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Anyone want to tell me why some wingnut caller on Washington Journal calling Jimmy Carter an "anti-semite" is big news? Not that anybody covering it is calling him one, mind you, but I suppose that it would be irresponsible not to speculate even if it becomes the dominant narrative. Which I'm sure is nobody's objective.
Anyway listen to the brave man whose willingness to call in and talk shit to an 82 year-old man makes him a superlative spokesman for those currently dismissing Carter and his new book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid
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Good evening.
CARTER!!
JIMMY!
TRex @ 1
PYLE!
I heard the caller. Totally out of line.
I can’t believe that of all the people that Jimmy Carter has tried to bring to the peace tables, that someone would be so uniformed on his postions, and so rude to him.
I heard that caller while watching President Carter. James Earl Carter. Truly a giant. I love this man.
what was Carter’s response?
Let me get this straight. One caller makes a call and accuses President Carter of being an “anti-Semite” and it is headline news?
Get over it wingnuts, he brought Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin together for peace talks iirc in 1979. How much did Reagan, Bush 1, and Bush 2 do to help the cause of peace in the intervening years?
I respect and admire Jimmy Carter in spite of what the Wurlitzer says.
punaise @ 7
The interviewer cut the caller off saying name calling was unbecoming.
All these fuckheads know is what they’re told by Rush, etc. Just another right wing zombie.
I know what you mean, Jane. I happened to catch a CNN front desker show that tape, and then at the end of that and other “news headlines” she said, “And those are the days headlines”. How in the hell can some baguhrocks calling into C-Span with some line of crap to spill onto Jimmy Carter be a headline? Cripes!
I also noticed in the video that the C-Span twit had decided, without even asking Carter if he had any comments, to pass on allowing Carter to reply. Of course Carter had no problem calmly and succinctly addressing the cretin’s comments.
MSNBC is probably mad that former President Carter skipped them in his book tour, favoring CNN and CSPAN. Scarborough’s known for his opinion of Jimmy Carter. Joe’s only slightly less despised in our house than Tucker Carlson, for whom my contempt will never abate. Carlson’s giving Prager airtime, for pete’s sake!
Off Topic, but Swopa at 3:29 pm, bottom, of the Wilson thread, responded to questions about “SWOPA” with a typically clever SWOPA response.
All, and I mean all, Democratic presidential hopefuls should be blazing a trail to Plains to get this man’s counsel.
thank you Jane for writing about this.
You, too, are a giant.
that caller was and is a gasbag and is totally uninformed.
Jimmy was extremely polite. I watched it and was aghast and he is a true diplomat– serious, calm but his eyes were dancing in disbelief. I wanted to punch my teevee, on the other hand.
Jane: In answer to your question–NOT
Punaise#7
Yes but Carter responded anyway. I haven’t watched the video at Crooks and liars but I watched in full on C-Span. Carter told the caller what for.
kitt @ 17
good for him!
More news that isn’t- Clusterfuck givin up another interview for Fox News..
Any chance that Fox will ever say “Uh you’ve been on every night this week- we’re all SICK of ya!”
Guess not.
George W. Bush seeks President Carter’s advice–now THAT would be news.
Saw President Carter run roughshod over Timmeh on Sunday. Need to buy the book.
Carter’s presidency was a mixed bag, but he has set the gold standard for ex-presidents.
President Carter remains THE statesman. As for the rest? Well…
I don’t expect to see George W. Bush become a distinguished elder statesman like Carter–or a distinguished anything.
Carter was a fine president. He got the Camp David accords, and alerted us to the goodness of conservation of natural resources, and the horror of dependency on foreign oil. And he was careful not to bring us to the brink of world war. Oh, almost forget, Carter didn’t tell lies either.
Imagine being a citizen of some faraway fragile democracy in 2020 — and you hear that former President George W. Bush is coming to monitor your country’s elections to ensure their integrity. It is to laugh.
neurophius @ 24
for W, I see a promising future in license plate fabrication
I want to thank all of you for having stimulating and interesting questions and answers to our situation.
I really see no fraidy cats here; just firepups and patriots and humanists.
punaise @ 27
Well… he’s got the ‘fabrication’ part down.
