Jimmy Carter: Bush may have been behind anti-Chavez coup
posted at 2:19 pm on September 21, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Another moment of lunacy from this nation’s biggest Oval Office mistake of the 20th century — which may be akin to saying “water is still wet,” but we should be keeping a tally. While in Colombia, former President Jimmy Carter told an interviewer that the Bush administration “could have been involved” in the 2002 coup attempt against Venezuelan wanna-be dictator Hugo Chavez. Dan Calabrese unloads on America’s worst ex-president:
On Sunday, Jimmeh told the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo that he believes the Bush Administration was likely behind a coup against Hugo Chavez in 2002 in Venezuela.
“I think there is no doubt that in 2002, the United States had at the very least full knowledge about the coup, and could even have been directly involved,” said the man whose favorite pastime these days is to huddle up with anti-American thugs.
This got picked up immediately by Iranian state media, of course, which has plenty of reasons to air this allegation. The Iranians want to paint the US as hostile as well as justify its attempts to bolster Chavez in Venezuela. Having an American ex-president give credence to Chavez’ paranoid conspiracy theories plays into memes propagated by leftists throughout Latin America and undermines American influence.
Oddly, they also repeated this rather belated observation of Chavez by our nation’s most clueless former executive:
However, Carter says Chavez is now consolidating political power, making it “almost impossible” for the Obama administration to establish friendly relations with Venezuela.
“International relations would be better if he [Chavez] would stop his attacks and insults against the United States,” according to the former US leader.
He also said he was worried by the Venezuelan president’s drift towards “authoritarianism.”
Drift? Chavez has nationalized the oil industry, installed a puppet parliament, and rigged elections designed to make him president for life. He has openly patterned himself after the region’s most successful totalitarians, the Castro brothers in Cuba, and has provided funding for leftist terrorists in neighboring Colombia. That’s not a drift, that’s a march in double time, just like the march of Soviets into Afghanistan that this nuclear engineer managed to miss in his administration.
There’s only one word for a former US president who goes abroad to bolster the worst conspiracy theories about our country: despicable. That’s nothing new for Carter, either.
Blowback
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scalleywag on September 21, 2009 at 2:48 PM
I’d rather attend a Manilli-Vanilli reunion tour with Gilbert Godfrey as a warm up act.
NoDonkey on September 21, 2009 at 2:53 PM
Carter, Blitzer and KO. I don’t know if you could scipt a better piece of comedy gold.
BadgerHawk on September 21, 2009 at 2:53 PM
I’m laughing so hard I’m crying… Reminds me of the movie “The Hollywood Knights”…
Khun Joe on September 21, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Come on Georgia, don’t you have one Judge willing to sign an involuntary commitment?
meci on September 21, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Here we go with Bush again? Come on, it’s just a dodge to get your eye off the ball. We need to watch what they are doing NOW in washington everytime they release any of this guys crap. Jimmy had slaves on his property in Georgia before he was elected, how does he like that being made public.
workingforpigs on September 21, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Apparently, seeing Michael Moore and Jimmeh in the same box at the 2004 Dem convention was just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Their spoutings are very similar. Both are lunatics of the same ilk.
Mallard T. Drake on September 21, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Carter is the definition of POS.
What a silly silly man.
nyx on September 21, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Unfortunely, Bush wasn’t involve, if that were be the case Chavez would ended in the Congo like his pal Jean Bertrand Aristide.
Falz on September 21, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Y’all are just helping this senile old fart cash in on the ‘race industry”!
Cybergeezer on September 21, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Don’t you mean, “Habitat for insanity?”
Crusader Rabbit on September 21, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Was it named “Freedom Parkway” because they couldn’t find enough people to approve it being named “Jimmy Carter Parkway”?
behiker on September 21, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Piss off moby, we DO NOT advocate murder on this blog.
Partisan on September 21, 2009 at 2:55 PM
That’s more like it.
JohnGalt23 on September 21, 2009 at 2:56 PM
time to give up the ghost jimmah, need to get back on your front porch and in your comfy rocking chair….
cmsinaz on September 21, 2009 at 2:57 PM
How old was the guy? My parents paid 18% interest on their first house. They didn’t think that was very cool.
BadgerHawk on September 21, 2009 at 2:51 PM
He looks to be late 30s? I remember my mother (rest her soul) cursing Jimmy Carter the whole time he was in office. Well, she did that with Clinton too, though. :)
scalleywag on September 21, 2009 at 2:57 PM
It just reads better…
karl9000 on September 21, 2009 at 2:57 PM
Someone shut him up. Where is the reset button? When do we stop listening to his blathering (true or not) out of respect for his..his..age? Time for a little pat on the top of his head and a nice, kind, ‘you don’t even know-how-blathering-you-really-are’ smile.
