Jimmy Carter Certainly Knows His Racism

What is it with former Democratic presidents that they just won't go away? Is it their constant desire for attention? Their belief that they alone know what's best for the rest of us who merely bumble our way through life? Their need to feel loved by as many people as possible without clammy hugs and kisses?

Well, Jimmy Carter is back again, once more doing whatever it takes to get himself in the news. This time it isn't praising inhumane dictators like Kim Jong-il, but going about another of his favorite hobbies: accusing anybody who disagrees with him of racism. His target now? Newt Gingrich, who he claimed is currently using the "subtlety of racism" in his run for the Republican presidential nomination (here "subtlety" meaning "without actual substance, but you need to believe him cause he's former president Jimmy Carter, dagnabit")

But you know, maybe this time we should actually listen to Carter. Unlike economics or admiration of murderous totalitarian dictators, racism is a subject that the Georgian seems to know very well. In fact, he's taken a swim in its swirly eddy many times.

Here are some highlights of Carter's Racist drops that were pulled from Hot Air.

• Carter’s top campaign staffers were spotted distributing grainy photographs of Sanders arm-in-arm celebrating with two black men. Sanders was a part-owner of the Atlanta Hawks, and in the photograph he was celebrating a victory with two players who were pouring champagne over his head. Carter’s leaflet was intended to depress Sanders’s white vote.
• “The Carter campaign also produced a leaflet noting that Sanders had paid tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.”
• Carter criticized Sanders, a former governor, for preventing Alabama Gov. and notorious segregationist George Wallace from speaking on Georgia state property. “I don’t think it was right for Governor Sanders to try to please a group of ultra-liberals, particularly those in Washington, when it means stifling communication with another state,” said Carter.
• “‘I have no trouble pitching for Wallace votes and black votes at the same time,’ Carter told a reporter. Carter also said to another reporter, ‘I can win this election without a single black vote.’”
• Upon receiving the endorsement of former Democratic Gov. Lester Maddox, Carter responded by praising the life-long segregationist: “He has brought a standard of forthright expression and personal honesty to the governor’s office, and I hope to live up to his standard.” Maddox had not only refused to serve blacks in the restaurant he once owned, but he had also greeted civil rights protesters with a gun, and made sticks available to his white customers with which to intimidate them.
• “The campaign paid for radio ads for a fringe black candidate, C.B. King, in an effort to siphon black votes away from Sanders.”
• “Then there was the radio commercial in which Carter said he would never be the tool of any ‘block’ vote, slurring over the word ‘block’ so that it could be mistaken for ‘black.’

And we haven't even touched on Carter's documented history of  antisemitism.

CARTER Could Hurt The Carter Center

Congressman Joe Knollenberg, a Republican from Michigan, is pushing legislation to block federal funding of the Carter Center due to Jimmy Carter's manic meetings with top Hamas leaders. This bill, the Coordinated American Response to Extreme Radicals (get it, "CARTER" lordy, U.S. Representatives are clever), would stop the flow of cash from tax payer's pockets to Carter's projects.

According to Joe, the Carter Center has received $19 million in federal funding since 2001 and he believes that, in light of recent events, that is no longer acceptable:

"America must speak with one voice against our terrorist enemies. It sends a fundamentally troubling message when an American dignitary is engaged in dialogue with terrorists. My legislation will make sure that taxpayer dollars are not used to support discussions or negotiations with terrorist groups."

This is a tough call because the Carter Center also does a lot of good for those in need. That said, there is no shortage of charitable organizations in this country that could use that money to help others without their leader bucking U.S. policy and playing smoochy face with terrorist organizations.

Stayed tuned. And take a few minutes to write your representative to see where they stand on Joe Knollenberg's bill and Jimmy Carter's personal State Department.

Understanding Jimmy Carter

I've been wondering why Jimmy Carter insists on embarrassing America, transforming himself before our very eyes from the worst modern-day president to the worst ex-president since . . . since . . . hmm . . . ever. At first I thought it was his quest for the Nobel Peace Prize which, based on recent recipients, holds only two requirements as far as I can tell: be fairly well known and attack American politics and culture with lusty abandon.

Carter has done his best to fulfill those requirements. He supported Yasser Arafat, served as a liaison between Saudi Arabia and the PLO to restore funding for the terrorists, he embraced Saddam Hussein, snuggled with Castro and he even called Kim Jong il an honorable man (shocking the formerly unshockable Bill Clinton). So I figured that he would relax and rest on his "accomplishments." The former President has spit in the eye of his country and won his prize. Why does he continue?

It took Carter's latest trip and his rather large lips literally kissing leaders from Hamas for me to understand that I was simply wrong about his goal. This is not about winning a prize; it's about the man's continual obsession with power and recognition. I can't claim to truly understand it since I have the power of a gerbil's spinning wheel, so I'll turn to those with a greater understanding of such things. The founders of this great country recognized the dangers inherit in power and warned us about those who would be drawn to it and refuse to release it.

An ambitious man, too, when he found himself seated on the summit of his country's honors, when he looked forward to the time at which he must descend from the exalted eminence for ever, and reflected that no exertion of merit on his part could save him from the unwelcome reverse; such a man, in such a situation, would be much more violently tempted to embrace a favorable conjuncture for attempting the prolongation of his power, at every personal hazard, than if he had the probability of answering the same end by doing his duty. (Federalist Papers # 72)

Some folk just cling to power as if it were Titanic debris in a frigid ocean and they lack Leo's good judgement to let go, let go, let go, let go.

OK, so that gives some insight as to why Carter can't bring himself to leave the public eye like most respectable former presidents, but why does he need to continually oppose American interests? Ah, the founders can provide insight there as well.

Men often oppose a thing, merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike. But if they have been consulted, and have happened to disapprove, opposition then becomes, in their estimation, an indispensable duty of self-love. They seem to think themselves bound in honor, and by all the motives of personal infallibility, to defeat the success of what has been resolved upon contrary to their sentiments. Men of upright, benevolent tempers have too many opportunities of remarking, with horror, to what desperate lengths this disposition is sometimes carried, and how often the great interests of society are sacrificed to the vanity, to the conceit, and to the obstinacy of individuals, who have credit enough to make their passions and their caprices interesting to mankind. Perhaps the question now before the public may, in its consequences, afford melancholy proofs of the effects of this despicable frailty, or rather detestable vice, in the human character. (Federalist Papers # 70)

Carter's self-absorption seems to demand that he follow this course. His presidency is treated with the respect of William Shatner's singing career so he feels compelled to "set the record straight." Carter needs to demonstrate that he was always right and the county that failed to support him was wrong. And as a former President, people around the world are willing to listen, especially those who are predisposed to loathe America.

Fortunately our founders decided to give the weak a voice as well. The constitution grants us freedom of speech and it's time to claim our right. I found these links on the Queer Conservative blog that may interest you if you would like to be heard concerning the Georgia screech. You can sign a petition requesting that the U.S. Congress censure Jimmy Carter for his activities here:

Censure Jimmy Carter

You can also contact your your senators here, asking them to denounce Carter's attempt to establish his own State Department.