Carter is a true hero of mine. He lives his religion and his integrity. In my opinion, Carter is the only individual who could pull off the delicate talks that need to take place with various nations about the situation in Iraq. I didn’t want to bring this up when Amb. Wilson was here, because the Ambassador seems to set such tremendous store by James Baker regarding Iraq. I don’t. Baker’s role in the 2000 election recount showed me, and probably anyone else who was watching, that Baker puts the welfare of the Bushes before the welfare of the country. Carter is, IMO, the only individual of stature who has no dog in the ME hunt. He doesn’t favor Arabs over Israelis, and he doesn’t care for theocrats of any stripe, Christian or Islamic. Also, as a former President, he is eminently aware of the U.S. issues involved in any negotiation. If Bush truly wants to get out of office with any shred of reputation left, the most brilliant move he could make would be to appoint Jimmy Carter as special envoy to resolve the situation in Iraq. What a show stopper that would be.
Am I sensing a clamor for Carter?
Out of deference to a guest of the ‘lake, I too muted my criticisms of JB3 prevthread, grayslady. Poppy’s got JB3 trying to spoonfeed realism and legacy to the BoyKing, when what we need is a terrific new approach — and I like your idea!
angie @ 28
(; We are alley cats. When necessary. ;)
I don’t know what was on Scarborough’s mind, or that of his producer. I suspect that if I were a conservative I’d have been embarassed by that caller, and would have tried to avoid any mention of it other than to say that there are clearly people out there who need to learn respect for their elders. The guy Scarborough had on his show was a predictable Isreali lobby mouthpiece who distorted Carter’s position, so maybe Scarborough decided the Wash. Journ. caller would make the mouthpiece look sensible in comparison.
TeddySanFran @ 32
Thanks. I think it would also have the impact of appearing to be apolitical, since Jimmy Carter remains a staunch Democrat. It would show that Bush was serious enough about a solution that he would bring in the best, regardless of background. Just a thought.
Oh, I am an alley cat from way back, OK!
So was the caller George Will? I can’t help seeing this episode as a media generated counterpart to the Webb-Bush exchange. If you badmouth Dubya (even if legitimately) then badmouthing Jimma (even if it’s illegitimate) is fair, right? That’s our media, folks.
Wingnuts call statesmen anti-semites (and various other such names) whenever anyone advocates for solutions to political problems that don’t actually involve wholesale slaughter (by us and our allies, of “them”).
Speaking about wingnuts, does this quote (on human gorilla John Bolton’s resignation) from her, um, blog, means that Pammy @ AtlasShrugs is finally throwing in the towel: “The Bush Doctrine RIP. We’re screwed”?
erm
Liberal MSM?
That clip should be shown in every debate class as the epitome of the straw man argument.
except they forgot to knock the straw man down
(cough)
graylady, TeddySanFran,
I agree with you both about James Baker. Carter was a bad President but has since become a great statesman, and probably the last one we have who has real moral authority. For that last reason alone, Bush could never accept him.
Carter forgave George Will on “Washington Journal” for being the thief who stole the Carter briefing books and spirited them to the Reagan camp prior to the presidential debates. Incidentally, Will has always denied he took the books.
Carter. A better by far man, than I.
A commenter at DWT brought this Biden visit to a South Carolina Rotary Club to my attention.
Excerpts:
Also,
tsf bold
Is Himself (Olbermann) on tonight?
Every once in a while a sultry voiced woman sneaks through the screen and starts describing her fantasy intentions on air. One early morning she grabbed the attention of the host, heh and more, before he cut her off in mid-moan. It’s a shame that wasn’t her for Pres Carter instead of the boneheaded caller.
Anyone who does not unconditionally support Israel’s policies and behaviors or does not think that Israel’s and America’s interests run parallel, should clearly be considered an anti-semite or anti-Israel, whichever works best. Oh, and if this criticism happens to come from a Jew, then they should be deemed self-hating or self-loathing. One cannot possibly be both pro-American and anti-Israel because AIPAC, the right wing likudniks, the Christian Zionists, Paul Wolfowitz and Doug Feith say so.//sarcasm off
Any news from the Lieberputz front? Do we still have the Senate?
Hi Blub–
Sorry I jumped all over you last week. You had every right to say what you did and I was just being a nervous nellie.
[topic was if Russia could ever be our enemy again].
Peace offering? Cookies with frosting and colored sprinkles?
