Posted on 04/02/2003 8:30:46 AM PST by sandude
It's been said by many that as president of the United States, Jimmy Carter was a fine peanut farmer. In 1980, when he was soundly defeated in his re-election bid, the voters were telling him that he was a disgrace.
During his term, the country suffered long lines at gas stations, a lethargic stock market, sky high interest rates and more than 50 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days. He sanctioned the Mariel Boatlift, which allowed Fidel Castro to open his jails and dump the most hardcore Cuban prisoners onto the shores of Miami, practically destroying the economy of Florida and creating a tidal wave of drug proliferation and violent crime that continues to wreak havoc on the once peaceful landscape.
Nevertheless, Monsieur Carter, with his piano keys smile and dovish demeanor, continues to be the darling of that coterie of liberal leftists who never met a dictator they couldn't embrace.
One can understand Germany's support of Saddam; they always fall in love with a tyrant who wears a mustache. If he happens to be anti-Semitic too, that's just icing on the cake for them. When Dan Rather fawned over the Iraqi despot in his recent interview, the intent was to show America that Saddam was really not a bad guy. Rather looked like a puppy dog with his tongue hanging out waiting for his master to throw him a bone.
Then there's Sen. Ted Kennedy, of all people, who chided Bush for taking an immoral stand against Iraq. Is this the same Ted Kennedy who left a woman to drown at Chappaquidick while he high-tailed it home to concoct a story? Like the spineless weasel he is, he decided that saving his reputation was more important than saving her life. And this contemptible coward has the audacity to talk about morality to Bush?
But this is standard operating procedure for the Bush haters who spend the majority of their time trying to demonize the president before the election next year. Their efforts have resulted in organized protests by a band of Hollywood nitwits whose only claim to fame is that they can read and memorize a script. Too bad they didn't read and memorize U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441. On Nov. 8, 2002, Iraq was given 30 days to fully comply with the unanimous mandate.
Well, here we are, four months later, and that moribund institution towering over Turtle Bay in Manhattan once again proves it is about to fade into history like its predecessor, The League of Nations. Speaking of New York, and getting back to Carter, The New York Times ran an op-ed piece by the peanut magnate and Nobel Peace Prize winner (another overly politicized group that needs to get real) in which he criticized the Bush policy on Iraq. True to form, Carter reiterated the same old hackneyed peacenik blather about war being a last resort, nonviolence is a better alternative, yadda yadda yadda. All of which is intended to give the impression that Bush is an ogre with a bloodlust for world domination.
Gimme a break! Seldom have you seen such restraint on the part of a superpower when it is threatened by weapons of mass destruction from a homicidal madman who has used his power to murder thousands of his own people and has expressed his hatred for America.
Furthermore, the president has been anything but impulsive about dealing with the threat, inasmuch as he already has the authority under 1441, and Saddam continues to defy, delay and manipulate the international community. Bush has often been labeled a cowboy by the gutless wonders on the other side of the aisle, some of whom aspire to take his place. Although it's meant to be derogatory, if being a cowboy means having the strength of your convictions (regime change in Iraq), being honest about the enemies of the United States (axis of evil), and challenging the United Nations to either do its job or become irrelevant (enforce 1441), then I'll vote for a cowboy every time.
Recently, Bush held a televised press conference in which he very clearly, concisely and calmly laid out the case for regime change in Iraq, with or without the United Nations. Unable to say he came on like a warmonger, the critics reversed course and said he appeared to be sedated. One liberal wag said, "If the president is being medicated, the people have a right to know why."
You see, the point is, it doesn't matter what Bush does, his detractors will search for a way to distort his image and weaken him for 2004. To call it politics is too benign a description. When hundreds of thousands of our troops are poised for war against a treacherous dictator, undermining that effort can cost lives.
That's not politics, that's giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Some might call it treason.
Bob Weir is a Flower Mound-based syndicated columnist and author of four books. Contact him at BobWeir777@aol.com.
Poor Carter made a terrible president but I thought redeemed himself as ex-president. However that inage has been shattered. He is joining the ranks of Johnson, and Clinton as the least memorable presidents in my lifetime.
Poor Teddy, reduced to a babbleing, blob, for every liberal program down the pike.
I almost feel sorry for them. It must really hurt to be rolled over and over again by somebody you consider to be a moron.
Pretty good strategery, if you ask me!
Only if you don't look too closely and just stick to the media propaganda. When people like Carter run around "doing good" they cause even more trouble than ever. The North Korean nuclear crisis is only one instance of his accomplishments as a peacemaker.
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.