# Jimmy Carter and the Killer Rabbit **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142 "2007-01-08T13:59:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/1 "2007-01-08T13:59:27Z")
Anyone remember the ‘Killer Rabbit’ incident? IIRC a large rabbit tried to climb aboard Jimmy Carter’s boat while he was fishing, and Carter fended it off with an oar. Why was so much made of this? Because _Monty Python And The Holy Grail_ was still fresh in people’s minds? Because people thought that Carter was actually being attacked? (Was he? ISTR the rabbit was just trying to climb into the boat.) Slow news day? ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/2 "2007-01-08T14:26:10Z")
[Master speaks on this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_019.html)🙂 A funny incident nonetheless ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/3 "2007-01-08T14:48:08Z")
I’d heard this story, and assumed he’d been attacked in a field or something. That it was in a boat by a\* swimming rabbit\* just makes it all the funnier. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/4 "2007-01-08T14:59:11Z")
Here’s a very large picture from the incident, released only in the past couple years of so: [http://www.narsil.org/politics/carter/large\_rabbit\_image.html](http://www.narsil.org/politics/carter/large_rabbit_image.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/5 "2007-01-08T18:15:16Z")
So much was made of it because Carter was viewed as a weak leader (true or not). The press has a tendency to show and report things that support a preconcieved notion. This incident was spun to show that our president was an impotent leader (“How can he defend our country against the Ruskies; when even bunnies can launch a successful attack.”) I remember the event clearly, and the conotations it presented. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/6 "2007-01-08T19:18:06Z")
There isn’t much to add to **Cecil** ’s article, except to note that the rabbit incident took place at a particularly low point in Carter’s presidency. A few weeks earlier, on July 15, 1979, he had delivered the so-called [“malaise speech”](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_crisis.html), although malaise was one of the few negative words which it failed to contain. Among other things, he said: > [@](#): > > I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy . . . It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America. These were odd statements coming from a third-year incumbent President. Incumbents are supposed to stress how the country has prospered under their leadership. Two days later, Carter announced a Cabinet shake-up which was widely perceived as a “purge” of members who were insufficiently loyal. Both the speech and the shake-up were poorly received. The country was suffering weak economic growth and 13% inflation, and Democrats began looking to Ted Kennedy as their preferred alternative for 1980. At this exact moment, the “rabbit fiasco” became public. It seemed a metaphor for a floundering administration under attack from all sides. In re-reading the “malaise speech”, I’m struck that Carter was feeling our pain 15 years before Clinton, but the catch phrase never became associated with him. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/7 "2007-01-08T19:22:37Z")
What was your reaction to the report of Bush choking on a pretzel? Same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/8 "2007-01-08T19:29:42Z")
My reaction at the time was amusement at the idea that President Carter, who was heralded everywhere as being a very peaceful man, smacking a rabbit with an oar. I realize, it beats having to have rabies shots, but still. Hee. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/9 "2007-01-08T19:35:29Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Why was so much made of this? …snip… Slow news day? [/QUOTE] A Wrascially Wrabbit attacks Peanut Farmer Pres, what is not inherently funny about this? It would be a poor newsman that did not run with this story. Almost like if a newsman sat on the story of a republican VP accidentally shooting a fellow republican while hunting. Some jokes do write themselves. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/10 "2007-01-09T08:45:41Z")
What I remember most was the one-liner about it: “Hit it with his paddle? I thought he was up that crick without one.” I can’t even remember who said it, but I remember LMAO. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/11 "2007-01-09T09:07:42Z")
Wait, he clobbered it over the head with an oar while it was still in the water? How the heck did he think it was going to get at him? 😕 What if this rabbit was taught to use a gun _and_ kick in doors? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/12 "2007-01-09T11:42:06Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] What if this rabbit was taught to use a gun _and_ kick in doors? :eek: [/QUOTE] I see a T.V. show with Charlton Heston in the offing! ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit/387142/13 "2007-01-09T14:52:31Z")
Some rabbits are crazy. Link courtesy of Dave Barry’s Blog: [Rabbit v. Snake](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ez5QPW-ku4&eurl=). If that rabbit was coming at me, I’d hit him with an oar too.