Reply #106: I love Jimmy Carter, but ...

[onenote]

when he ran for President, he ran not only as an "outsider" but as a moderate, putting himself to the right of other Democratic contenders for the nomination, such as Jerry Brown, Fred Harris, and Mo Udall and to the left of others, like Scoop Jackson. (In 1980 he ran for renomination to the right of Teddy Kennedy). He did many wonderful things (and has continued to do wonderful things since leaving office), but he also supported some policies, like the Cruise Missile, that weren't so wonderful. He also jumped on the "deregulatory" bandwagon, and in addition to the deregulation of the trucking and airline industries, started the deregulation of the communications industry (don't believe me? check a transcript of his 1980 debate with Reagan). In 1976, he barely eked out a victory over Gerald Ford despite Ford's pardon of Nixon. One of the keys to his victory was his appeal to Christian voters -- he was publicly and avowedly "born again" -- although not in the crazy-assed fundie way that we now associate that terminology. But by 1980, the mood of the country -- post Iran hostage, post inflation, post energy crisis -- well, where were the millions of progressives in that election? Did they stay home because Jimmy wasn't really liberal? Or maybe his election in 76 had less to do with his being liberal and more to do with his identification as a "New South" moderate Democrat.

onenote