A brief thought about Jimmy Carter
posted at 10:00 am on September 16, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
If Jimmy Carter believes that the “overwhelming” portion of criticism towards Barack Obama is due to racism, does he also believe that the overwhelming portion of criticism towards Israel is anti-Semitic? Wouldn’t that apply to a man who hangs out with people who target Israeli citizens for terrorist attacks? After all, Hamas regularly issues anti-Semitic harangues and smears, and yet Carter has no problem cozying up to them and claiming that their criticism of Israel is legitimate.
From now on, using Carter’s own logic, we should note each of his remarks on the Middle East by saying they come from “Jimmy Carter, known anti-Semite.” Two can play this game.
Update: The Anchoress has some extended thoughts on this topic, but also remembers the words of Hillary Clinton in defending domestic dissent:
Just replace “not patriotic” with “racist,” and it works perfectly.
Update II: My friend Kerry Picket picks up on the video from last summer which purportedly shows Carter referring to Obama in a racist way, but that strips the context from Carter’s remark. I refuted that last year, although I will say that had someone on the Right said this exact thing, it would be all over the Internet and on every lefty blog.
I also warned people about making me defend Carter again. I’m going to pull this blog over to the side of the road, I tell you …
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »
So, I have a question for you:
By the standard set by you, and others on the left, that intense and quick criticism of a black president can only be attributed to racism, do you agree that President Obama is himself a racist for calling Kanye West a jack***?
Jack***, I’d say, qualifies as intense criticism, and President Obama said it pretty quickly after the incident.
Who cares if the criticism is true or sincere. That doesn’t matter when calling out a racist, right? Truth of argument or sincerity of belief cannot be considered when reading someone’s mind for racist intent.
Don’t forget that President Obama is half white. His quick and intense criticism of a black man must be at least half racist, right?
MississippiMom on September 16, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Jimmy Carter-Brother Billy Carter=genetic misfits
mobydutch on September 16, 2009 at 2:52 PM
Sorry to be pedantic, but Carter isn’t an anti-semite. He loves and is sympathetic to the cause of Jew-hating Arabs, who are also semitic.
Carter is a despicable Jew-basher.
Wingo on September 16, 2009 at 2:53 PM
Tom_Shipley on September 16, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Yeah, right. Tell it to GWB after he endured 8 years of your side’s irrational, ranting bull$h!t. Be sure to send a copy to Karl ” he blew up the levees” Rove and Mr. Cheney too! Maybe Ray “school bus” Nagin can play a few race cards for Zero too!
Goodness, it seems Obama and his useful Leftist idiots will now have to reverse himself / their selves 180 degrees on the Patriot Act, their opposing the Iraq/Afganinstan War, probably even Gitmo too. Obama demands we must spend the Stimulus Package or unemployment will reach 9 percent by 2010!
The race card is the only excuse the failed Marxist president has left to play with his usual shills hoping to resurrect their faux messiah in an Old Media free-advertising Obama Battle of the Bulge last gasp this weekend. Having the addled buffoon Peanut “stuck on stupid” Carter pimping the race card already shows Obama damage control is now running on fumes.
viking01 on September 16, 2009 at 2:57 PM
You can make it up if you want, but there is no racial aspect to opposing higher taxes, out of control government spending and unprecidented government takeovers of huge swaths of the economy.
Scrappy on September 16, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Yeah, you’re right. It’s all Limbaugh’s fault.
Until it was mysteriously scrubbed last year, O’bama’s wiki entry noted that the elite prep school he went to in Hawai’i, Punahou, practiced the uniquely Hawaiian school tradition known as “Kill Haole Day”. I asked my uncle, who taught there in the 1950s, if this was correct, and he confirmed it. I also experienced it myself when I was a school student in Oahu in the mid 1960s. All us whiteys would have the getalifes beaten out of us for the crime of being white.
So this pre-dates the evil Limbaugh by decades. It’s how O’bama was raised, and it was scary enough of a skeleton in his closet for his supporters at wiki to “edit” it right down the rabbit hole.
You were funnier over at Captain’s Quarters.
Del Dolemonte on September 16, 2009 at 3:19 PM
The kindest statement you could make about Carter is that he’s senile. Unfortunately, his view that anyone who criticizes the president is racist can be attributed to most of this country’s authoritarian collectivists, a.k.a. Democrats.
