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A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election
The New York Times ^ | Peter Baker

Posted on 03/19/2023 3:13:43 PM PDT by slag

WASHINGTON — It has been more than four decades, but Ben Barnes said he remembers it vividly. His longtime political mentor invited him on a mission to the Middle East. What Mr. Barnes said he did not realize until later was the real purpose of the mission: to sabotage the re-election campaign of the president of the United States.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: baldfacedlie; benbarnes; godsgravesglyphs; goober; haha; hostages; iran; itistolaugh; jimmycarter; johnconnally; johnconnallyjr; libmyths; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; peanutboy; peanutschadenfreude; peterbaker; pooroldjimmah; ronaldreagan; shahofiran; spewbarfslimes; spewyorktimes; thatsashame; walterdurantytimes; williamcasey
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To: slag

Carter lost because even the Democrats were not united behind Carter.

I attended the Dims convention that renominated Carter for his second term, as an observer. It was Raucus. Ted Kennedy and all his minions were doing all they could to get states to not agree to nominate Carter again. Even Kennedy’s speech to the convention was an anti-Carter dirge.

Carter lost because even the Dims were tired of him.


61 posted on 03/19/2023 6:51:37 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: slag
Any such escapade would have come to the attention of the US State Department and intel agencies -- and promptly been leaked to the news media and Democrats in Congress. And, even if it did happen as claimed -- there is no indication that it influenced Iran in the slightest.

More likely is that Iran knew that the Reagan administration would be a nightmare to deal with when it came to the hostages. As a popular joke at the time had it: "What is flat, black, and glows in the dark? Iran the day after Reagan is inaugurated."

62 posted on 03/19/2023 7:21:27 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: slag

If you think anything other than bungling the Iranian Hostage Crisis scuppered Carter’s re-election, you’re an idiot.

Stag-flation (& the accompanying Misery Index) got it started but leaving Americans hostage to Muhammadan barbarians for 444 days was the final nail in the coffin.


63 posted on 03/19/2023 7:22:54 PM PDT by Paal Gulli
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To: Paal Gulli

Hey, don’t call me an idiot just for posting an article for discussion.


64 posted on 03/19/2023 7:35:25 PM PDT by slag
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To: HandBasketHell

What I believe happened is the Iranians realized Reagan was an unknown political factor. His rhetoric suggested stronger actions would be forthcoming of the hostages were not released.


65 posted on 03/19/2023 7:38:54 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: slag

Really? I remember our first mortgage was 14% interest rate. My husband got a ten % raise, and it was less than the inflation rate.
Carter told everyone to accept that the ability to own two homes, was gone forever.
We had gas rationing, with long lines at the service stations. Which day of the week you could buy gas, depended on whether your license plate, ended in an odd or even number.
Then we had the hostage crisis. He finally tried to launch a rescue mission, and our military crashed into each other, instead of performing a rescue
No alcohol served at the White House.
He belonged to a church where no blacks were allowed when he became President. Then when it was revealed, he objected to the racial prejudice, and it was swept under the carpet.
It was one incompetency after another.
People loved Billy and miss Lillian but the rest of the family left a lot to be desired. Daughter Amy got tons of parking tickets, but she was above the law.
One of his grandsons taped Mitt Romney saying that the rich were OK, and the poor had a safety net. It was the middle class that was hurting. It was propaganda used against Mitt (not that I am a fan, but it was pretty low). Jimmy was proud of his grandson’s accomplishment with that recording.


66 posted on 03/19/2023 7:46:51 PM PDT by suekas
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...
The bungler Jimmy Carter sabotaged his reelection.

Carter undermined the United States and by failing to support the Shah, paved the way for the hostage crisis, which is the main reason he was one and done. Also, if this story is the rehash of the completely fabricated October Surprise the DNC and its media lapdogs pushed in 1980, everyone involved with this agitprop [redacted by this writer].