:o
the saddest thing (to me) about this whole bruhaha is that carter, of all politicians (or ex-politicians), is able to describe a way forward towards a better future for israelis (as well as palestinians).
to justify ignoring him by calling him an anti-semite condemns israelis to a future of violence and oppression (for themselves and for palestinians).
very sad.
CNN teaser, the Beard says George the daddy breaks down and cries in public. He’ll tell us why.
np.
egregious @ 46
Re: TSF @ 42 -
Used to be CW that a politician should play to his audience; with the internet, that “wisdom” has become idiocy. cf. Macaca.
Why not ask Carter if he will do a Sunday Book Salon? You never know, he might very well accept.
jeffreyw @ 48
Does the u-boat commander also tell us the history–that all Bush men know how to cry on demand?
So the point of the post-clip interview is that if a right-winger and an Israeli lobbyist agree, all viable points of view have now been covered. Must be hard to talk out of both sides of your mouth with only one lip.
Would that Bolton’s bolting be a beginning of a big beeline exit for the entire Bush cabal!
It is beginning to look like to only way America can extricate itself from Iraq is for Bush to go first. Elba? Paraguay?
Just back from saying goodbye to my aunt before we lose her to senility. It’s happening pretty fast. I got the heads up at the beginning of November but was a little busy that week, then kids here for Thanksgiving. So this was the first available opportunity.
I conclude:
1. Senility seriously sucks.
2. My cousins are saints how they care for her.
3. State of Michigan has its act together on advising people of available elder resources.
4. When I’m in the middle of winter depression is not a good time to get all worked up about our policy toward Russia. Sorry that I once again got hot-headed.
big surprise.I just worry about all my work going down the drain. I guess the kids that are alive are still a good outcome.grayslady @
30
Carter is too old for that sort of thing. Just this past year he has begun to look a little weaker. The old grin is still there, but not so strong.
I agree about Baker, I was stunned by Wilson’s remarks.
montag @ 52
Like a thousand points of light all picking themselves up by the bootstraps at the same time with no need for no steenkin government services.
Turdblossom is gonna stay the course with Churchill, I mean Bush.
He’s clearly mental.
-GSD
Alice Marshall @ 51
Yeah, but don’t make the poor guy type. Let’s set him up with a nice copy of “Naturally Speaking” and teach it Georgian before the event.
Seriously though, I’d love to ask him about farming, writing, foreign affairs, woodworking, humanitarian efforts, family relations, religion and a personal relationship with the cosmos that actually seems to work…and so much more…good lord!
Who’d a thunk, thirty years ago, the ‘backlash’ candidate to the watergate scandal would end up being the new Benjamin Franklin. What an absolute gem!
egregious, the living kids are your testimony. your understanding of russia is what many of us rely on.
as my brother, who lives in an even norther latitude than I, says during these dark december days, within three weeks the days will start getting lighter longer!
GSD @ 58
Given this administration’s past history about absolutist statements, it almost certainly means that Rove is planning on leaving just as soon as he decides on the `pug front runner for `08, and can get into that candidate’s pockets.
egregious @ 55
If you never put anything on the line, you’d never worry about passion getting the better of you. Would you like that?
I wouldn’t; I like you just the way you are. Rock on!
GSD @ 58
Turdy says, “Stand by your man”. Maybe he’ll be moving to Paraguay too.
egregious @ 56
You are OK.
Alice Walker, I just want to thank you very much for your question on Ambassador Wilson’s thread.
I would so love to hear an answer to this.
montag @ 61
he’s had to re-think everything, though, as I betcha macaca was his man.
I just watched GHWB crying on CNN. How bizarre. Did anyone hear what it was about?
Turdblossom offers up the brilliant nostrum “Time to get back to our roots.”
Apparently he wants to steal land and massacre Indians.
Way to go Turdball.
-GSD
Alice Marshall @ 56– Agree that Carter is probably not up to shuttle diplomacy. My idea is as follows: Give Carter full access to Camp David. Invite all, and I do mean all relevant parties (even the “insurgents”) to attend. Don’t let them go home until they work something out. That’s pretty much what Carter did with Begin and Sadat. After all the issues had been laid out, Carter left Begin and Sadat to go for a walk around the property and figure out the details. He didn’t have to push for anything, just facilitate. Bush could stop in at the outset just to welcome people and say that Carter has his full confidence and then disappear. Jimmy may be an octagenarian, but he strikes me as tougher than ever. I truly believe he could pull it off.