NNtrancer on September 16, 2009 at 3:23 PM
when over 70 percent of those who describe themselves as republicans thinks President Obama was not born in the US … then there is not much else to say. Idiots.
The (R) party is full of two things. Racists and idiots.
Monkei on September 16, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Who cares when the 2nd worst president in US history tries to defend the worst president in US history.
elduende on September 16, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Well, glad you’re so reserved in your use of the race card.
Scrappy on September 16, 2009 at 3:29 PM
When Bill Clinton introduced health care reform in 1993 I don’t recall Republicans calling him a “Socialist”, “Marxist”, “Communist” or that he was born in another country.
I also do not recall any uproar over a back to school speech.
Decider on September 16, 2009 at 3:31 PM
If the (R) is full of idiots and racists, then the (D) party must be full of morons and other special needs intellectually handicapt vegies.
saiga on September 16, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Hey at least we’re able to take care of our kids properly and don’t go around committing self-genocide. Not bad for a bunch of redneck hicks!
RepubChica on September 16, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Q: Jimmy Carter, H. Ross Perot, and John McCain?
A: Why US Naval Academy graduates should NOT run for President…
Khun Joe on September 16, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Generally speaking, when calling other people “idiots”, it is a good idea to use proper grammar.
It is also a good idea NOT to use made up statistics.
70% my big white butt. LIAR. Even the biased and un-scientific Kos poll only had it at 28%. Politico
Oops. I used “white”, “butt” and “liar” in the same discussion. Does that qualify me as a racist idiot even without the republican label?
MississippiMom on September 16, 2009 at 3:45 PM
You are very young or have a short memory. Google is your friend. Tons of articles. But your are right about being born.
When was (were) the date(s) of his back to school speech(s)?. And did the department of education send out lesson plans for these speaches, if there were any. Once again, Google is your friend.
You will also find that the Dems wanted to investigate Reagan and Bush I for their back to school speeches.
There would have not been such an uproar from the people if Obama just would have made the speech he made without all the pre-speech hoopla that his administration put out.
Please investigate before you post. That way, you won’t look so silly to people who actually have a thought process and investigate.
gstrickler on September 16, 2009 at 3:47 PM
You’ve been bagged and tagged, homeboy.
RepubChica on September 16, 2009 at 3:49 PM
What a pathetic, bitter, old sour puss!!!!!!
mobydutch on September 16, 2009 at 3:51 PM
This man long ago lost his credibility as a statesman to be taken seriously. Ironic how the worst president in modern history is whining about racism concerning the first runner-up worst president in modern history.
redfoxbluestate on September 16, 2009 at 3:51 PM
After watching the Tea Party participants I think I have to agree.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y
Decider on September 16, 2009 at 3:52 PM
Now that Obama is president, dissent is the highest form of racism.
TerriHaute on September 16, 2009 at 3:53 PM
All informed, pro america persons are against BO. I have no idea how many are racists, but it is clearly a small percentage.
proconstitution on September 16, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Jimmah Cartah is just pissed that Obama has usurped him as the absolute worst FN president in history. Now Jimmy’s legacy will be #2.
TheSitRep on September 16, 2009 at 4:01 PM
Hey ED, you have a good thread title, but I might suggest as far as Jimmah Carter goes, he should and the briefer the thought the better!
Old Country Boy on September 16, 2009 at 4:04 PM
I’d think Wilson would look at this as a positive. Getting rebuked by Carter is probably about as good as it gets for a credibility builder for a conservitive. If Carter liked him, now that would be a problem.
MikeA on September 16, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Bullseye on the ratings.
Jimmy Carter is doing America another huge disservice, unable to face his own faults. It wouldn’t matter except that Carter is STILL playing the Islamofascist tool against America, empowering radical Islamic terrorists.
Fred Thompson had some choice words for Jimmy Carter, either naive or senile. Thompson pointed out that besides having falsely smeared an entire region of today’s America, Carter didn’t even have the guts to have simply referenced his own racist era and region of upbringing. Then Fred went on to quote from What Went Wrong by Bernard Lewis, Historian, on Islam’s war on the West.
maverick muse on September 16, 2009 at 4:06 PM
If Carter liked him, now that would be a problem.