LEBA on September 21, 2009 at 2:57 PM
So much for the old saying that you get wiser with age.
SoulGlo on September 21, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Obooba may be complicit in the Zelaya coup attempt.
(Can I still say that?)
Akzed on September 21, 2009 at 2:58 PM
This is how Jimmy gets free honor bar when he stays in fascist countries.
Hening on September 21, 2009 at 2:58 PM
I think Carter should NOT shut up. In fact, he needs to speak out more. It’s easier to tell who the crazies are if they are shouting their nonsense. The more Jimmuh speaks his “mind,” the more crazies reveal themselves by supporting him in the face of our scorn.
And we shall know them by the trail of their dead minds.
xardoz on September 21, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Racist.
karl9000 on September 21, 2009 at 2:59 PM
Darn it John, you beat me to it. Carter IS a traitor!
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 2:59 PM
Good golly, you’ve got a point there!
LEBA on September 21, 2009 at 2:59 PM
I think he should just be treated respectfully. He’s getting really old. He’s just blabbing, and although it feeds a news cycle in the Middle East, that’s all it is, really. Just a meme. We have them daily here. Iranians are obviously plenty fed up with the government memes. The ones who agree already agree. The ones who don’t just get more annoyed.
Gee, sounds like us. *haha
AnninCA on September 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Carter says that George W. Bush was behind the anti-Chavez coup attempt in Venezuela?
Gee, that’s the first compliment Carter has ever given Bush!
Oh, is that something like human rights violations? Hey Jimmuh, why don’t you do to Chavez what you did to the Shah of Iran?
Steve Z on September 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM
I hope Peanut fails.
Pass me another can of Billy Beer, hon…
Del Dolemonte on September 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Yes, it would be awful if anything happened to dear Hugo.
Except for the people he would have murdered or oppressed had he lived.
NoDonkey on September 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Missed the “Chavez, I mean” part. And considering every other comment was about Carter…
Partisan on September 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM
1. I hope that Bush was behind the coup attempt. Too bad it failed.
2. While we do not know if Bush was involved in the coup attempt in Venezuela we know for certain that Jimmy Carter was behind the failed Jimmy Carter presidency. It would appear that an American President contributed mightily to the failure of the Carter administration.
3. Jimmy Carter was on a talking head show one Sunday Morning in the 1980 campaign. Carter was asked if he had any problems. “I plan to run on my record.” was his response.
The reporter responded by saying; “Everyone else is also planning to run on your record.”
We had journalism back then. They were bias; however, they at least had some credibility.
The Rock on September 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Carter has insured his legacy as both the worst President AND worst ex-President in our nation’s history.
Not until Bill Clinton decided not to shut up after he left office did an ex-President involve himself in any significant way after leaving that position. Carter saw the open door. I am truly disgusted by how Carter has hurt this nation and so the world by his guesses as to how the USA is much worse than the evidence shows.
What is his motive??? I can’t figure it. I just can’t.
Danzo on September 21, 2009 at 3:01 PM
Seeing Carter on TV and in the news doing his thing again is horrible.
Living through the Carter administration only to have him resurface now would be like being mugged by your uncle, moving 1000 miles away, and changing your name, only to find out he’s your new next-door neighbor.
Haven’t you ruined the country enough? Let Obama continue your legacy, he’s destroying us fast enough on his own, he no longer needs your help.
::checking license plates:: yup, one odd, one even, I’m ready.
DrAllecon on September 21, 2009 at 3:01 PM
More despicable every time he opens his mouth.
Scrappy on September 21, 2009 at 3:01 PM
Why?
Del Dolemonte on September 21, 2009 at 3:02 PM
Agree, in this country we treat our rotten sewage with the upmost care and respect, so it doesn’t foul our drinking water.
So Carter deserves similar “treatment”.
NoDonkey on September 21, 2009 at 3:02 PM
Soul: sustain poise as
from Jimmah’s Offal Office
ceaseless refuse streams.
John E. on September 21, 2009 at 3:03 PM
He’s being awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award this evening. The career bio in the local rag cites his
foreign policy accomplishments: Panama Canal treaties, Camp David Accounts, peace treaty with Israel/Eqypt, SALT II and establishment of US diplomatic relations with China.
