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These posts are the creation of Doran L. Barton (AKA Fozziliny Moo). To learn more about Doran, check out his website at fozzilinymoo.org.

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Jimmy Carter - Idiot at large

Posted: 26 July 2004 at 21:04:31

I caught a bit of Jimmy Carter’s address to the Democratic National Convention on TV today. Man, this Carter guy is really deluded! I found a transcription of his address to address it myself.

My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm not running for president. But here's what I will be doing: everything I can to put John Kerry in the White House with John Edwards right there beside him.

If this address represents the type of thing you’ll be doing for the Kerry campaign, maybe you should just head back to the peanut plantations and shine that Nobel prize.

Twenty-eight years ago I was running for president, and I said then, "I want a government as good and as honest and as decent and as competent and as compassionate as are the American people." I say this again tonight, and that is exactly what we will have next January with John Kerry as president of the United States.

With all the hate and rage emanating from the Democratic Party these days, I have a hard time pegging them as a party of decency (think Whoopie Goldberg), competency, and compassion.

As many of you know, my first chosen career was in the United States Navy, where I served as a submarine officer. At that time, my shipmates and I were ready for combat and prepared to give our lives to defend our nation and its principles.
At the same time, we always prayed that our readiness would preserve the peace. I served under two presidents, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, men who represented different political parties. Both of whom had faced their active military responsibilities with honor.
They knew the horrors of war, and later, as commanders-in-chief, they exercised restraint and judgment and had a clear sense of mission. We had confidence that our leaders, military and civilian, would not put our soldiers and sailors in harm's way by initiating "wars of choice" unless America's vital interests were endangered.
We also were sure that these presidents would not mislead us when it came to issues involving our nation's security. Today, our Democratic party is led by another former naval officer -- one who volunteered for military service. He showed up when assigned to duty, and he served with honor and distinction.

That sounds all peachy, but you left out the part of the story where Kerry nominates himself for 3 purple hearts and leaves Vietnam after a measley four month tour of duty. Distinction? Maybe, but not a positive distinction. Honor? Hardly.

He also knows the horrors of war and the responsibilities of leadership, and I am confident that next January he will restore the judgment and maturity to our government that is sorely lacking today. I am proud to call Lieutenant John Kerry my shipmate, and I am ready to follow him to victory in November.

The horrors of war? I’m sure Kerry has night terrors and flashbacks from those awful 120 days in ’Nam.

As you know, our country faces many challenges at home involving energy, taxation, the environment, education, and health. To meet these challenges, we need new leaders in Washington whose policies are shaped by working American families instead of the super-rich and their armies of lobbyists...

You’re absolutely right! We don’t need John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, or John Edwards. We don’t need PACs like MoveOn.org lobbying for radical liberalist agendas either!

...But the biggest reason to make John Kerry president is even more important. It is to safeguard the security of our nation.

Let’s put the security of the nation in the hands of the U.N. That’ll solve our problems. Of course, this is coming from a former president who did wonders for our national security... but that’ll come up more later.

Today, our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America -- based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace, and respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights around the world. Truth is the foundation of our global leadership, but our credibility has been shattered and we are left increasingly isolated and vulnerable in a hostile world. Without truth -- without trust -- America cannot flourish. Trust is at the very heart of our democracy, the sacred covenant between the president and the people.

Okay, first, telling the truth— something recent democratic presidents have been known to do, right?

John Kerry would gladly tell the truth if someone told him what it was.

When that trust is violated, the bonds that hold our republic together begin to weaken. After 9/11, America stood proud, wounded but determined and united. A cowardly attack on innocent civilians brought us an unprecedented level of cooperation and understanding around the world. But in just 34 months, we have watched with deep concern as all this goodwill has been squandered by a virtually unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations. Unilateral acts and demands have isolated the United States from the very nations we need to join us in combating terrorism.

He’s right about one thing: The world seemed to rally around the U.S.A. after the attacks on 9/11. But, they didn’t turn their backs and thumb their noses at us after 9/11. They went back to hating and resenting us like they did before. It wasn’t Bush.

Let us not forget that the Soviets lost the Cold War because the American people combined the exercise of power with adherence to basic principles, based on sustained bipartisan support. We understood the positive link between the defense of our own freedom and the promotion of human rights. Recent policies have cost our nation its reputation as the world's most admired champion of freedom and justice. What a difference these few months of extremism have made!

Oh wow! Your opponent in the 1980 election unseats you, defeats the Soviet Union by ignoring the left’s criticisms of his policies and influences the reinstitution of religious freedom behind the Iron Curtain... and you have the audacity to proclaim some kind of participation in this process?