Glad you’re back egregious. Hope your weekend went well.
We could make everybody’s senility and agony less sucky if we really wanted to, egregious.
Life could be much better for a lot of folks, but you are certainly helping us all.
thank you.
egregious, I admire you and always listen to what you have to say.
TeddySanFran @ 66
George Allen is certainly as mentally deficient and headstrong as Dubya (and he’s fond of cowboy boots, which seem to give Rove a hard-on), so, yeah, Rove and Macaca would have been a good fit.
But, there’s no shortage of dimwits in the GOP wanting to be President. Rove is bound to find the one for him.
TeddySanFran @ 60
That’s something you need to be able to look forward to up here in the Pacific NW. Not only are half the inhabitants driving themselves nuts over the holidays, but the days are so short that if you blink you miss the daylight. It’s raining or overcast 90 percent of the time, which doesn’t help, either.
Up here, the winter solstice really is something to celebrate. Just not by spending endless hours in shopping malls buying useless crap for relatives you hardly ever see.
montag, a double 707 for that one!
angie @ 66
thank you for your kind words, I am sorry I didn’t ask it sooner.
As someone who lives in the DC area I am struck by the gulf between the Kewl Kidz and greater Washington.
Turdblossom getting all fired up about immigrants! I expect him to do a Dean “yeehaw” any minute.
-GSD
neurophius @ 67
Someone told him the Republicans lost the election.
Cujo359 @ 75
I have family in Fairbanks. They love it there.
I’m not going to put words in Amb. Wilson’s mouth, but this seems to be more an acknowledgment that Baker is effective at what he does, rather that a claim that he likes the man. The same respect as was paid to Yamamoto for his audacious plan of attack on Pearl Harbor. Note that respect for him as a warrior didn’t stop them from going after, and killing, him when the chance came. (Another notable feat of arms, BTW)
Re Chuck Hagel from the Wilson thread,
Hagel has been critical of both the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act and has defended adherence to the Constitution, but it is important to remember that he voted for the AUMF for Iraq, the Patriot Act, and its extension. He voted against both the Levin Amendment earlier this year for an untimed withdrawal from Iraq and the Kerry Amendment for a timed withdrawal. He also voted for both Roberts and Alito. Finally, he voted for the Military Commissions Act, i.e for torture and the quashing of habeas corpus.
In other words, sometimes he talks the talk but he doesn’t vote the vote.
What a contrast. Carter and Hillary.
Hugh @ 83
Can’t be said often enough. Chuck Hagel is a bad man.
Slightly off topic, but did anyone catch today’s progress report on Afghanistan. Some new Pentagon report had this to say:–
1. We’ve spent a billion dollars trying to train a police force there.
2. Only a police force.. they don’t have an army, so our troop presence there is permanent, effectively.
3. Police training is a total failure because: - they’re not armed (not enough weapons) [so what does a billion dollars buy?]
- they’re illiterate [so we taught them how to shoot but not how to read? Isn’t that what got us into this mess in the first place?]
- nobody bothered to put a system in place to keep track of them or their equipment, so we don’t know who they are, what they have or where they are [Huh???]
- they’re not paid regularly [with our billion dollars?]
Why does EVERYTHING this misadmin has done have to be a monumental testimony to the gods of abject incompetence?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 83
I am fainting right now!
see y’all when I find the smelling salts.
Isn’t Hagel’s election to the Senate, and subsequent re-election, suspect due to his relationship with the company that makes his state’s certified voting machines?
Blub @ 85
Because Bush is concentrating on doing what he does best….
Rove is an empty shell of a human being.
-GSD
montag @ 88
.. and those are the gods he prays to.
Hagel was CEO of ES&S when he ran for office. Surprisingly, the new ES&S voting equipment elected him, even though the pre polls and the exit polls showed him being defeated.
He came to office the same way Bush did - through election fraud.
Valley Girl @ 79
That’s just the sort of lovely, personal touch that I can imagine Carter providing. I think the walk around the property must have occurred after that moment. Carter just seems to have superb instincts for doing the human thing that touches a chord in all of us.
TeddySanFran @ 87
I was suspicious, immediately, for two reasons. Somehow, after his company’s machines were installed statewide, state law was changed so that the electronic count of the ballots was the only legal recount. Second, he effectively lied on his financial disclosure statements about his relationship to the company and his holdings in it after he stepped down as the company’s chairman.