Doesn’t mention anything about Iran
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/peopleevents/e_hostage.html
scalleywag on September 21, 2009 at 3:03 PM
The timing of Carter’s public pronouncements is a bit suspicious to me. It’s almost as if someone in the Obama administration is egging him on, because every time he opens his mouth everything else important falls off the radar as people bluster in outrage over his brand of insanity and the damage he’s doing.
It’s called “diversion”. And the Obama administration is getting real good at tossing out diversions, to keep the public conversation off of whatever it is he and the Dems in Congress are cooking up at any given moment.
KendraWilder on September 21, 2009 at 3:04 PM
Obama’s neck must be getting tired.
Add another albatross.
Wright
Geithner
Daschle
Richardson
Pfleger
Ayers
Biden
Van Jones
ACORN
Chavez
Zelaya
Castro
Carter
Have I missed 10 or 12 others?
David2.0 on September 21, 2009 at 3:04 PM
Jimmah is trying to keep his title as “The Worst President of the 20th Century” because he doesn’t want a black boy stealing it from him!
He’s still RAAAACIST!
Cybergeezer on September 21, 2009 at 3:04 PM
Which is it, Carter?
Either Bush was an evil mastermind, busily pulling the strings of every government bureaucrat, intelligence officer, oil magnate, and global corporation — or he was a bumbling incompetent dolt.
You can’t have it both ways. You seem to subscribe to both insane narratives depending on the audience.
stevezilla on September 21, 2009 at 3:04 PM
How long before carter or some other lefty claims the GOP was involved in the Adam & Eve operation, followed by the Kane & Able hit?
Mangy Scot on September 21, 2009 at 3:04 PM
FIFY…
Khun Joe on September 21, 2009 at 3:04 PM
Just like his presidency, I imagine that President Obama’s post-presidency will follow the President Carter arc, only on steroids.
George H.W. Bush may not have been our country’s best president, but he has been nothing but class since then. I only wish that all other presidents would follow his example.
Bru on September 21, 2009 at 3:04 PM
Exactly right-it was long-standing protocol for ex-Presidents to keep their mouths shut about their successors.
But of course, since Clinton re-defined two universal words, “IS” and “SEX”, perhaps he thought he was also entitled to open his yap about the man who followed him.
I should add that Algore is also guilty of this.
Del Dolemonte on September 21, 2009 at 3:05 PM
Good for him. That probably explains his recent effusiveness. A bit of an ego stroke there.
AnninCA on September 21, 2009 at 3:05 PM
Because he is a former president. It’s just respect for the position.
AnninCA on September 21, 2009 at 3:06 PM
OT but Related: ex-Pres Mel Zelaya is reportedly back in the capital city of Honduras, hiding in the Brazillian Embassy, calling his supporters to fight for his return to the presidential seat.
[Link to Honduras Spanish Lang. Newspaper]
So now what Obama… you going to support someone who just wants a civil war???
AverageJoe on September 21, 2009 at 3:06 PM
Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut last night. Crammed it down Jimmah’s throat and now he’ll shut the f*ck up. :)
NathanG on September 21, 2009 at 3:06 PM
Right! The Big Bang will be blamed on Bush 41, too.
Cybergeezer on September 21, 2009 at 3:06 PM
Aw, ain’t that sweet.
What’s he gonna get, a golden pair of handcuffs to commemorate his lifetime achievement of being a useful idiot for vile dictators?
This rotten, stupid old man is a disgrace to humanity as a whole, not just America. He belongs to the world.
NoDonkey on September 21, 2009 at 3:07 PM
I think he sincerely believes what he’s saying. I’m sure nobody ever really talks to him. He’s been out of the loop, even with Democrats, forever and a day.
AnninCA on September 21, 2009 at 3:07 PM
What, his head up his rear end? That position?
Respect away…
karl9000 on September 21, 2009 at 3:08 PM
I don’t get the animosity. He did accomplish those things, and they were worthwhile.
A lot of economists argue that Carter really couldn’t have done much about the inflation cycle we were in at the time. I really don’t know about that one. It seems to me fiscal policies DO affect that.
He was rather inept on domestic issues, but I’ve yet to see a president who did it all well.
AnninCA on September 21, 2009 at 3:09 PM
I don’t know if you can say that here but it sure was funny.
scalleywag on September 21, 2009 at 3:10 PM
Gave up the Panama Canal.
Coined the term “national malaise”.
Let 53 hostages be kidnapped in Iran and rot there for 444 days.
Called the energy crisis “the moral equivalent of war”.
Gave us gas rationing and “odd or even” days.
