How a rabbit encounter became a ‘nightmare’ for Jimmy Carter’s presidency

The Washington Post ^ | December 20, 2024 | Randy Dotinga

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Jimmy Carter’s run-in with a swamp rabbit on a Georgia pond became a metaphor for a sinking White House term.

On a spring day in 1979, a waterborne rabbit approached the leader of the free world as he fished near his home in Georgia. President Jimmy Carter splashed it with an oar, seeing the creature was “clearly in distress, or perhaps berserk … making strange hissing noises and gnashing its teeth,” his press secretary Jody Powell later wrote. The rabbit swam away, its pair of bunny ears visible above the water line.

Four months later, news of the peculiar incident transformed it into an irresistible metaphor for a sinking presidency: How could Carter be trusted to vanquish inflation and gas lines when he couldn’t manage to keep the peace on a pond?

“I didn’t think Carter had a paddle,” jibed humorist Mark Russell. Both The Washington Post and the New York Times published cartoons depicting giant “Jaws”-like rabbits attacking Carter’s boat from below. There was even a novelty song by folk singer Tom Paxton called “I Don’t Want a Bunny Wunny,” with the lyrics “Think about the country, think about sin/Along swum a rabbit, and he tried to climb in.”

It was a “nightmare,” Powell recalled in his 1984 book “The Other Side of the Story.” And he blamed himself.

[Darksheare]

They tried hard to censor the pictures.

[No name given]

It was one of many perfect metaphors for Jimmy’s dumpster fire of an administration.

[rlmorel]

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

That’s no ordinary rabbit.....

[fidelis]

I remember when the outcry against Carter’s perceived wimpiness as President was at such a fever pitch, he even took to parting his hair on the opposite side of his head and smiling less in public because he (or his advisors) thought it made him look tougher.

[Clay Moore]

TIM: There he is!

ARTHUR: Where?

TIM: There!

ARTHUR: What, behind the rabbit?

TIM: It is the rabbit.

ARTHUR: You silly sod!

TIM: What?

ARTHUR: You got us all worked up!

TIM: Well, that’s no ordinary rabbit!

ARTHUR: Ohh.

TIM: That’s the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!

ROBIN: You tit! I soiled my armor I was so scared!

TIM: Look, that rabbit’s got a vicious streak a mile wide! It’s a killer!

GALAHAD: Get stuffed!

TIM: He’ll do you up a treat, mate.

GALAHAD: Oh, yeah?

ROBIN: You mangy Scots git!

TIM: I’m warning you!

ROBIN: What’s he do, nibble your bum?

TIM: He’s got huge, sharp— eh— he can leap about— look at the bones!

ARTHUR: Go on, Bors. Chop his head off!

BORS: Right! Silly little bleeder. One rabbit stew comin’ right up!

TIM: Look!

[squeak]

BORS: Aaaugh!

[dramatic chord]

[clunk]

ARTHUR: Jesus Christ!

TIM: I warned you!

ROBIN: I done it again!

TIM: I warned you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you knew it all, didn’t you? Oh, it’s just a harmless little bunny, isn’t it? Well, it’s always the same. I always tell them—

ARTHUR: Oh, shut up!

TIM: Do they listen to me?

ARTHUR: Right!

TIM: Oh, no...

KNIGHTS: Charge!

[squeak squeak squeak]

KNIGHTS: Aaaaugh!, Aaaugh!, etc.

ARTHUR: Run away! Run away!

KNIGHTS: Run away! Run away!...

TIM: Ha ha ha ha! Ha haw haw! Ha! Ha ha!

ARTHUR: Right. How many did we lose?

LANCELOT: Gawain.

GALAHAD: Ector.

ARTHUR: And Bors. That’s five.

GALAHAD: Three, sir.

ARTHUR: Three. Three. And we’d better not risk another frontal assault. That rabbit’s dynamite.

ROBIN: Would it help to confuse it if we run away more?

[fidelis]

"Jesus Christ"

May his Holy Name be honored and revered. Amen.

[wildcard_redneck]

[wildcard_redneck]

When she was in college my daughter and her roommates bought a pet rabbit so of course it ended up at my house. It was a great pet. I had a cinder block fence surrounding the backyard and I was able to let her room free during the day. I didn't know that rabbits had a personality but they do, it was very friendly and a great pet. I would sit in the backyard patio in the evenings and it would always would come up to be petted.

That being said, the first few days we had it I was trying to get it out from underneath a table and it jumped 3 feet and tried to bite me in the forehead. Thankfully the incisors didn't get any purchase but her teeth definitely hit me in the face.

[wardaddy]

Don't forget when he fell out running at some event and in the media on scene pics he looked awful

Sweaty pallid and panting mouth agape

That hurt too

Self inflicted wounds hurt in politics game

[Herakles]

He his son and brother Billy were bunch of assholes.

Everyone knew that dear roslin was running the White House just like Jill is doing it now

[Ann Archy]

His MOTHER said “I Wished I stayed a VIRGIN”!

[Redleg Duke]

“I don’t wantta bunny-wunnnie in my wittle row boat.

In my wittle row boat wiv me.

For bunny might get angwy and gwab me by the thwoat.

In my wittle row boat wiv me!”

[Hatteras]

[Hatteras]

Had an acquaintance who was on S.S. White House detail during the Carter administration. Word has it the Mrs. was quite fond of one of her protectors

[scrabblehack]

Tip-A-Canoe and Mondale too!

[packrat35]

Actual photo of the incident.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Don't forget when he fell out running at some event and in the media on scene pics he looked awful Sweaty pallid and panting mouth agape That hurt too Self inflicted wounds hurt in politics game

Dan Bongoni says the only thing that matters in politics is sound bytes and photo ops.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Bongino, not Bongoni.