TeddySanFran @ 60
More light…promise?
Gone 3 days and missed Ambassador Wilson here, well, heck he comes by all the time :) and also missed Bolton resigning. I saw him once in an airport, he’s really small. Great Snoopy dance.
The strange part is that this isn’t even about ideology. Or philosophy. Or religion. Or wingnutism. This is about basic administration… something presumably even wingnuts need to know how to do. FFS, by all reports, the ancien regime in Kabul was better at this than we are.
TeddySanFran @
90
Carter reveres life and does not hold any respect or make excuses for massive death and destruction and injustice.
he’s a good man.
Wilson’s quote about JB3:
Baker has real traction in the WH, that no one in the netroots has. This is not a game of kanasta and imo in context, Wilson is just stating fact, Baker is an effective player of Realpolitik.
It’s not as though the Shrub is going to ask Zbigniew Brzezinski for help and we can’t just dial 1-800-DIPLOMAT.
We got our ass kicked in a very blue state, CT, by TEN points. Unless netroots want to be idealougues, we have to be willing to be flexible and build bridges with the lesser of two evils, when that’s the only reasonable alternative. Until January when the Dems take over, Baker is the best chance, right now for our troops, Iraq and the Middle East. I admit that’s pretty scary. I’m the one who called the ISG, the Iraq Slow-Learner’s Group. We don’t have to like Baker, approve his past actions, or buy his stupid book.
Wilson spending time at FDL doesn’t help his or Valerie’s reputation in DC, but it does a lot for FDL. In this context, I hope his, throwing a bone to JB3, makes more sense.
neurophius @ 72
I really appreciate your kindness.
Yes, but Hagel won over Ben Nelson in 1996 with 54% of the vote before these machines were being used. In 2002, he got 83% of the vote and I doubt that he needed them, or he used them really, really well. *g*
Turdboy says that Bush has made Darfur a big rallying cry.
-GSD
Nothing against the small (I’m engaged to a small) but CNN had the swearing-in picture of GHWB, Lady Sandy Day, and the Gateses: Robert Gates is really small.
You’re sure their next target isn’t regime change in Caracas? Ds the boy king just going to stand by and let big bad chavez insult his manliness?
GSD @
100
John Casper @ 97
Sorry to disappoint you, but Joe Wilson genuinely likes and admires Jim Baker, Brent Scowcroft and George Bush Sr. You can try to kid yourself that this was some sort of palliative to the DC set, but read his book, that is who Joe is. Bush Sr. made him an Ambassador after his service in Iraq.
I wrote about it here:
http://www.firedoglake.com/200.....aitorgate/
TeddySanFran @
101
So was Napoleon and he never caused no trouble with wars or nothin’.
Well, yes, JC, everything you’ve said is true, thus several commenters (myself among them) did not disrespect our guest’s views of JB3. I’m not disagreeing that realpolitik is needed here, but there’s an advantage to opening the (whose?) Window here in the blogosphere, so that the range of options is wider. Thus, my plea:
Troops
Home
NOW
four and counting to KO
John Casper @ 96
That’s the important point, isn’t it? Baker may be able to help out in the Middle East, and he seems willing to try for whatever reasons. You can’t criticize Bush for not accepting Carter’s or Pres. Clinton’s help and at the same time turn your nose up at Baker. If the ISG doesn’t come up with any viable solutions then they won’t have been the first or last to fail in that manner.
I just wish Bush would listen to more points of view than his own and the people he always listens to.
There are still people in my family that like Hagel because of his military background.
When the truth is told about the usurpation of power and strong- arming tactics by the thugs, Hagel will be seen again as a moderate and a voice on foreign policy.
in the meantime, I am just gonna agree with John Casper at 97 about JB3. Don’t like him, but we gotta go with what we have and anyone who tries to reign in bushco is better than nothing.
Jane Hamsher @ 103
Eh, I used to like Tom Friedman. Everyone has their foibles. The important question is, do you act upon them and/or allow them to dictate your judgement. I don’t see Ambassador Wilson as someone who would compromise principle for a personal like or dislike.
kitt @ 17
C&L version is cut off. Thanks for the info.
johnSwifty @ 62
Thank you. You make a very good point, I included it in my journal of encouragement.