Just what did Mr. Carter ever do right?
Mary in LA on September 21, 2009 at 3:11 PM
I think that’s a success. It was overdue, in fact.
AnninCA on September 21, 2009 at 3:12 PM
I have a problem with that when he himself has not respected the position since W was in office…
cmsinaz on September 21, 2009 at 3:12 PM
you are smoking crack.
I do not have to respect anyone in any political office EVER!
You can kiss as much butt as you feel the need. Just remember to plug your ear as you will hear a POP when getting your head out of said butt.
upinak on September 21, 2009 at 3:13 PM
C’mon, seriously…444 days. What kind of president lets Iran have US hostages for 444 days. Within minutes of Reagan taking office they were freed. There is no excuse for that. seriously. 444 days. That makes him the worst president ever.
scalleywag on September 21, 2009 at 3:14 PM
could someone point him towards Plains and give him a shove. Yes, the Worst ever.
JohnBissell on September 21, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Carter is just the another example of the long tradition of
corrupt low life piles of manure that go by the title, Democrat.
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Sigh. Think how young Obama is and how many years of Carter-like ravings we will have to endure post 2012.
Firefly_76 on September 21, 2009 at 3:16 PM
We can only pray the President Carter finds a “shovel ready” for project himself.
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 3:16 PM
His motive, He is in Lust for the Dixie Chicks. He has taken their MO as his own. Which is, Go abroad and
denounce Bush. Make an Ass out of himselfGuest1.1 on September 21, 2009 at 3:17 PM
He accomplished nothing of value and we’re STILL paying for his failure to support the Shah.
His ignorance, arrogance and incompetence exasperated the “energy crisis”.
He gutted our military.
He is by far our worst ex-President ever. Not even close.
His efforts on behalf of dictators is vomit inducing. That a man who attended the Naval Academy and who lived in the lap of freedom and democracy, can do so much to aid those who enslave their people and who commit acts of terror against civilian populations, is morally and intellectually repugnant.
Jimmy Carter is the sort of thing you find on the bottom of your shoe after taking a walk in dog park. He is a disgrace to our country and to humanity as a whole.
NoDonkey on September 21, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Yep, right on the top o’ my head (too many years wearing dunce caps, probably).
xardoz on September 21, 2009 at 3:18 PM
In response, George Bush disclosed to reporters that Jimmy Carter was behind the coup the toppled the government of Iran and brought to power the Ayatollah Khomeini.
cool breeze on September 21, 2009 at 3:19 PM
hear! hear!
cmsinaz on September 21, 2009 at 3:19 PM
Except that is true. The anti-Semitic senile peanut farmer sold out the Shah and allowed Khomeini to seize power in Iran.
PimFortuynsGhost on September 21, 2009 at 3:21 PM
And let’s not forget:
He’s one of the reasons that Yassar Arafat went from international pariah as a terrorist to a “world leader.” Thanks for that, Jimmah.
mjk on September 21, 2009 at 3:21 PM
Zing!
scalleywag on September 21, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Its been my opinion, that we probably did know in advance of the coup against Chavez, and I think its known that we had people down there monitoring its progress.
However, we most definitely did not get involved. More than a few Venezuelans were upset that we sat on the sidelines and did not help out.
firepilot on September 21, 2009 at 3:22 PM
You’re being WAY too kind to the man. He isn’t half that good, not a quarter that good.
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 3:25 PM
What! More smoke screens……..
Jimmy was the worst President ever to date! It’s looking like Hussein is supporting the worst presidents agenda otherwise, Hussein should of asked the worst president ever to STOP it!
Just more smoke screens being endorsed by Hussei nand his Posse of Clowns.
Remember to vote in 2010 and 2012
BigMike252 on September 21, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Jimmy probably does believe bush was involved and must be the reason he certified a fraudulent election. Jimmy is PC for simpleton.
tim c on September 21, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Well, I guess if you never fight any battles you can win the nonviolence award. Instead of fighting a battle, though, we still have Ayatollah Khomeini.
scalleywag on September 21, 2009 at 3:25 PM
It would be disrespectful to the position to treat Carter with respect.
jhffmn on September 21, 2009 at 3:26 PM
I’m speechless.
I think I have already called Jimmah every name in the book.
……….. carry on fellow HotAirHeads.
fogw on September 21, 2009 at 3:27 PM
Ann,I’ll be kind and assume you weren’t born until AFTER the Carter years. NO thinking person in America that lived through his stupidity and cowardice would make the statement you just made. Either that or you’re become a master at goading people.
