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Stop picking on Jimmy Carter
Christiansciencemonitor.com ^ | 1/4/08 | Walter Rodgers

Posted on 01/04/2009 3:54:37 PM PST by melt

He suffers from an egregiously unfair reputation. His record, though, shows he was quite a good president

Oakton, Va. - In this season of new resolutions, Americans would do well to rethink their perceptions of Jimmy Carter. President Carter has suffered the misfortune of having his legacy almost entirely shaped by his political enemies rather than by objective reality or a basic sense of American fairness.

Today, Carter is caricatured as a weak-kneed, sweater-wearing puritan who struggled with lust in his heart, presided over a malaised America, and micromanaged even the scheduling of the White House tennis courts. More recently, he's taken heat for his blunt portrayal of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.

What an egregiously undeserved reputation. Carter wasn't just a "good man who got in over his head," as critics say. He was in fact quite a good president.

He kept us out of endless wars. He protected the Alaskan wilderness (Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D) of Wisconsin once told me that "Carter was the greatest environmental president the country ever had.") He promoted a visionary energy policy. He countered the Soviet military threat. And since he left office, he has persistently promoted the cause of peace around the world. The landmark Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty he fashioned remains in force today.

Against the backdrop of an unnecessary trillion-dollar war in Iraq, it is instructive to recall how Carter avoided a similar morass when he negotiated the Panama Canal treaties, for which he was excoriated by Ronald Reagan's Republicans. When he left office, he was able to say with Thomas Jefferson "[D]uring the period of my administration not a drop of the blood of a single citizen was shed by the sword of war."

In the public mind, Carter continues to be judged as "ineffectual."

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: humor; jimmy; peanuts; president; presidents; sarcasm
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To: melt

Good grief. Talk about revisionism!

What happened to the CSMonitor? I thought it was a “center-right” paper.

Anyway, I understand it will soon stop printing and go completely online sometime this year.


21 posted on 01/04/2009 4:00:33 PM PST by GoodDay (Palin for POTUS 2012)
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To: melt

Only a democrat could be so clueless to post this thread..


22 posted on 01/04/2009 4:00:50 PM PST by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
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To: melt

Anyone want to go in on a bulk order of Jimmy Carter toilet paper?


23 posted on 01/04/2009 4:00:59 PM PST by listenhillary (No representation without taxation! ~~ Mark Steyn)
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To: melt

Jimmy Carter, dumbest of the dumb. Of course we haven’t seen Odummer do anything yet, except vote present, so the slot may still be open.


24 posted on 01/04/2009 4:01:09 PM PST by Tarpon (America's first principles, freedom, liberty, market economy and self-reliance will never fail.)
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To: melt

Jimmah was the worst president in my memory, which is quite significant given that the field included Bill Clinton and LBJ.


25 posted on 01/04/2009 4:02:35 PM PST by steelyourfaith
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To: melt

I’ll say something nice about him.

He lowered the bunny population.


26 posted on 01/04/2009 4:03:11 PM PST by Shooter 2.5 (NRA - Vote against the dem party)
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To: EGPWS

“How else can his article be explained??”

I’m going with the keywords: sarcasm, humor
Otherwise, mental derangement


27 posted on 01/04/2009 4:03:36 PM PST by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: melt
Walter Rodgers, YOU are one sick MOFO to even want to promote such a train-wreck of a presidency.
28 posted on 01/04/2009 4:03:37 PM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, Question everyone else)
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To: melt

Worst president ever.

The only thing that has changed is this: for years people have believed he was a bad president but a good man. In the last decade he has shown himself to be also a very bad man. He never met a dictator he didn’t grovel before.


29 posted on 01/04/2009 4:03:41 PM PST by marron
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To: omega4179
“He countered the Soviet military threat.” By cancelling the B1A bomber, the neutron bomb and watching them brutalize Afghanistan and build their military might

Don't forget his masterstroke--he made our Olympic athletes stay home from Moscow. That really hit the USSR were it hurts--they won an extra forty or fifty medals they wouldn't have had otherwise.

Yeah, that Jimmuh--he sure was tough on them commies.

30 posted on 01/04/2009 4:03:54 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: melt
Ok, so I am old enough to remember. Gas lines, out of control inflation, interest rates of 20%, unemployment, stagflation, oh, and yes, his policies setting the stage for Islamic terrorism (remember the hostage 'situation') and an inability to forge peace in the Middle East.

Who are they trying to kid???

31 posted on 01/04/2009 4:04:12 PM PST by koraz
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To: melt

Any “American” who would accept a Nobel prize after having IT CLEARLY EXPLAINED that he was getting it to mock the President of the United States is a skunk and a loathsome scumbag. Any questions?


32 posted on 01/04/2009 4:04:13 PM PST by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: melt
He Said It: Walter Rodgers on Israel

Walter Rodgers sounds like a Jimmy Carter fan.

33 posted on 01/04/2009 4:04:20 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
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To: omega4179

and don’t forget he boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics.


34 posted on 01/04/2009 4:04:52 PM PST by Stayingawayfromthedarkside
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To: melt

This must be one of those bizarro columns where everything is opposite. That is the only possible explanation.


35 posted on 01/04/2009 4:05:26 PM PST by yarddog
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To: melt

Misery index


36 posted on 01/04/2009 4:05:34 PM PST by Krodg
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To: PittsburghAfterDark
parents that had an 18% mortgage,

The real estate ads in the Carter years featured one word that would appear in ALL CAPS. That word was ASSUMABLE!

37 posted on 01/04/2009 4:06:24 PM PST by Free State Four
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To: MaxMax
LEAVE BRITNEY JIMMA ALOOOONE!
38 posted on 01/04/2009 4:06:29 PM PST by McGruff
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To: nuconvert
sarcasm, humor Otherwise, mental derangement

Explanation accepted my FRiend.

39 posted on 01/04/2009 4:06:31 PM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, Question everyone else)
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To: GoodDay
The CSM used to be a highly respected crown jewel of the journalistic enterprise. But that was far away and long ago.
40 posted on 01/04/2009 4:06:39 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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