Posted on 10/19/2004 7:04:03 PM PDT by notkerry
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you the question about—this is going to cause some trouble with people—but as an historian now and studying the Revolutionary War as it was fought out in the South in those last years of the War, insurgency against a powerful British force, do you see any parallels between the fighting that we did on our side and the fighting that is going on in Iraq today?
CARTER: Well, one parallel is that the Revolutionary War, more than any other war up until recently, has been the most bloody war we‘ve fought. I think another parallel is that in some ways the Revolutionary War could have been avoided. It was an unnecessary war.
Had the British Parliament been a little more sensitive to the colonial‘s really legitimate complaints and requests the war could have been avoided completely, and of course now we would have been a free country now as is Canada and India and Australia, having gotten our independence in a nonviolent way.
I think in many ways the British were very misled in going to war against America and in trying to enforce their will on people who were quite different from them at the time.
For Transcript See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6281085/
President Carter's profound lack of knowledge of history explains to some extent his profound inability to appreciate reality.
It is little wonder that no Presidency until Clinton's rivals Carter's for sheer foreign policy lunacy. Were Senator Kerry to be elected, unfortunately, he might well actually prove to be worse than either.
This statement is just so wrong on so many levels.
One, the Revolutionary War was not at all the most bloody war. By far the US Civil War was the worst in our history.
Two, after he expresses the idea that the Revolutionary War was the bloodiest war we've had ever, he implies that the current situation in Iraq is worse. That depends, of course, on how one reads "up until recently," but still he is definitely slipping in some weird history or weird commentary about the current administration.
And three, the fact that a former POTUS and COMMANDER-IN-FREAKING-CHIEF of the US Armed forces is making this statement is the element which really takes it to the "messed up" level...
Don't blame me. I voted for Gerald Ford.
>I guess Kerry thinks the Boston Tea Party was unnecessary because they should have just kept paying the taxes? King Kerry!<
I'd wager that a (gag me) President Kerry would insist we begin paying an income tax to the United Nations. After all, we have to pay our global fair share, don't you know.
IM SO glad that Im too young to remember Carter's presidency at all.
What an @sshat.
Jimmy Carter is a madman. Kerry reminds me a lot of Carter, I hope he doesn't get in.
FMCDH(BITS)
You beat me to that question. How did this person become the president?
Reflecting on Carter's remark a little more, had there not been an American Revolution, the world likely would not be graced with the only nation ever founded on the premise of individual freedom, nor the beautiful document that secures that precarious freedom, our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
But then I doubt that these things carry the meaning for Jimmy and the Democrats that they do for many of us.
To the generation that came before me...how in the good Lord's name did you let this buffon become President.
Thats not intended to be a poke at anyone here.
Do you remember the voter fraud in '76?
Actually Carter's point is that the war was unecessary from the BRITISH point of view.
Look, I dislike Carter as much as anyone else on this thread, but
1) People seem to be misunderstanding what he meant
2) Nothing he said is really out of line historically. As has been pointed out, it was the bloodiest American war as % deaths of the (very small) population back then.
And quite a lot of respectable historians prior to Carter have noted how easily the British could have avoided the war. There really wasn't widespread deep-seated sentiment in America for a break; basically initially it was a handful of hotheads in Boston. And even well into the war vast sections of the country were primarily populated by Tories.
It was an egregious series of policy and PR blunders by an uncharacteristically incompetent government of Britain of the time that caused the war. Looking at it, compared to other historical events, it wasn't something that was inevitable.
Did you know that John Kerry can speak French to Haitians in Florida??
Jimmy Carter is in the beginning stages of senile dementia. The two things don't even equate. Please stop talking and embarrassing yourself.
LOL
CARTER IS A TOOL
Absolutely wrong! What a shithead! I can't believe Carter said this. Has he studied any of the wars since the revolution? The casualty statistics? The Revolutionary War was not on a par with any American War, with the possible exception of the war in Cuba.
As a "Nucular Engineer" Carter should have a better grasp on the facts than this monumentally ignorant statement. The bloodiest war we fought was the War Between the States; no war before or since can begin to compare with regard to American casualties.
Carter is a transparent idiot.
"this man is a fly speck on a 'pile of dung'---"
Mathews should have done a little studying if he really wanted to play hardball with Carter! (some excerpts below from Carter's 1980 state of the union address)
http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/speeches/su80jec.phtml
Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.
I believe that our volunteer forces are adequate for current defense needs, and I hope that it will not become necessary to impose a draft. However, we must be prepared for that possibility. For this reason, I have determined that the Selective Service System must now be revitalized. I will send legislation and budget proposals to the Congress next month so that we can begin registration and then meet future mobilization needs rapidly if they arise.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.