Jimmy Carter is still giving foreign policy advice – in some cases, publicly disagreeing with the current President’s stated policy. Particularly given Mr. Carter’s disastrous foreign policy record, why can’t he just smile silently? I admire him as a human being, but I wish he’d go off and build some more houses or something.
Oh my goodness! How dare he publicly disagree with Our President! Why, it’s just like those two Democratic senators who went traipsing off to Baghdad last fall, and said bad things about Our President and his plan for war with Iraq.
Listen to what the man is SAYING! Will you!
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/09/norway.carter/
Traitorous bastard of a peanut farmer, he oughta be stood up against the wall and shot…
can I get a ruling from the judges on whether this wins the prize for Lamest Political Pit Rant ever?
Wow, December, could you please provide the U.S.C. cite that prohibits Democratic ex-Presidents from expressing their views on the world, particularly when they disagree with Republican incumbents? It must predate 1953, since Truman got castigated for it, and with people recently taking Clinton to task and now your offendedness with Carter, I’m sure there must be one.
And IMHO the world would be a much better place if Carter’s idealism actually were respected by foreign powers and his detractors went off and volunteered their time to assisting with affordable housing.
Holy moly. Publicly disagreeing with the President of the United States? What does he think this is, a democracy?
Triple simul-post!
Durnit, I thought this thread was gonna be aimed at Hank Kissinger.
I guess Carter just must hate America. There’s simply no other possible explanation for publically disagreeing with a sitting president.
Me too, actually. And happy post 8k, by the way.
doesn’t sound like you love him very much to me…
Anyone notice how Jimmy Carter is starting to resemble Grandpa on the Simpsons?
Huh! So that explains Jesse Helms and Trent Lott and the rest of them, back in 1998-99! I never took the fact that they hated America into account! :eek:
You mean Harry Hay’s first lover?
What do the Trojans have to do with this topic? 
You may have heard the slogan, “All politics ends at the water’s edge.” Most ex-Presidents have followed this adage. I think it’s generally good practice. In this particular case, Carter’s comments could help offset the pressure Bush is putting on the Security Council to do the right thing.
I agree with you. But, the world unfortunately doesn’t operate on Carter’s idealism. We need policies that deal with the world as it is.
ALL DISSENT MUST BE CCRRR-USHED!
HEIL BUSH!
That’s right, let’s get all that idealism out of the world, it’s just so fucking MESSY, the way these Idealists keep coming up with idiotic notions like Truth, Beauty, Love, Freedom. Where do they think they get off…
I didn’t hear Republicans complaining when ole Jimmy was going around slamming Clinton.
And I thought you were making a bizarre reference to the New Deal.
Or were you?
I am entirely willing to hear anything Carter has to say, about foreign policy, drywall, nuclear subs, you name it.
It is not “all dissenters”, it is ex-presidents. Do you remember Reagan, Bush, or Ford* giving public dissenting opinions about the current presidents? It is rude. You are no longer in the office, it is time to ride off into the sunset.
*I did not mean for them all to be Republicans, those are just the only ones that I remember within my lifetime
Trent Lott speaks:
http://lott.senate.gov/news/2000/927.friends.html
<< cough cough cough >> Sorry, choked on a jelly bean, there…
That BASTARD peanut farmer, who does he think he is, a member of Congress or something, all that POLITICAL POSTURING, just to gain POLITICAL GROUND, why, he sounds like he’s running for office or something, I’ll bet he’s got his eyes on the White House in 2004… sneaky bastard, the GOP is ON to him, boy…I’m pretty sure there’s a Constitutional amendment or something that prohibits him from running again.
Ain’t there?
It is considered classless for an ex-President to publicly disagree with a current President. Has been for some time. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a current or former Senator or Congressman doing so, that’s expected. Those guys tend to move on to become talking heads on CNN or MSNBC.
Presidents, however, used to believe that the office was something special, and that after leaving it you were to fade away from the political scene and maybe just appear every 4 years at your party’s national convention. This rule has not always been followed to the letter, but it’s considered polite convention to hold to it, at least for several years since leaving office. Carter, arguably, has established his own political identity apart from the office he held, in the long years since his presidency, so the rule could reasonably be bent a little in his case.
It’s not as strong a convention as the mystique imposed on the SCOTUS, but many people still consider it impolite for an ex-President to actively criticize a sitting one. You can disagree with that, but at least acknowledge that such is the case with many people, regardless of the particular party or President in question.
Does anyone know whether Bush Sr. spoke out about Clinton’s invasion of Bosnia, impeachment, and so forth?