Jimmy Carter: Like Iraq The Revolutionary War Was Unnecessary!

Harball 10/18/04

[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/

[Beckwith]

This guy is a fool and stupid to boot.

"one parallel is that the Revolutionary War, more than any other war up until recently, has been the most bloody war we‘ve fought."

1. Civil War (War Between the States) most bloody.

2. "Until recently" - code for Iraq - how crazy is that?

It was an unnecessary war.

I'm speechless - no comment?

we would have been a free country now as is Canada and India and Australia, having gotten our independence in a nonviolent way.

What the f*ck. Would we still be called "The Colonies?"

Kerry is in this guy's league.

[GoLightly]

The unrest was growing. Common Sense & Wealth of a Nation were widely read among the general population & the ideas they raised were being preached in many pulpits. Eventually, those who wanted to work it out with the British were bowled over.

The movie 1776 is like a snapshot. It catches a moment in time.

[Alkhin]

What are you getting at? The French got involved because it drove a wedge between the colonists and the British. I tend to think that the first imperative on the colonists mind, if they had found Parliament more willing to consider them an extension of the Island and its populace, rather than farmed-out slaves, the French would not have gained much ground.

I'm sure, however, you are leading me into a conversation whereby you get to show me how I am wrong. That's fine. The basic premise, though, is that Parliament bungled how the colonies could be made a part of the Empire, and the Revolution happened because it was the only choice left to them. I think Jimmah Carter is a milksop fool...and fortunately, at the time, I was much too young to vote, so I can never say that I regret voting for Carter...Time itself took care of that one in the form of H Ross Perot...and I have been livid with myself since then.

[GoLightly]

I was not talking about the French involvement in the American Revolution. The French crown came out on the side of the revolutionary colonists, because it weakened a competitor.

If the British had given the American's a voice, a vote in Parliament, it might have held things off for awhile, but I'm not sure it would have prevented a revolution.

I was talking about their own revolution, the Reign of Terror & all of that.

[BlessedBeGod]

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...

Ahhhhhh, so THAT'S all that was needed -- a little sensitivity training for the British Parliament!

[weegee]

There would be a tax revolt in America if people knew how "high" that tax was that the colonists rose up over.

Or even if they knew how little John Kerry and his billionairess wife paid in taxes.

Her income was declared at ~$2.1 million taxable. And another $2.8 tax exempt. She paid ~15.45% in state and federal taxes on the full $4.9million earned. Now then. her estate is worth $750million-$1billion; how much interest did that accrue in the last year? How much tax was paid on that growth of her estate?

Anyone out in FReeperland paying less that 15.45$ when you combine state, local, federal, FICA, etc?

Don't believe the billionaire gigolo when he claims he will cut your taxes. He doesn't pay them, someone has to.

[tobyhill]

Peanut Brain Carter also claims to be the enviromental czar but he forgets that even with all his regulations 3 Mile Island damn near wiped out the NE on his watch.

[rdl6989]

...the Revolutionary War, more than any other war up until recently, has been the most bloody war we‘ve fought.

Um the Civil War...

My thoughts exactly. I learned that in about the 8th grade.

[rdl6989]

Total Deaths for all American Wars 623,026 .. Civil War 407,316 .. World War II 116,708 .. World War I 58,169 . . Vietnam War 36,914 . . Korean War 13,283 . . Mexican War 4,435 ... . Revolutionary War 2,260 ... . War of 1812 2,446 ... . Spanish American War 1,100+ . . Operation Iraqi Freedom/ Operation Enduring Freedom 269 ..... . Operation Desert Storm

Note the 4,435 deaths in the Revolution. More men died in the Civil War fighting just in GEORGIA. Peanut Man should know that.

[The Toad]

Jimmy has it wrong. The Civil War was far worse. Perhaps being from the south the Civil War a war that Jimmmy would rather pretend didn't happen.

[george76]

You are still correct.

---

Every time Jimmy Carter speaks, he demonstrates again that he is an historical and geopolitical moron.

Any semi-sentient fool knows that the most bloody war we ever fought, in terms of percentage of the whole population killed and wounded, was the Civil War.

Close on the heels of that were World War II, and then World War I.

And the idea that the Revolutionary War "need not have been fought" because Britain would eventually have given America its independence (in the 20th century) is so overwhelmingly dumb that words fail in trying to describe it.

Carter is a bad joke, and Matthews was a blindingly incompetent in not calling him on his demonstrated ignorance.

Don't get me started.

Congressman Billybob

[george76]

LOL.

---

"How in the hell did this person get elected to be President"

The more pressing question is - how in the hell does this idiot put his pants on without help?!

[george76]

Needs repeating. IMHO.

---

Jimmah : "the Revolutionary War, more than any other war up until recently, has been the most bloody war we‘ve fought."

This statement is just so wrong on so many levels...

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...

[GOP_Raider]

How is this not satire? It's just too stupid to have actually occurred....

[donmeaker]

Jimmy Carter was a brilliant politician who ran as a born again Christian, but the kind that did interviews in Playboy.

He ran as a trained Navy Nuclear Engineer, but the kind who suddenly discovered that his father was a farmer, so he didn't have to serve out his commitment.

He ran for Georgia Governor as a white bigot, but the kind who apologized to blacks after his successful campaign.

So, now you know. He was the prototype for William Jefferson Clinton.

[geopyg]

I think the the entire premise of our "legitimate complaints" is wrong. The British were taxing "us" to help repay for the French - Indian War, which "we" had a great benefit from. Doesn't seem entirely unreasonable. Perhaps we should have been "a little more sensitive".

Of course one thing lead to another and soon we had some REAL grievances and here we are (thank goodness).

[Rastus]

Like Clinton The Carter Administration Was Unnecessary

[SuziQ]

How in the hell did this person get elected to be President.. What a dolt!.

He won because the media had continued to beat the Watergate drum, even after Richard Nixon left office. Gerald Ford wasn't much of a President and tended toward the Moderate to Liberal wing of the Republican Party. Repubs. were disgusted, and Ford left them cold. I suppose it's the way we thought about Bob Dole, and folks likely just didn't bother to vote.

Carter was popular with younger voters; college students and young adults who had become more political during the Vietnam War were a large part of the buzz for Carter.

[bubman]

"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."

How th f*ck did this man captain a nuclear sub then became the POTUS?

I thought you had a whole system in place so loose cannons like this would never get into a position of power?

I fear for our world.

[dalereed]

"how in the hell does this idiot put his pants on without help?!"

I've never heard anyone claim that he does!