The text of a letter former President Carter sent to Zell Miller over the weekend

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/ ^ | Josh Marshall

[Mark in the Old South]

Re: "The only thing he did for the military was to push a good pay raise thru for us"

Correction see post #60

[Spotsy]

Jimmy Carter - the man who gave away the store and brought this country to its knees - had the nerve to accuse Bush from the podium of the Dem convention for having destroyed US credibility and prestige.

Nothing from Carter surprises me.

[GretchenM]

I contacted President Carter's office for comment and his press spokesperson Deanna Congileo told me that the letter was a private communication and that President Carter would not be issuing further comment.

So.... who sent it to the press? Zell or Jimmy? Or Kobe Bryant's judge's office assistant while accidentally hitting SEND via Email to the entire press corps?

[goldstategop]

Jimmuh Cartuh does to Zell Miller what the Democrats accuse the other side of doing to them. For Cartuh party comes before country. He has it so wrong. Country comes before party. If I saw a Republican who undermined this country to the same extent that a Democrat like Kerry did, I would vote him out of office, not because I put my party first but because I always put my country's welfare first. That is the first obligation of every true patriot. I might as well save the bandwidth since all of this is wasted on the current leaders of the Democratic Party. GIVE 'EM HELL, ZELL !!!

[southernnorthcarolina]

It was a loyal Democrat, Lester Maddox, who assigned you to high positions in the state government when you were out of office. It was a loyal Democrat, Roy Barnes, who appointed you as U.S. Senator when you were out of office. By your historically unprecedented disloyalty, you have betrayed our trust. Great Georgia Democrats who served in the past, including Walter George, Richard Russell, Herman Talmadge, and Sam Nunn disagreed strongly with the policies of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and me, but they remained loyal to the party in which they gained their public office. Other Democrats, because of philosophical differences or the race issue, like Bo Callaway and Strom Thurmond, at least had the decency to become Republicans.

So let me get this straight. Lester Maddox was a "loyal Democrat" who, one must presume from the context of this letter, Carter is glad remained in the party; whereas Bo Callaway's philosophical differences "or the race issue" caused him to leave the party, to Carter's evident approval.

O-k-a-a-a-y.

[chs68]

"I, myself, never claimed to have been a war hero, but I served in the navy from 1942 to 1953, and, as president, greatly strengthened our military forces and protected our nation and its interests in every way."

It is always so terrbily sad to see the disintegration of a person's mind.

If Jimmah Carter truly believes that he "greatly strengthened our military forces and 'protected our nation and its interests in every way'", then I think the poor old senile one-term president needs to check himself into St. Elizabeth's hospital here in Washington, DC.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I think you're on to something.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

Yes, a gigolo-to-billionairess blowhard and multi-million dollar fee income ambulance chaser ---- definitely "champions of the poor".

Right.

[LibLieSlayer]

Psssssssssst... jimmah took the "brown acid"!

LLS

[truth_seeker]

Carter Presidency. Iran issue, hostage, non-response, bungled military rescue.

Carter was pretty much an originator of the spitball mentality.

So who's he to talk? Carter is consistently judged one of the nation's WORST presidents.

He'd serve his legacy best by STFU.

[Rastus]

The cat's probably too cute for my level of loathing of this man. My hatred is so deep, you'd be crushed by the pressure before you were even halfway down. You'd get the bends if you tried to come up from it too fast. Heh. What am I talking about?

[js1138]

Loyal to Lester (ax handle) Maddox?

[KingPin]

I believe the people of Ga. elected Zell, not just democrats, too bad the former peanut farmer is too dumb to realize that.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

You seem to have forgotten that loyal Democrats elected you as mayor and as state senator. Loyal Democrats, including members of my family and me, elected you as lieutenant governor and as governor. It was a loyal Democrat, Lester Maddox, who assigned you to high positions in the state government when you were out of office. It was a loyal Democrat, Roy Barnes, who appointed you as U.S. Senator when you were out of office

Are we to take it that LOYAL DEMOCRAT means communist traitor now ?

I know Zell is one heck of a GOOD democrat hes old school not new party scum ! So whats carter trying to prove ? or has already proved hes a UN communist ! I don't know anything about some of these other people but i would suspect some of them are old school Democrats as well probably very good loyal people to the country to me carter has proved he is NOT !

[aShepard]

Hey Jimmuh, put some ice on it!

[kcvl]

Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
441 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, Georgia 30307-1498
USA

Telephone: 404-865-7100
Fax: 404-865-7102
Email: carter.library@nara.gov

[chs68]

"It was a loyal Democrat, Lester Maddox, who assigned you to high positions in the state government when you were out of office. It was a loyal Democrat, Roy Barnes, who appointed you as U.S. Senator when you were out of office."

One question, Jimmah.......

Which "loyal Democrat" was it who appointed Ramsey Clark as Attorney General of the United States????

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"loyal Democrats "

By that phrase I believe Mr. Carter is referring to Democrats who will parrot the Party line and the DNC talking points regardless of whether they hold any truth or not...and regardless of the consequences. Apparently Senator Miller is not a "loyal Democrat". Good for him.

[savedbygrace]

Jimmy "Let Me Just Hide Out in the White House for a Little While Longer" Carter

[asgardshill]

Robert Ballard, is that you? ;)

(The cat IS cute).