Posted on 01/27/2006 10:08:46 AM PST by ncountylee
JERUSALEM - The mood was disaster-in-progress when the unflappable Jimmy Carter stepped into the room yesterday to share a few quiet moments with the Toronto Star.
The official returns were flowing in, showing a Hamas victory almost beyond anyone's calibration.
The hard fist of political Islam didn't just enter the Palestinian parliament. It is the parliament.
As the numbers sunk in, CNN, BBC, Sky and Fox went into "breaking news" mode, quickly bulking up with pundits uttering obituaries for peace. The greening of Palestinian politics now had consigned the region to another hopeless eternity, it seemed.
At 81, clear-eyed and calm, America's most beloved ex-president — who yesterday sanctified the Palestinian election as head of the 950-strong international observer mission — took the earthquake in stride.
With the debate turning to whether the Palestinians' major international benefactors, the European Union and the United States, should allow themselves to maintain contact with a government led by Hamas — a group that has not unequivocally abandoned its founding principle of the destruction of the state of Israel — Carter let us in on a fascinating anecdote he has never spoken of publicly.
Ten years ago, Carter himself sat down with Hamas in an attempt to bridge the gap between PLO chief Yasser Arafat and the then-fledgling militant Islamic group.
As a personal favour to the late Palestinian leader, and in the spirit of the newly minted Oslo Accords, Carter went hunting for Hamas, to lasso them into the political process.
"Arafat asked me if I would contact Hamas and see if they would accept the new government with him as president, and to find out what their demands might be," Carter said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com ...
"America's most beloved ex-President"?????
I stopped reading when I saw that....the reporter is clueless.
HUH?
I have said before that I have the ultimate respect for the office of the presidency, even for a hustler like Clinton. But when the day comes when that sanctimonious ego driven little prick from Georgia finally meets his maker, my flag will not go to half staff.
Beloved my ass. He was the worst ever and continues being nothing but destructive.
"At 81, clear-eyed and calm, America's most beloved ex-president "
pfffffffffffffffft bwwwahahahahahahahaahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
carter is a dangerous f'n loon who never should have been president
Aw jeeze.....Jimmuh! The lowest scalawag next to King Ahab Willie, just like Willie, a total embarrassment and disgrace to the South! Jimmuh's senility must be increasing, because he a long way from being in his right mind! Put him in a home where he can't hurt himself of the US. The peanut-shells-for-brians fool probably puts sugar in his cornbread batter, too!
Some fools may say he's the "most beloved ex-President", but not me! The only thing that fool ever did right was walk his sorry America-hating caboose out of the White House on January 20, 1981.
From over on Lucianne.com --
An Email From Mitch Potter.. just received
Sir,
Your site is defaming me, although you can't be expected to know that.
I wrote the Jimmy Carter interview currently on your home page.
Please let the record show that:
I wrote:
"At 81, clear eyed and calm, the former U.S. president who yesterday sanctified the process as head of the 950-strong international observer mission took the earthquake in stride."
But my newspaper published:
"At 81, clear-eyed and calm, America's most beloved ex-president — who yesterday sanctified the Palestinian election as head of the 950-strong international observer mission — took the earthquake in stride."
I did not, repeat not, use the word "beloved" in my original file. Carter was a one-term president, after all, and America's overall disinterest in his continuing work is obvious. The reference was added by an editor in Toronto without my knowledge. And a thorough thrashing has ensued.
Please, everyone, redirect your rage and ridicule. If you must resort to personal insults, base it on something I actually said.
Er ... that's all.
Mitch Potter
Middle East Bureau Chief
Toronto Star of Canada
001 416 367 2000
mpotter@thestar.ca
Hey Jimmy - do you realize that the President of Iran was one of the main a--holes who took our guys hostage in '79? When are you going to chum up to him?
I drove by the Carter Center in Atlanta today and wanted to flick it off. What a tool.
Looks like we dusted up some fingerprints, eh ?
Imbecile continues to pander.
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