I read an article from the Associated Press this morning “White House Hits Back at Carter Remarks.” This was a response to former President Jimmy Carter’s stated opinion of current President Bush’s foreign policy administration as “the worst in history.” No matter what one thinks of President Bush, no matter what one thinks of President Carter, no matter what one thinks of what Carter said about Bush, I was disappointed to hear the retort made by White House spokesman Tony Fratto. Fratto said, "And I think he [Carter] is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments."
It was a not so subtle dig at Carter’s age. Unfortunately, 'irrelevant’ is how many people in America view older people. What a shame that the man who speaks for the leader of the free world characterizes 83-year old vital, Nobel Peace prize winning humanitarian-statesman-author Jimmy Carter as “irrelevant,” and during Older Americans Month no less. This is the best that Bush's people could come up with? Here is a sample response which Mr. Fratto can feel free to use:
"While we respect President's Carter's contributions on the world stage, we are saddened to hear of his opinion of this Administration's work on behalf of the American people."
Or:
"We have no comment to make about any one particular opinion but we respect the individual's right to speak their opinions freely here in America even as we remember that those same rights are denied to others in foreign lands."
Is that so hard?
12 comments:
I think you said it all when you listed one of the labels as "infantile" :)
I think it was less a reference to his age than to his yearning desire to somehow be relevant. Jimmy Carter proved himself to be a crass, small man with his comments and even he recognized they crossed the line when he made an attempt to retract them.
Chuck
I feel that Jimmy Carter, the founder of Habitat for Humanity which has so far built 426 houses in Sri Lanka for tsunami victims, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, and author of a book a year for the last how many years, is the definition of relevance.
I think he stated his opinion, that's all. It happened to be a negative one, but that doesn't make him, in my opinion, crass or irrelevant...
I applaud all of his humanitarian works. I maintain that I found his comments crass. Its like the pot calling the kettle's foreign policy a failure. Let he whose administration was without Middle East debacles be the first to cast stones.
Chuck
Grin. I forgot where you now dwell. How dare I speak ill of the statesman/farmer ;)
Chuck
Yeah, and don't you forget it! Georgia peanuts are the best!!
Count me sufficiently chastened. Have you been to Stone Mtn yet? I loved visiting there.
Chuck
I just discovered the other day that the local Farm Bureau (Insurance) sells fresh roasted GA peanuts. 11 oz for $1.75. So this week it's all about the peanuts.
I haven't been anwhere afar yet, but I'd love to go to the mts. My first 8 months here I had a beater car I bought for cheap as a starter but hadn't wanted to go too far in it. Now that I have the beast I will definitely take a visit to Stone Mountain, thanks for the tip!
Carter has his place but it won't be at the top of anyones best presidents list. He doesn't have the nation leadership skills. He is more of a humanitarian and I commend him for that role. As an economist or commander in chief....we're lucky were not speaking Russian right now.
Ski Kaminski
I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can't get my wife to go swimming.
Jimmy Carter
One last one for you...
"We've uncovered some embarrassing ancestors in the not-too-distant past. Some horse thieves, and some people killed on Saturday nights. One of my relatives, unfortunately, was even in the newspaper business."
Jimmy Carter
LOL! I know, most people would rather have a horse thief as ancestor than newspaper man.
At first I didn't think Carter could say that about his wife but I looked it up and yup, the quote is attributed to him. Lordy, that sounds more like something Groucho Marx would say!
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