carter was spot on. it was personal with carter tonight and it showed. he firmly believes that bush has done two things. the first is seek war before peace, and second, lie about it, both of which can be accounted for and blessed if done as the context requires. but carter is unconvinced that bush did what he did for the nation, carter believes that bush did it for bush, and that carter can not abide. it is to him a sundering of a sacred trust a president has to put nation before self.
does anyone really think that had carter bombed tehran to ruble in late 1979 or early 1980 he would not have beaten reagan in 1980? carter could have ensured his re-election simply by having the american air force bomb the ever living crap out of iran and kill tens of thousands, and probably too the 55 hostages. the american people wanted him to. but he but chose to use less destructive methods. even then, had the helicopters gotten the hostages out instead of hitting that sand storm in the northern deserts of iran, carter would have declared a genius and beaten reagan.
and before we talk about the economy under carter, just remember who he picked for the fed head and what volker did and at what it contributed to carter's re-election defeat. volker's necessary tight money belt monetary policies in 79-80 created the wave reagan's economic boon rode upon
OCCOM BILL wrote:How does the very man who negotiated the "agreed framework" have the courage to bring up North Korea's nuclear weapons? This guy is blaming Bush for a problem he himself created. Whose idea was it to have the former President with the worst foreign policy in history stand up to endorse Kerry anyway? Will this help? By the way, I'm well aware the man is a Saint of a human being and always means well, but come on.
but, really?
the guy who brought 90 million egyptian muslims and 15 million israelis peacably together, after them having fought 3 bitter wars within 25 years has no seat at the table or is denied as a legitimate commentary voice when international diplomacy is the most important feature in the american tool-belt to secure the safety of americans.
as to carter's title of worst president for foreign policy, i would submit that many of the 900 dead american soldiers and 9,000 injured americans who were lucky enough to be in the armed forces under bush the lesser might disagree.
how many american soldiers died while carter was president? now subtract from that those who died trying to rescue the hostages in '80. we are needlessly losing that many now under bush in a day or two.
i do not count foreign policy coups by the ears we take in battle or the number of battles we fight, especially needless ones, but by those we can avoid in pursuit of our goals.
as the greatest military power the earth has ever seen, having to go to war means that we failed at diplomacy.
any idiot can burn down a barn. its the smart one who can avoid the torching it altogether.