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Ronald Reagan had the presence of mind and grace to sign off once it became apparent that Alzheimer’s Disease was taking hold. Jimmuh ought to do likewise (but probably won’t).
ya2daup on September 21, 2009 at 3:30 PM
+1
STFU Jimmah
bill30097 on September 21, 2009 at 3:31 PM
WHY doesn’t this old piece of crap just DIE already.
Let him go friggin retire in Iran, he’ll be dead and gone within 4 months.
GET LOST CARTER YOU ANTI AMERICAN PIECE OF SHIT.
Spiritk9 on September 21, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Ann voted for Carter, so your kindness does not appear to be warranted.
Firefly_76 on September 21, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Let’s see. Jimmy Carter presided over arguably the most disastrous series of foreign/domestic decisions by a US president in the 20th century (economic malaise + double digit inflation, the Iranian hostage crisis, the lunatic rescue attempt, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, gutting the CIA, etc.). He also managed to give away the Panama Canal for nothing. Since he retired he confirmed for the first time the existence of Israel’s nukes, gave Cuba cover for cracking down on the dissidents’ Varela project, signed off on Chavez rigging his recall election, saddled us with a nuclear deal that the North Koreans broke immediately, tried to convince foreign heads of state not to support the US on Gulf War Part 2, wrote a widely de-bunked anti-Israeli book, and stated this latest conspiracy theory.
He long ago frittered away whatever good points he won with the Camp David Accords and working on Habitat for Humanity.
Jill1066 on September 21, 2009 at 3:32 PM
http://www.habitat.org/jcwp/2009/
bill30097 on September 21, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Carter really needs to have his passport pulled.
katiejane on September 21, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Ted Kennedy was an old man. Did you defend him too?
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Ed – I expected the word finally in the headline. I demand more Jimmah. AP has Sarah (Joe the Plumber as well) to fool with, give me Jimmah any time. He is such a breath of fresh hot air.
Fuquay Steve on September 21, 2009 at 3:36 PM
There it is, the exact quote needed. Thanks
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 3:36 PM
I have noticed that some people like to make outrageous statements just so they get feedback.
A lot of the time people just need to ignore the outrageous and not get distracted from the main point of the discussion.
Zam88 on September 21, 2009 at 3:38 PM
What happened to Jimmy Carter? What explains how a U.S. President would repeatedly undermine U.S. interests? What motivates him to attack George Bush?
Is he just trying to convince people that he, Carter, is not the worst President evah?
hawksruleva on September 21, 2009 at 3:38 PM
An old man who has lived a charmed, royal life because he was fortunate enough to be born in the greatest country that ever existed for the common man.
And he spent his life making life easier for the kind of people who throw innocent people in prison for the “crime” of wanting to enjoy the sort of freedom Carter was born into.
Carter is a vile piece of garbage and I won’t shed a single tear for him when he leaves this earth.
I’ll just remember all of the people he made life worse for, that he took hope away from, that he trampled on by his actions, while he was here.
NoDonkey on September 21, 2009 at 3:39 PM
He is, unfortunately, still an ex-U.S. President. I really want to accord him the respect due to a holder of that office. But the stuff he says!
hawksruleva on September 21, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Ann is kind of the pet troll in here, she’s harmless.
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Obama is coming up fast on the outside for Worst President.
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 3:41 PM
“He also said he was worried by the Venezuelan president’s drift towards “authoritarianism.”
Chavez is “drifting” towards authoritarianism? Isn’t that like calling the Pacific Ocean moist?
The man is the poster boy for end of life counseling.
There are lots of old men in this country who are proud of it and don’t take every opportunity to telegraph to our enemies how much they hate America. The old Bas_ _ rd just needs to go away and shut up.
orlandocajun on September 21, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Jimmy Carter: Segregationist.
I’m quoting the National Review, but the original source is the ACLU Voting Project:
Is it okay if I call him a racist now?
Mary in LA on September 21, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Carter is loosing it. It’s sad but pretty obvious. His mind is going.
jeanie on September 21, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Dear Jimmy…I wanted you to know that, as a veteran, you are entitled to the very useful information in this handy pamphlet. I urge you to read it, taking note especially of the following items on page 21:
m. I can no longer think clearly-I am confused all the time.
p. My situation causes severe emotional burden for my
family (such as feeling worried or stressed all the time).
s. Other (write in): My situation causes severe emotional burden for most rational people.
Regards, A concerned citizen.
dont taze me bro on September 21, 2009 at 3:51 PM
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