Former President Jimmy Carter has found a way to interject himself in the day’s headlines yet again. This time, he’s trying to change the health care debate to accusations of racism. Now, why would the former peanut farmer go and do something stupid like that?
You see, Jimmy Carter isn’t making headlines anymore by showing up for photo ops with the most recent Habitat for Humanity house. (Before you get all up in arms, please know I worked with Habitat for Humanity while in college. He should stick to that.)
Jimmy Carter hasn’t penned a new book on Israel ‘Apartheid’. (The New York Times didn’t give it a rave review but Osama Bin Laden seemed to endorse it. Ed Morrissey has a great follow-up question at HotAir.)
Jimmy Carter isn’t sharing a Presidential photo-op in the Oval Office and probably won’t for the next several years and this might be his way of begging for an invite.
No, Jimmy Carter, who makes us remember words like malaise, craves relevancy. I imagine many former Presidents, who never enjoyed a life outside politics, clamor for ways to enjoy the limelight of mindless followers. Maybe the desperation to be heard becomes unbearable when everyone recognizes you’re a windbag and doesn’t seek your advice or counsel like they used to.
Just like Obama’s health care speech to the joint sessions of Congress on Wednesday, Carter’s “malaise speech” of 1979 resulted in a temporary bump in the ratings. However, the ratings didn’t stick. As PBS accounts:
Perhaps appreciating the president’s astonishing frankness, the public rewarded him with higher approval ratings in the days that followed. But then, as historian Douglas Brinkley notes, “it boomeranged on him. The op-ed pieces started spinning out, ‘Why don’t you fix something? There’s nothing wrong with the American people. We’re a great people. Maybe the problem’s in the White House, maybe we need new leadership to guide us.’”
President Obama has just experienced his first boomerang reaction on one of his largest agenda items: government health care. According to Scott Rasmussen, prior to his speech Wednesday night, Obama’s health care plan had an approval rating of 44%. After the speech, it climbed to its highest peak of 51%. Then … boomerang … it’s down to 42%.
In order to combat these ratings, the House voted to censure Joe Wilson for blurting out, “You Lie!” during Obama’s speech Wednesday when he was caught, er, lying. (See my earlier post “A South Carolinian’s Response to Joe Wilson” for more on the subject.)
Just in case that ridiculous side show wasn’t enough to convince Americans that those in opposition to the current health care proposals have such little decorum when speaking up about their desire to (gasp!) live longer (if only we’d go silently), Jimmy Carter decides he’d like to enter the ring with the most incendiary remarks:
1) He says those opposed to Obama’s health care plan are racist.
2) He says people from the South are racist.
3) He says people all around the country are racist.
4) In short, everyone who disagrees with President Obama is racist.
“I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African-American,” Carter told “NBC Nightly News.” “I live in the South, and I’ve seen the South come a long way, and I’ve seen the rest of the country that shares the South’s attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African-Americans.”
“That racism inclination still exists, and I think it’s bubbled up to the surface because of belief among many white people — not just in the South but around the country — that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It’s an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply,” Carter said.
Michael Steele, who is the first African-American to chair the Republican National Committee, denied Wednesday that race is fueling protests. “President Carter is flat-out wrong,” Steele said in a statement. “This isn’t about race. It is about policy.”
Jimmy Carter has just called our nation racist.
- You dissent? You’re a racist!
You want to live longer by receiving medical treatment even after the age of 65? You’re a racist!
You’re concerned that after George W. Bush increased the deficit in 8 years that Obama has tripled it in a mere 8 months? You’re a racist!
You want your health care to be determined by your doctor? You’re a racist!
You gathered with fellow citizens in local towns throughout the country and in DC to express your outrage over DC corruption and massive spending? You’re a racist!
You think all life is precious, you’d defend anyone’s right to life or liberty, you vote for politicians not because of their skin color but because of their principles, you show no preference for one ethnicity over another … but if you oppose government health care, you’re a racist? Yeah, that’s certainly logical. Umm, no.