MikeA on September 16, 2009 at 4:05 PM
LOL
maverick muse on September 16, 2009 at 4:07 PM
I was debating with someone today and they were cheering Jimmy Carter and how he was right in calling Joe Wilson a racist…for disagreeing with Obama’s policies. I then ticked off how Jimmy likes to hang with Hezbollah and Hamas, then asking the rhetorical question does that make Jimmy anti-Semite? In typical liberal fashion, logic > lib brains – as you can guess no response after that question.
tanvec on September 16, 2009 at 4:11 PM
It seems to me the libs are hard at work redefining the word “racist.” In their vernacular it refers to patriots who speak up for what they believe and aren’t afraid to confront an Administration and a Congress that are on the wrong path. So hey, call me a racist. No problem.
Now that that’s settled, what new word shall we use to refer to those who stereotype people based on the color of their skin?
Dee2008 on September 16, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Liberal
tanvec on September 16, 2009 at 4:17 PM
;-)
Dee2008 on September 16, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Times like this, you really wish that Ronald Reagan could come back from the grave for just five minutes, which would be more than enough time for him to clean Carter’s clock!
Because Reagan did it once and he did it majestically, and if given the chance, he could very easily do it again!
pilamaye on September 16, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Here’s yet another instance of raw, unspinnable black racism that will naturally fall under the left’s super-sensitive racism radar (which only picks up white racism and even then gets it hysterically wrong):
The black residents of Passaic in northern Jersey are up in arms about the erection of a Mexican statue near a black neighborhood. Once again the usual “imagine if this were white outrage” applies.
http://mobile.1010wins.com/content_page.php?contentType=4&contentId=4701062
Sharke on September 16, 2009 at 4:25 PM
Carter is a meaningless maggot who shut shut his trap permanently. How can this miserable monkey even speak after his dismal presidential performance. People have no idea what is was like with Carter in the White House.
royzer on September 16, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Democrat Rockefeller says he won’t sign Democrat Baucus bill. Racist?
Conservatives complaining about Republicans Snowe, Collins and Spector for signing the Stimulus are Racist?
Making fun of Biden’s gaffes are Racist?
Dropping poll ratings for Pelosi, Reid, and Dodd are due to Racism?
TN Mom on September 16, 2009 at 4:35 PM
Rightly feeling the need to defend his title:
America’s Worst President Ever
Reality Check on September 16, 2009 at 4:36 PM
Is it true Arlen Spector is releasing a gangsta rap cd?
Reality Check on September 16, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Now you have the lunatic Maxine Waters wanting the people who marched in Washington carrying derogatory signs about Obama investigated and questioned about rascism. By deciding to go all out with this rascist theme, (and it is a planned strategy), the Dems have guaranteed that no black person will ever again have a chance in hell of becoming president.
silvernana on September 16, 2009 at 4:38 PM
The Simpsons TV show got it right when they had a statue of Carter unvieled in the Springfield town square, with the inscription “Malaise Forever” ;o)
infidel4life on September 16, 2009 at 4:44 PM
Maybe for the good of the country it’s time for President Obama to resign. I mean with all this overwhelming evidence that we can’t handle having a black leader the truly honorable thing would be to put the nation first and step aside until we’ve “evolved” enough to see beyond race.
miles on September 16, 2009 at 4:47 PM
Oh God I remember. Cowardly President and Stagflation
Jeff from WI on September 16, 2009 at 4:48 PM
Exactly. We need to get past the bullshit labels and keep hammering home the truth on the issues. Those who have ears to hear will hear, those who don’t aren’t worth the hot air they’re spewing anyway.
infidel4life on September 16, 2009 at 4:50 PM
Ed,
Why waste the synapses on such a useless topic?
belad on September 16, 2009 at 4:54 PM
Didn’t Robert Gibbs say (last week) that Obama doesn’t think people disagree with him because of skin color?
TN Mom on September 16, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Jimmy the Jew hater called someone else a racist? Jimmy Carter was a snake handler. All that poison cooked his brain.
Jerricho68 on September 16, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Seems to me the only people concerned with Obama’s skin color are the liberals. I don’t look at him and see a black man- I see the President. Racis won;t die in this country because the liberals won’t let it.
kelh on September 16, 2009 at 5:33 PM
racism, I mean *darn bad typing skills*
kelh on September 16, 2009 at 5:34 PM
This pathetic old fart is too old to enjoy sex any more; He’d like to see race riots again, to get his blood stirred up.
