"As we sit here, freezing in the dark and pondering our decline and malaise, I want everyone to go their closet, put on another sweater, and help Amy decide which country we should hand over next to the Soviet Union."
Posted on 04/06/2005 4:27:30 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
All this adulation of John Paul II, a man of monumental moral stature, must be gnawing at MSM innards.
You could almost hear the command go out from the NBC honchos: "find me something we can use to bash a conservative. Make it Bush if you can."
And sure enough, Today managed to come up with a great two-fer this morning, managing to take swipes at both W and Condi over the exclusion of Jimmy Carter from the US delegation to the papal funeral.
Andrea Mitchell, reporting the story, clearly wasn't buying the White House line that Carter politely asked himself to be removed from the invitation list when he learned that space was very limited.
Tongues-a-clucking, Katie and Andrea wondered aloud at least three times why the White House didn't simply ask the Vatican for one more invitation, "especially because Pres. Carter was the first and only president to invite the Pope to the White House, and shared an interest with him in Third World issues."
Andrea surmised this was all pay-back for Carter's harsh criticism of the Iraq war, which he called a "quagmire," predicting the failure of the January elections.
Not content to snipe at W, Today also managed to get in a shot at Condi. Asked Katie "under the circumstances, wouldn't the right thing have been for Condi Rice to step aside and give Carter her place?"
Mitchell acknowledged that, after all, the Vatican is a state, and as the chief diplomatic official it was logical for Condi to attend. Nevertheless, Andrea opined that Rice should have ceded her seat to Mr. Peanut.
You could almost hear the sigh of relief on the set and in the NBC executive suites. After an intolerable week, Today was back doing what it does best: bashing Republicans.
According to White House sources, Carter's representatives, apparently from the former president's Carter Center, reached out to the White House over the weekend and offered to lead the U.S. delegation should the President or other senior Bush administration officials not be able to attend.
"There was no misunderstanding. It wasn't Carter who made the actual call, but the message was pure Carter gumption," says a White House source. "We were getting lots of calls from lots of people looking to get on this delegation. I would say over the weekend alone we got more than 100 requests, maybe more."
Carter went public on Tuesday with his dissatisfaction at not being invited, after the White House announced that the official delegation would be made up of the current and two prior sitting Presidents, and Secretary of State Rice.
Easily the worst President of the 20th Century.
Why give him a forum to spread his moralizing malaise and his Michael-Moore malignancy? We don't need to send a professional bitcher to the Vatican.
"It's all Carter's fault, if you ask me." There you go reminding me of all those horrors we endured. LOL
I may have my dates wrong, but Carter had the chance., as President to go to two Papal funerals."
It is amazing, isn't it?, that one President could so completely screw the works in 1 short term.
I doubt that W holds a grudge, but Carter's bashing of Bush and resultant Nobel prize should shame the bastard for the rest of his life...and beyond. Maybe some of that blame belongs to the Nobel comittee, but Carter could have, should have rejected it. He should have defended his country, rather than pile on as he did. I'm ashamed I voted for the man in my idealistic, misspent youth.
Our office had air conditioning, but we were required to set the thermostat high to "save" energy. The fact that the design of our A/C was such that setting the thermostat higher WASTED energy rather than saving it didn't matter, of course . . .
You've got your dates right. Carter was elected in 1976. Pope Paul and Pope John Paul I died in 1978. Carter didn't attend either funeral.
Wasn't it also during the Carter administration that 1 1/2 gallon commonds came into being.......to save water. Never mind that it usually took 2 flushings.
that's COMMODES.
Correctomundo!
Matt Lauer wants a black woman to give up her seat to a white southerner?
Priceless.
It was Katie and Andrea, but that's the idea. Come to think of it, Katie loves to say "you go, girl!" But in this case, she's saying "you don't go, girl!"
Frankly, I don't know why it was necessary to invite the former presidents at all. It is not standard protocol to invite all the former presidents to the funerals of heads of state. I think W. was being generous in the spirit of John Paul II, and all he gets for it is grief.
Four years of Carter was the price for eight years of Reagan.
Yes, he can. He wants all the glory and attention.
Just about the worst president we have ever had. I really dont' care about him. The belt tighting speech is still ringing in my ears.
Commercial Flights leave "HotLanta" every day for Rome. Mr. Peanut is rich enough to buy a ticket. Maybe he can't pass security.
Reagan gave us the shining city on the hill; Carter, the mud and rockfall below it.
"As we sit here, freezing in the dark and pondering our decline and malaise, I want everyone to go their closet, put on another sweater, and help Amy decide which country we should hand over next to the Soviet Union."
LOL. Sad, but funny.
It does nicely sum up his presidency, IIDSSM!
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