No, Jimmy. No, Obama. Americans are not racist because they disagree with you on policy. In fact, we see through racist claims for what they are – a final grasp to claim victory of an argument you are not winning. It’s like a 2nd grader who is thrown out at 2nd base during a casual game of kickball. He knows he’s lost the argument so he says, “You’re stupid!” He’s still out. But now he’s shown more of his character: a 2nd grade, prepubescent, immature, unsportsmanlike, temper-tantrum inability to play by the rules and suffer the consequences of not running fast enough.
I perked up watching Charles Krauthammer’s take on the racism charges last night on Special Report with Bret Baier. National Review has the transcript. Here it is in part, and as usual, I nod my head in total agreement.
You know, the accusation of racism is a sign of desperation by people who know they are losing the national debate, and they want to hurl the ultimate charge in American politics.
This is dealing from the bottom of the deck, and I agree that it is a disgusting tactic. It’s done as a way to end debate. The minute you call somebody a racist, the debate is over. You don’t continue.
Accusations of racism are the last refuge of the liberal scoundrel.
(As for Maureen Dowd, imagining a word [“boy”] that wasn’t said): Well, in my previous profession, I saw a lot of people who heard words that weren’t said. They were called patients. Many of them were actually helped with medication.
The reason she won’t be — and others who are hurling the [racism] accusation — is because it is a deliberate attempt to change the subject and discredit the opposition with an unprovable — and unproven — ad hominem.
That, dear Jimmy, and for that matter, Maureen Dowd, is why no one is listening to you. They might hear you, but they aren’t listening. There is a difference.
UPDATE: According to Jake Tapper of ABC News, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says President Obama does not agree with Jimmy Carter that opposition is rooted in racism. Obama could put these ridiculous racism charges to rest by giving a speech on how ridiculous it is. You have to wonder why he isn’t. It’s not as if he has an aversion to TV cameras.
im from the south and im white and not racist we human beings need to stop with all the hate it really gets us nowhere in life
This article is asinine. To think that Jimmie Carter is concerned about being in the media is ridiculous.
It’s hilarious why so many people believe that because a black man was elected as the POTUS that suddenly racism has ended and we as a country have arrived. Get Real.
Would Joe Wilson or any other parent want their children to yell out during a school assembly at the Principal, “you lie”?.
There’s a time and place for everything. This was not it.
1. Compare Jimmy Carter to past Presidents and you’ll easily determine which ones like media attention. No former President has traveled to foreign countries as often as Jimmy Carter to “weigh in” on current foreign policy issues. Carter has been out of line on so many occasions it’s amazing his the State Department hasn’t invalidated his passport.
2. No one claimed racism has ended, but you need to prove preferential treatment for one ethnic group over another in order to declare it. Disagreeing with someone from a different ethnic background does not a racist make.
3. Karen would have us believe that our elected officials in Congress are children and the Obama is the Principal to be obeyed. The analogy sounds about right from the Left’s perspective but that analogy should hold regardless of who is President. Karen, if you think the analogy holds for only one party, therein lies your bias. If you think that analogy holds for any party, then you need to show why you think grown men and women are relegated to “children” in this very bizarre analogy, especially since the Legislative branch and Executive branch have separate but EQUAL powers.
Former President Jimmy Carter took a swipe at rapper Kanye West’s behavior at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards, saying it was “completely uncalled for”. WTF? No complaint of Racism for Kanye? I seriously doubt West would have rudely stolen a moment of honor from a black artist at the awards to divert the spotlight to someone else, like maybe a white artist. But the idiot past president finds an honorable man like Jim Wilson racist for calling the President a liar when point of fact, he was lying! I agree it was wrong to yell those two words, “YOU LIE!”, during the president’s talk in congress, but liberals can’t resist any opportunity to sling epithets and resort to name-calling to divert attention from substantive criticism about them and their policies. They have lost all credibility.