Cybergeezer on September 16, 2009 at 5:36 PM
the first thing that struck me was just who is carter accusing here?
I mean, what was Carter’s “Southern Strategy“?
Carter won “the slave states” and kept the south solid after Nixon and before Reagan. Obviously he must have gone to some amazing lengths to stoke racism in the region. His “dog whistles” must have been positively audible.
eh on September 16, 2009 at 5:45 PM
1. it is apparent you are the racist an idiot
1. dimwit..the poll noted that nearly 70% of those who think he was not born in the US are Pubs….that is totally different than what you said. YOU LIED
CWforFreedom on September 16, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Not quite an explosive video. While some were uniformed I saw no racism.
CWforFreedom on September 16, 2009 at 6:18 PM
He sure cured me, Carter was the last Democrat I voted for. However, Obama has taken his place in my memory as the worse President I can remember.
whbates on September 16, 2009 at 6:38 PM
On a lighter note, I finally found someone that has the right amount of ammo I wanted to purchase….
Spiritk9 on September 16, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Hmm go back a re-read the poll… that’s okay I went to public school too.
petunia on September 16, 2009 at 6:47 PM
Yep the inability of leftists to comprehend seems to be unlimited
CWforFreedom on September 16, 2009 at 6:49 PM
This gives me hope that Obama my be the last Democratic President we have to worry about for a long long time…
petunia on September 16, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Okay that’s funny.
But Biden? Well at least it does seem that Biden has a hard time telling lies well. He also can’t seem to keep his mouth shut when he really should know better.
petunia on September 16, 2009 at 6:53 PM
I must be in a good mood because you are all so funny today!
But this goes a long way to explaining what Carter said. Just wants to remind us of Obama’s competition for the title.
petunia on September 16, 2009 at 6:55 PM
Uhhhhbama is doing to black politicians what Jimmuh did for peanut farmer politicians.
darwin-t on September 16, 2009 at 7:03 PM
Absolutely.
Thanks for the link MM.
elduende on September 16, 2009 at 7:27 PM
For those of you too young to remember why Carter is the second worst president evah, next to Obama – now you know.
HellCat on September 16, 2009 at 7:35 PM
I dunno. I think former sailors are always stellar individuals… LBJ, Carter, and Kerry being exceptions. I guess he spent too much time in the reactor room when he was on subs….
Rightwingguy on September 16, 2009 at 7:38 PM
Well that and bubbleheads are crazy as a rule.
Rightwingguy on September 16, 2009 at 7:40 PM
Hmmm, just sold a case of ammo to someone (husband and I are FFLs). Was it you? :)
kelh on September 16, 2009 at 7:41 PM
As democrat policies become more and more indefensible, I expect the shrill and Orwellian hate speech towards Republicans to gain intensity.
It’s going to be a very interesting 3 1/2 years. The real losers in all of this will be young African Americans raised to believe all criticism is racial in nature. In addition race relations will be set back 40 years.
Hopefully, we can heal after Obama is thrown the door. Also the Congressional Black Caucus needs to be shown the door.
jhffmn on September 16, 2009 at 7:57 PM
Hey, serious question. If it’s all about race, why do we hate Reid and Pelousy too?
JellyToast on September 16, 2009 at 8:07 PM
Perhaps there is a peanut farm in Libya ol Jimmy can retire too. He would be surrounded by friends and it would be much easier for his top book reviewer,(Osama),to come visit him.
flyoverboy on September 16, 2009 at 8:23 PM
Ed: You are absolutely wrong.
You write off Carter’s “boy” comment as bad grammar. Wrong.
It is absolutely clear that Carter is reverting to his 1930 Plains, Georgia vocabulary and referring to the adult Obama as “boy.” While his mother would have disapproved, that use of the word “boy” is a historic fact among most Southern whites until the 1970s.
slp on September 16, 2009 at 8:34 PM
The title “A Brief Thought”… that more than President Carter EVER had.
CC
CapedConservative on September 16, 2009 at 8:37 PM
I feel a great deal of animosity toward Carter… how does he explain that one as I’m white? Can’t be racism… hmmmm, maybe I just hate his ideas. Nah, that can’t be it; that’d be way too simple.
