Free Republic

Patrick Caddell, the political pollster who helped send an obscure peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter to the White House, later became disillusioned with fellow Democrats and finally veered to advise supporters of Donald J. Trump, died on Saturday in Charleston, S.C. He was 68. His death, from complications of a stroke, was confirmed by a colleague, Prof. Kendra Stewart of the College of Charleston. Patrick Hayward Caddell was born on May 19, 1950, in Rock Hill, S.C. His mother was Janie (Burns) Caddell. His father, Newton P. Caddell, was a Coast Guard chief warrant officer. Patrick grew up near various...

Patrick Caddell, the political pollster who helped send an obscure peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter to the White House, later became disillusioned with fellow Democrats and finally veered to advise supporters of Donald J. Trump, died on Saturday in Charleston, S.C. He was 68. His death, from complications of a stroke, was confirmed by a colleague, Prof. Kendra Stewart of the College of Charleston. While Mr. Caddell was considered instrumental in Mr. Carter’s victory, he also shared the blame for limiting him to a single term. He helped persuade the president to deliver a speech that was intended to inspirit...

Jimmy Carter has won a Grammy Award for his audiobook Faith: A Journey for All, marking the second Grammy win for the 39th president of the United States. Carter will claim the award for Best Spoken Word Album at Sunday’s 2019 Grammy Awards. In his audiobook, the former president reflects on how faith has helped him during good times and bad. At 94 years old, Carter will be the third-oldest winner in Grammy history. He follows comedian George Burns, who won a spoken word Grammy in 1991 at the age of 95, and blues musician Pinetop Perkins, who won the...

I am fed up with the hypocrisy of people who claim to be concerned about the human rights of Palestinians but are silent when it comes to their mistreatment by their fellow Arabs. By After reading Michelle Alexander’s screed in The New York Times, I am not sure whether I should be more outraged by the paper’s publication of yet another in a seemingly never-ending series of anti-Israel articles, by Alexander’s outrageous misstatements of fact and scurrilous attacks on Israel, or by her disreputable effort to suggest that Martin Luther King Jr. would share her contempt for the Jewish state...

America has undergone enormous change during the nearly eight decades of my life. Today, America is a bitterly divided, poorly educated and morally fragile society with so-called mainstream politicians pushing cynical identity politics, socialism and open borders. The president of the United States is threatened with impeachment because the other side doesn’t like him. The once reasonably unbiased American media has evolved into a hysterical left-wing mob. How could the stable and reasonably cohesive America of the 1950s have reached this point in just one lifetime? Who are the main culprits? Here’s my list of the 10 most destructive Americans...

Former President Jimmy Carter urged Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to run for president in an Instagram Live video on Sunday. Booker, who is known for his social media savvy, took to the platform to film a road trip through Georgia with civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) ahead of MLK Day. After the two lawmakers attended a church service led by Carter in his hometown of Plains, Booker featured the former president in a video. “I’m very glad to have you here this morning, and I hope you come back,” Carter said. “And I hope you run for president.”

Former President Carter on Monday urged the U.S. and Chinese governments to find areas of common concern and improve relations heading into the new year. Carter, who signed accords in 1979 normalizing relations with China, cautioned that the ongoing trade dispute between the two countries or hostilities over elections should not get in the way of productive collaboration on other areas of global concern. (please see link for full article)

The Trump administration is seeking the dismissal of a suit alleging the nonprofit helmed by former president Jimmy Carter has used taxpayer funding to provide material support to international terrorist groups, including Hamas. The Zionist Advocacy Center, which filed the recently unsealed suit in 2015, alleges the Carter Center received more than $30 million in taxpayer grants while violating federal statutes barring it from using the cash to provide material support to terror groups. The plaintiffs maintain the Carter Center has violated the law by hosting designated terrorists at is facilities, as well as by providing various forms of assistance...

Ina Garten plans to cook up something special, should she ever have the opportunity to host some of Washington's top politicians. The Food Network's "Barefoot Contessa" star was asked by New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni what she would serve political figures. For Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, Garten would prepare lobster macaroni and cheese. For Senate hopeful Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas, an avowed BBQ lover, she would serve pulled pork shoulder with maple beans, cornbread, and a kale salad. Former Vice President Joe Biden would receive "something fun, like a lobster and clambake," Garten said. And President Trump? "A...