Next, Mr. Carter seems to criticize the current administration’s record on human rights. Hello?! Prior to 2002, there were two countries in the Middle East that didn’t honor any human rights that do now thanks to the work of George W. Bush. A democratic vote this November would usher in a new era of human rights throughout the world? I doubt that.

The United States has alienated its allies, dismayed its friends, and inadvertently gratified its enemies by proclaiming a confused and disturbing strategy of "preemptive" war. With our allies disunited, the world resenting us, and the Middle East ablaze, we need John Kerry to restore life to the global war against terrorism.

The war against terrorism is far from dead. Our allies didn’t have the guts to join us. They’ll do their back-patting and brown-nosing when most of the hard work is done. It’s typical.

Leaders have to lead before they’re followed. If they did what everyone wanted, they wouldn’t be leaders. George W. Bush is leading the middle east into freedom and democracy. Sure, there will be criticism of his actions by our allies. The best leaders usually undergo the harshest criticism.

In the meantime, the Middle East peace process has come to a screeching halt for the first time since Israel became a nation. All former presidents, Democratic and Republican, have attempted to secure a comprehensive peace for Israel with hope and justice for the Palestinians. The achievements of Camp David a quarter century ago and the more recent progress made by President Bill Clinton are now in peril.

Clinton’s “progress” legitimized Arafat as a political figure and imagined he wasn’t a terror henchman. Sometimes you have to take a step back to go down the right path. In this case, that’s the honest path.

Instead, violence has gripped the Holy Land, with the region increasingly swept by anti-American passions. Elsewhere, North Korea's nuclear menace -- a threat far more real and immediate than any posed by Saddam Hussein -- has been allowed to advance unheeded, with potentially ominous consequences for peace and stability in Northeast Asia. These are some of the prices of our government's radical departure from the basic American principles and values espoused by John Kerry!

Violence gripped the Holy Land? Just recently?

In repudiating extremism we need to recommit ourselves to a few common- sense principles that should transcend partisan differences. First, we cannot enhance our own security if we place in jeopardy what is most precious to us, namely, the centrality of human rights in our daily lives and in global affairs. Second, we cannot maintain our historic self-confidence as a people if we generate public panic. Third, we cannot do our duty as citizens and patriots if we pursue an agenda that polarizes and divides our country. Next, we cannot be true to ourselves if we mistreat others. And finally, in the world at large we cannot lead if our leaders mislead.

The GOP is a group of extremists?

What is this you’re saying about human rights? I think you’re confusing human rights with civil rights. Human rights are things like the right to food, water, shelter, clothing, etc.

While we are, ethically, bound to honor the human rights of all those in our country and those we come in contact with outside our country, we should in no way be bound ethically or legally to grant or guarantee the same civil rights U.S. citizens enjoy to those who cross our borders illegally or commit crimes against our country.

You can't be a war president one day and claim to be a peace president the next, depending on the latest political polls. When our national security requires military action, John Kerry has already proven in Vietnam that he will not hesitate to act. And as a proven defender of our national security, John Kerry will strengthen the global alliance against terrorism while avoiding unnecessary wars.

Hee hee. John Kerry already proved in Vietnam he will not hesitate to try to avoid any real service and get the hell out of there.

But, seriously, you think it’s impossible to be a war president and a peace president at the same time? Is it possible to have peace without war when there are Al Qaeda operatives wandering about?

Ultimately, the issue is whether America will provide global leadership that springs from the unity and integrity of the American people or whether extremist doctrines and the manipulation of truth will define America's role in the world. At stake is nothing less than our nation's soul. In a few months, I will, God willing, enter my 81st year of my life, and in many ways the last few months have been some of the most disturbing of all. But I am not discouraged. I do not despair for our country. I believe tonight, as I always have, that the essential decency, compassion and common sense of the American people will prevail.

Yeah, that’s what I’m counting on too. I’m counting on common sense sinking into the minds of the American people when they look at John Kerry. He has no leadership experience whatsoever. He has no political core. He has no charisma. He’s just a pissed off liberal New Englander.

And so I say to you and to others around the world, whether they wish us well or ill: do not underestimate us Americans. We lack neither strength nor wisdom. There is a road that leads to a bright and hopeful future. What America needs is leadership.

Hmmm. Maybe you should speak at the RNC.

Our job, my fellow Americans, is to ensure that the leaders of this great country will be John Kerry and John Edwards. Thank you and God bless America!

Oh, never mind.