Carter also helped create the current version of the centuries-long muzzie bloodbath that is the Middle East and beyond, and pushed his Jew-hating agenda during and after his presidency.

Literally the only thing he got right was boycotting the Moscow Olympics and aiding the Afghan guerilla war against the Soviets.

It's at least as valid to say that Gerald Ford sabotaged Carter's reelection -- because four years of Carter made Ford's two and a half look pretty good, and people with sense realized Reagan would be even better.

67 posted on 03/19/2023 8:22:04 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: slag

Jimmmuuuh Cahtu sabotaged Jimmmuuuh Cahtu and anyone who was an adult with a functioning brain during his presidency knows it!


68 posted on 03/20/2023 12:25:36 AM PDT by Mastador1
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To: slag

A dumb, pointless article intended to lionize THE worst President (until Joe Biden) this country has ever had. An inept peanut farmer (from my state, BTW) who as Governor turned a $200M surplus into big time debt and then went on to luck up his way into the White House where he did even worse damage.

Billy Beer, Jody Powell in blue jeans and his pathetic foreign policy that resulted in long gas lines, inflation, the “Misery Index” and national embarrassment in the Hostage Crisis. A totally inept.

If the Democrats could do it, they’d drag this hospice thing out until 2024 so they could make a big spectacle like Paul Wellstone’s funeral and blame it on Republicans.


69 posted on 03/20/2023 12:54:22 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: slag

carters Carrer died. a little each day after Iran seized the American embassy.


70 posted on 03/20/2023 1:20:39 AM PDT by PCPOET7 (`)
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To: slag

The story line is BS. He would not have won anyway.

Carter was a horrendous Prez. His administration destroyed our economy with high interest rates and gasoline shortages, among many other negatives.


71 posted on 03/20/2023 2:47:22 AM PDT by octex
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To: Toddsterpatriot
Ben Barnes has a feeling that John Connally made a deal so that Iran would keep the hostages so that Carter would lose.

I shoulda known it was that lie again.

Reagan said that if those hostages were being held when he became president, we would go to war with Iran.

*THAT* is why they let them go on his inauguration day.

72 posted on 03/20/2023 3:53:20 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: slag

Bunk.
Jimmah was going nowhere.


73 posted on 03/20/2023 4:26:15 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.q at)
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To: rlmorel

A keeper than you


74 posted on 03/20/2023 7:14:40 AM PDT by Vaduz (LAWYERS )
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To: Bookshelf

Agree


75 posted on 03/20/2023 7:18:34 AM PDT by Vaduz (LAWYERS )
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To: Vaduz

Gah.

He is just an old guy now, not opening his mouth to spout off and insert himself as he has been doing since 1981.

I say let him escape unfettered this mortal coil with all its troubles.

Into the jaws of the ghost of a soggy rabbit with a fatal oar-wound on its head!


76 posted on 03/20/2023 7:20:16 AM PDT by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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To: rlmorel

Agree


77 posted on 03/20/2023 7:44:15 AM PDT by Vaduz (LAWYERS )
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
IOW, we should chip in and send him a balloon bouquet and a basket of muffins.

Same BS, different decade. The DNC inside and outside of the media peddled this BS as the October Surprise in 1984. I think I said 1980 in the earlier post, if so, whoops.

78 posted on 03/20/2023 10:37:06 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: slag

This “Don’t release the hostages” conspiracy tale is not new, and was thoroughly debunked decades ago.


79 posted on 03/20/2023 10:45:40 AM PDT by ElkGroveDan (My tagline is in the shop.)
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To: Pontiac
That list would be fun to read today.

It really would and it just might be in my storage unit.

It was one of the things we made sure to keep after Mom passed away from an illness when we kids were in our 20s.

It was just handwritten on notebook paper, but it captured all of the salient points. She had even underlined a few things for emphasis, such as the very sad failed Desert One rescue attempt in Iran.

80 posted on 03/20/2023 12:03:54 PM PDT by Allegra
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