Distressed by what he called the “human rights disaster perpetrated by President Trump,” former President Jimmy Carter said “I may have to come out of retirement to save the nation from his reelection.” “My main grievance is the blatant inequality Trump is willing to foist on this country,” Carter complained. “When I was president the entire country suffered through a malaise, but we did it together as one united people. The prosperity Trump is forcing on the country has shattered this unity and encouraged individuals to compete to get ahead. I don’t believe this is what Americans truly want. Otherwise...

Former President Jimmy Carter isn’t holding back in his assessment of Donald Trump, saying this week that if he could somehow become president again he would reverse all the policies Trump has put in place since taking office. Carter made the remark at Emory University, where he speaks each year to incoming students. The 93-year-old former president said he prays for Donald Trump regularly, though it didn’t appear to be working as Trump would “have to change a lot of things” if his prayers were answered. If he had the chance, Carter said he would make the changes himself. “If...

Former President Jimmy Carter is cautioning Democrats that their path to defeating President Donald Trump depends on independents and moderates. Speaking at his presidential center in Atlanta on Tuesday, Carter said U.S. policies on immigration, the environment and human rights will not improve while Trump is in office. Carter also noted polls showing independents souring on the Republican administration....

Carter also said an additional statement Trump issued under fire is “still not as enthusiastic as it should be.” Jimmy Carter remains unimpressed with President Donald Trump’s belated effort to take note of and honor the late Sen. John McCain’s service to the U.S. In fact, the 93-year-old former president characterized it as “at best adequate.” Carter spoke with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday about Trump’s responses after McCain ― who endured torture as a POW during the Vietnam war, served more than 45 years in Congress and was the 2008 GOP presidential nominee ― died at his home in...

The retired peanut farmer, 93, has been less vocal than other former commanders in chief about the goings-on in the White House, but in a recent interview with The Washington Post, Carter seared Trump’s policies and character. “I think he’s a disaster … In human rights and in treating people equal,” the 39th president said before his wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, 91, jumped in. “The worst is that he is not telling the truth, and that just hurts everything,” she added. Cohen implicated Trump in a federal crime when the lawyer admitted to a federal judge that, at...

Several weeks ago, an article in the Hebrew-language Yediot Achronot revealed that, according to Palestinian sources, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have received more than $100 million per year over the last few years from Iran. That represents a substantial fraction of the cash that President Barack Obama put on pallets and flew to Tehran shortly before he left office. Today it was announced that two Iranians had been indicted for spying in the United States for the Iranian government. What were they looking at? Missile bases? Nuclear reactors? Grand Central Station? No. They were indicted for taking pictures of “Israeli...

PLAINS, Ga. -- Jimmy Carter finishes his Saturday night dinner, salmon and broccoli casserole on a paper plate, flashes his famous toothy grin and calls playfully to his wife of 72 years, Rosalynn. "C'mon, kid," he says. She laughs and takes his hand, and they walk carefully through a neighbor's kitchen filled with 1976 campaign buttons, photos of world leaders and a couple of unopened cans of Billy Beer and then out the back door. Three Secret Service agents wait. They do this just about every weekend in this tiny town where they were born -- he almost 94 years...

They have no chef and they cook for themselves, often together. They make their own yogurt. On this summer morning, Rosalynn mixes pancake batter and sprinkles in blueberries grown on their land. Carter cooks them on the griddle. Then he does the dishes.

Responding to criticism from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who has asked the Nicaraguan government to stop state violence and disarm pro-government groups, Mr Oquist accused the UN High Commissioner was guilty of inaccuracy. "This is based on nothing," Mr Oquist said. "It's based on local human rights sources, which have been partial for decades. These unproven generalizations are not helping the search for peace." When asked about the possibility that President Ortega will resign and hold elections, the minister responded: "... Why should the president resign?... Sandinistas also know how to put barricades on the street." Daniel Ortega...

Speaking of his faith, Mr. Carter said in his career as a politician he never ran across "any really serious conflicts between my political obligations and my religious faith." Asked about gay marriage, he replied that it is "no problem with me. I think everybody should have a right to get married regardless of their sex." Regarding whether he thinks Jesus would approve of gay marriage, Carter replied "I don’t have any verse in Scripture," but added, "I believe that Jesus would approve of gay marriage." "I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere...

Former President Jimmy Carter believes that President Donald Trump has a legitimate case to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize if he brokers a denuclearization deal with North Korea. Carter won the award in 2002. “If President Trump is successful in getting a peace treaty that’s acceptable to both sides with North Korea, I think he certainly ought to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize,” said Carter to Politico Magazine’s “Off Message” Podcast. “I think it would be a worthy and a momentous accomplishment that no previous president has been able to realize.” Trump is set to meet with...