-Aslan’s Girl
Aslans Girl on September 16, 2009 at 8:43 PM
A brief thought about Jimmy Carter
…is more thought than Jimmy Carter is worth.
morganfrost on September 16, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Is this the same Jimmy Carter who thinks the Jewish state is “terrorist” but the PLO, Hamas, and Hezbolleh aren’t?
Really Right on September 16, 2009 at 9:01 PM
I’m out of peanuts and I need to re-order. Anyone got that phone number where to order ???
CEA_Agent on September 16, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Who knows how long carter’ll last.
whiskeytango on September 16, 2009 at 9:57 PM
Just be thankful we only had 4 years of the fool from Plains and hopeful that we only have 3 more (or less?) of the Zero. Take a brief moment to imagine the eighties if Reagan hadn’t been around…then poke your mind’s eye to make the vision blur and disappear.
Empiricist on September 16, 2009 at 10:05 PM
We’re pissed because there isn’t an RWR on the horizon yet…
Empiricist on September 16, 2009 at 10:07 PM
All the Palin-hatred must, MUST be mysogeny. Woman-haters…
Empiricist on September 16, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Over on Drudge the duel photos of Carter and Obama might reveal to one of us racists, just why Carter is all wee weed up over this. His lips look more African than Obama’s do. What has been going on down on that old peanut plantation anyway?
MikeA on September 16, 2009 at 10:31 PM
Congratulations to the left and people like Monkei: Racist as used in current discourse is no longer an accusing label of a horrible person, it’s an indicator that the speaker is an idiot. Think about it – in 90% of what I read that uses the word “racist”, it is emanating from an angry partisan individual and it is not in any way supported by the facts. When you call us racists, you say much much more about who you are, then who we are. Sad.
Simona on September 16, 2009 at 10:42 PM
Carter offered no comment on Van Jones “white people sending their pollution into communities of color” nor Sotomayor’s “wise latina woman” remarks, or Obama’s “I don’t look like those other presidents”. I’m shocked he didn’t mention Eric Holder’s justice dept dropping all charges against the Black Panthers…
TN Mom on September 16, 2009 at 10:49 PM
It’s the only “argument” they have. Conservatives saw this particular tactic coming a long time ago. You people are just TOO predictable.
ddrintn on September 16, 2009 at 10:52 PM
Jimmy Carter, raging Peanut of the South
entagor on September 16, 2009 at 10:58 PM
Carter is now an old man. Let him be.
AnninCA on September 17, 2009 at 1:41 AM
As long as he keeps misfiring his stupid old mouth I’m certainly not going to let him be. I personally, and I know this is mean yes I do, can’t wait for that old fart to die already. It’s not fair that Reagan had to waste away while this malignant tumor gets to walk around being a verbally flatulent racist.
Spiritk9 on September 17, 2009 at 2:09 AM
Carter is a rabid Obama supporter for one reason:
Obama’s election kept Jimmy Carter from having to die as the “worst president in history”. Now the Carterites can give Obama the crown and spin Jimmy’s legacy as something like “neither the best nor the worst president”.
Like Obama, Jimmy was…and continues to be…naive in foreign affairs and easily manipulated (and ridiculed) by every unfriendly foreign leader. Both will leave a legacy of financial disaster, but Obama easily wins the “worst president” title by also riddling our government with a huge amount of institutional corruption. Neither Obama nor Carter have any positive accomplishments associated with their administrations.
landlines on September 17, 2009 at 2:36 AM
I just about fell out of my chair laughing so hard when I saw what the Godfather called Jimmy Carter. In honor of that from now on I will refer to Carter as “The National Hemorrhoid”. On another topic my sincere thanks to Hanna and James for their expose’ of ACORN. The liberals will now have to take many bites out of the shyt sandwich they were trying to serve to us. I can only hope that they collectively choke on it.
Best Regards
hamradio on September 17, 2009 at 2:58 AM
Noted Liberal Failure Makes Incisive Observations Regarding Critics of Failing Liberal
Film at 11.
swede7 on September 17, 2009 at 8:29 AM
Maybe Carter just received his Whitehouse round table e-mail a little late. Most other people bringing up the race issue stated last week.
davod on September 17, 2009 at 8:30 AM
So I it’d be safe to assume that the (D) party is full of people who are too lazy and/or illiterate to type out “Republican”, huh?
Cylor on September 17, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »