it has been almost unreported in the Western media that the US government shipped, and continues to ship, millions of Islamist textbooks into Afghanistan.

Only one English-speaking newspaper we could find has investigated this issue: the Washington Post. The story appeared March 23rd.

Washington Post investigators report that during the past twenty years the US has spent millions of dollars producing fanatical schoolbooks, which were then distributed in Afghanistan.

"The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan school system's core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books..." -- Washington Post, 23 March 2002 (1)

According to the Post the U.S. is now "...wrestling with the unintended consequences of its successful strategy of stirring Islamic fervor to fight communism."

So the books made up the core curriculum in Afghan schools. And what were the unintended consequences? The Post reports that according to unnamed officials the schoolbooks "steeped a generation in violence."

How could this result have been unintended? Did they expect that giving fundamentalist schoolbooks to schoolchildren would make them moderate Muslims?

Nobody with normal intelligence could expect to distribute millions of violent Islamist schoolbooks without influencing school children towards violent Islamism. Therefore one would assume that the unnamed US officials who, we are told, are distressed at these "unintended consequences" must previously have been unaware of the Islamist content of the schoolbooks.

But surely someone was aware. The US government can't write, edit, print and ship millions of violent, Muslim fundamentalist primers into Afghanistan without high officials in the US government approving those primers.

http://www.tenc.net/articles/jared/jihad.h ...

[bongbong]

139. Misspelling

You misspelled the name of the President that followed Carter.

It should be "raygun".

[penndragon69]

144. 100% rec

[dorkulon]

145. "Paid to mod this down" sounds a little paranoid, really.

Like anyone gives a crap what happens to this thread on this board. Delusions of grandeur methinks.

But yeah, love Jimmy.

[PurgedVoter]

158. So you don't believe in astroturf?

After all this time, you don't believe that people are trying to influence opinions at the grass roots level?

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf_blogging

So the contracts with advertising companies only do phone calls and never try to influence people online? So the rewards for putting duplicate letters to the editor of magazines is the limit of conservative dirty tricks? Do agitators ever get planted in crowds? No one has ever planted a horrid comment online so they could later point to it and say how bad that site is? It is refreshing to hear that no one would stoop so low as to try and influence a poll, rig an election or try to kill or distract from a conversation online. Good to know that we are safe from such things. Texas textbooks may be altered, but we will always remain safe!

It is refreshing to know that none of the think tanks and organizations like Freedomworks would stoop to distracting, harassing and deceiving people online and in forums.

At least one place is safe from Rove and his ilk.

No paranoia, Carter has been the subject of concerted and constant smear campaigns since the day he was elected. To not suspect that saying Jimmy Carter online might attract someone involved in an campaign to influence perceptions would be delusional.

[The_Casual_Observer]

146. Oh, did big oil ever hate Carter!

[skeptical cynic]

148. Carter was a good president

And he's proven himself to be a good human being as a former president.

Poorly suited for what the United States of America has become.

[defendandprotect]

151. We need to NATIONALIZE oil industry -- but meanwhile.... windfall profits tax --

[4 t 4]

152. Rosalynn Carter on daily show now n/t

[DutchLiberal]

153. You're right; the was the least bad US president.

[AnArmyVeteran]

155. Reagan BETRAYED the US when he scrapped Carter's energy plans...

If Carter's energy initiatives our country would be light years ahead in energy independence. But as soon as the corporate whore Reagan was sworn in he cancelled every one of Carter's plans to make our country less dependent upon external oil. Reagan sold out the country and he sold out every American. But illiterate and ignorant right wingers worship the dolt like he was a god. Reagan was an enemy to the middle class and the poor and he caused the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind when he gave tax breaks to the rich and then burdened hard working Americans with the shortfall in taxes.

Reagan was a complete fraud. Never once did the veto and appropriations bill. Not once did he propose a balanced budget. He caused a 400 percent increase in the national debt. And while governor he increased the size of California's government and spending by 15% each.

Reagan foot lappers think Reagan is a god, but anyone with an IQ over 50 knows he is a fraud.

[midnight]

156. Carter was so close to making us energy independent. That is what

a great leader is about.


P.S. Regan sucked because he gave the powerful everything and pretended it would trickle down.

[Douglas Carpenter]

159. absolutely!! kick and recommend!!!!

[ErikJ]

160. Carter Tried to Stop Bush's Energy Disasters 32 years ago!

Good historical article
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0503-22.htm

[defendandprotect]

165. Yes, but we're not talking about government "disasters" . . . it's corporate crime . . .

[havocmom]

161. He was right, honorable and tried to put us on the best path

But I disagree that he was the only one since Eisenhower to stand up to Business. JFK did that too, and he paid dearly, didn't he?

[Pryderi]

162. True. Regan's head spun around and spewed pea soup!

[Stardust]

163. This country doesn't deserve Carter. K&R nt

[1Hippiechick]

167. Too late to recommend, but not too late to KICK! n/t