Roger L. Simon: Jimmy Carter self-parody watch

I can't say I really blame Jimmy Carter for not wanting to debate Alan Dershowitz (at Brandeis) on the subject of the Israeli-Palestinian question. A wise man knows when he will be clobbered. But saying Dershowitz "knows nothing about the situation in Palestine" was really a dumb move. Carter has become one extraordinarily defensive guy - and that makes you blind.

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I have wondered if something might be wrong with Carter. For awhile he seemed to keep a fairly a low profile, but in recent years he has been increasingly belligerent and visible. Not a good combination.

Blind? I think arrogant. Reminds me of this blog headline at Powerline last year: "One-Legged Man Enters Ass-Kicking Contest."

From the right-wing he's got the Protocols-old idea that Jews stifle debate and there is knowledge they are hiding and he is revealing. As in Protocols the suppression is attributed to a small cabal, AIPAC, which Carter invokes as the force "preventing debate." Here Carter doesn't make the Mearsheimer mistake of trying to take a wide variety of people and stuff them into the cubby hole of a "lobby."

From the left he has revived the "apartheid" comparison from the Soviet anti-Zionist campaigns of the late 60's and 70's which was absorbed by the Western left, the only place that discourse still rattles around today. The book might as well be titled "Palestine, Not Racism." Even Arabs don't use that Soviet/Leftist lingo any more, and Gorbachev terminated the propaganda campaign in 1987. Carter also adopts Arafat-apologism, another occurence dead in the Arab world but still rattling around with the Western left. For example, Carter's "Arafat saw a map" apology for Arafat's walking out on Clinton.

From the religious side there is an arguable Gnosticism that he has secret knowledge he's revealing, but for him it's bigger, almost blasphemous. He sees himself nearly as God, the Old Testament God sitting in judgment of the "Hebrews".

Example, with Golda Meir;

"With some hesitation," Carter writes, "I said that I had long taught lessons from the Hebrew Scriptures and that a common historical pattern was that Israel was punished whenever the leaders turned away from devout worship of God. I asked if she was concerned about the secular nature of her Labor government."

President Jimmy Carter has done supporters
of peace and justice a big favor. In using his prestige as an ex-president
known for performing good deeds, Carter provides us with a real 'moment.'

Dershowitz is a tough debater, I wouldn't get in the ring with him. Unless it was a debate with over whether or not Israel has nukes, or over whether the current debate in Israel over the propriety of Olmert comments on German TV is completely preposterous.

Carter would probably be a mediocre debater. Perhaps Chief Justice Roberts, instead? I remember him saying that every time he argued before the Supreme Court, he could just as easily have argued the other side of the issue.

Chomsky actually had a pretty good debate with Dershowitz awhile back:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/23/1450216

Simply because Jimmy Carter was once the President, we tend to give him more respect than he has ever deserved. But for the Nixon Watergate mess and the attendant revolt in the public mood, I doubt that a mediocre individual such as Carter could ever have been elected President. By persisting in the belief that the Iranians would be rational, he allowed the mullahs and students to prolong the outrageous kidnapping of our diplomats. Thankfully, his towering ineptitude which was touted at the time as "patience" contributed to his political defeat by Ronald Reagan. In fact, the Iranians released the hostages precisely because they feared Reagan.

Alan Dershowitz is a formidable intellect which I know from law school, and dim bulbs get ground up. Carter is at least smart enough to know that.

Fascinating. Here's Carter who claims he wrote this screed to trigger a debate on the issues it raises...and then refuses to debate the issues when he is given, on a platter, the ooportunity to do so! I think Carter realizes that Dershowitz would clean his clock, and Carter'ss need to protect his self image and his survival instincts is still in tact. What a courageous man....willing to stand up for his beliefs, unless someone can articulate a different analysis!

exmaple.."he sees himself nearly as God"...someone who knew Carter in Gerogia, before he became nationally well-known, characterized the man as follows:

"He used to stand at the back of the Rotary meetings, glaring at all the rest of us because we weren't as *righteous* as he was"

Jimmy Carter (to lift a line from a friend who used it in a different context with a different person in mind) is a doddering old fool who drools in his porridge!

The only reason he can even publish his drivel is because he is a former President. Think about what that really means and how scary it is. His lack of ability to see what is happening and come up with something coherent is truly amazing. He is just an apologist for the Arafat legacy.

Alan D., who is no conservative, would dismantle Jimmy in less than one minute. The opening statement would game, set and match.

Meanwhile, we have John "the Knucklehead" Kerry going off to negotiate with Assad and maybe Iran. (I thought that was the role of the executive branch of government or at least it was the last time I read our constitution. But who cares about that anyway today!?!)

Just in case there is any doubt on anyone's part of the depth of Carter's antisemitism, I saw him years ago being interviewed by Bill Moyers. He referred to Jews as the "Chosen People" in mocking and sarcastic tones, his voice and expression blazing with venomous contempt. There is absolutely no question he is a fanatic antisemitic hatemonger on a par with Buchanan, Duke and Farrakhan.

Sure, Jimmy Carter was the worst President ever. He gave us the Soviet invasion of Afganistan, the mullah's in Iran, and Chinese control of the Panama Canal. Seeing that there was yet more harm to do to this country after leaving office, he went on to give us a nuclear-armed North Korea and undermined the Iraq war on behalf of his global socialist soul-mates.

http://www.justicelearning.org/justice_timeline/AmendmentsRights.aspx?ID=27&RightID=37&TimelineEventID=668

I do see a bright side in Carter's recent focus on Israel. It must mean he has run out of ways to harm his own country, so now he can go pick on the J-E-W-S.

Oh, Ha, I don't think the Jews have only recently entered his perp-rotation. They've been in his line-up since the get-go.

Gotta hand it to him, he's ecumenical as all hell--religiously, politically, and economically.

Lookit, he not only boosted the Commies & assorted minions of the international far left and right, his inflation & interest-rate attack on the American middle class economy also generously cash-flowed the very rich--bond buyers got to harvest all those double digit coupon yields.

And his amnesty program fixed up all those conscience-stricken draft-dodgers and dishonorable dischargees--a couple of whom later ran for president, one of whom (the one with the wife now running) won, and the other of whom (the silver-tongued senator guy with the superb suits & hair) is still unconvinced he didn't.

I always thought Carter was a contemptible, racist, lying slug. But when I learned that his single no-credit course in physics made him a "nuclear physicist", I changed my mind. Now I think he's an affront to the very facts of sound and light waves.

The Navy has a sense of humor. They named an attack submarine after him. That's one boat I would not like to serve on.

Jimmy Carter has never forgiven the American people for replacing him. He's an idiot upset because he thinks he was replaced by "that dunce." Contract the reaction of George Bush, a classy guy replaced with a buffoon. I think Carter thinks that if he has to suffer, the rest of us should, too.

I think Carter went off the deep end the week before the 1980 election. It just took awhile for it to surface. I heard him speak in person, circa 1989. He was pushing nonsense then, and it sounded like he had a lot of practice pushing it. He merely wasn't getting a lot of attention yet.

I think former Presidents are due a certain amount of respect for simply having held the office. Heck, I'll even include all major party nominees. Out of all such folks, Carter is the only one with whom I would refuse to shake hands. (Yes, I'd shake with Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Dukakis, and Mondale.)

December 15, 2006: Jimmy Carter self-parody watch

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