Carter Clarifies Purpose Of Meeting With Dean (Plus Commentary On CNN)

[KittyWampus]

The Associated Press - ATLANTA

Former President Jimmy Carter wants to make it clear that he does not plan to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean when the two meet this weekend.

Carter issued a statement Wednesday, described as a clarification to news reports surrounding Deans plans to visit him Sunday in Carters hometown of Plains, Ga.

snip
Aides to Dean and Carter have said the former president plans to offer words of praise for Dean, but no endorsement is expected. Carter has said he will not express any preference about who should be the nominee.

Carter said he has met with Dean before and Gen. Wesley Clark, another Democratic presidential hopeful.

These meetings were arranged at the request of the candidates. As in the past, I welcome meetings with any Democratic presidential candidate.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=29151

.......................................................................................................................................................................................
The Carter people have just put out a statement:

"I look forward to meeting with Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean on Sunday and to attending church and Sunday school with him in Plains." That would be Plains, Georgia. "This meeting is not an endorsement of his candidacy, but an opportunity for me to learn more about the candidate and his views."...I met with Governor Dean previously, and also with General Wesley Clark. These meetings were arranged at the request of the candidates. As in the past, I welcome meetings with any Democratic presidential candidate."

What's going on behind the scenes here, Ron?

RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Well, if Jimmy Carter rented out an airplane to have a banner trail behind "I am not endorsing." He could not really have made it more emphatic than that.

I think what's going on here, Wolf, is that the Dean campaign over the last few weeks has tried to create the impression that the Democratic Party is consolidating behind him, even before the race begins. He's had a number of high profile endorsements, Al Gore and Bill Bradley, the contestants from 2000, Tom Harkin, the Democratic senator from Iowa, a number of members of Congress, really transforming him from the outsider insurgent that he began as something of a hybrid with a lot of support from insiders.

A question is whether this is proving counterproductive for him and sort of complicating and confounding, in some ways, his message. It is a fact, a kind of a strange fact that both in Iowa and New Hampshire, he's dropped in the polls, come closer to the field, since this wave of high profile endorsements

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0401/14/nfcnn.01.htm

[windansea]

1. bit of a smackdown

good for Jimmy clarifying this

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. back in Watergate days they called it "overzealous volunteers"

That's probably the Dean peoples' best bet, too.

[KittyWampus]

3. Who Can Blame Them? Will Be A Great Photo Op For Dean This Sunday

no doubt about it!

[DuctapeFatwa]

8. Hopefully Carter's folks will ensure that it'f a cordial, private meeting

Where Dean can speak privately with the former President without having to be on the campaign trail or pose for pictures. :)

[robbedvoter]

4. Tried to do to Carter what he tried to do to Clark with the VP thingy

leaked endorsement to the media, fait accompli and everything. Both men had to smack some reality into it. Will HD call Carter a liar too? Manipulating people backfires.

[blm]

5. That was my first thought, too.

.

[KittyWampus]

6. Also, Think Clark Using Footage Of Getting Medal From Clinton For Ad

Perhaps Dean wants to get footage of himself emerging from a Church with Carter for an ad or something.

His campaign might think it'll help down South.

[bobbyboucher]

17. You guys are so very all-omniscient.

You know what everybody is thinking and what everybody's intentions are and what everybody's reasoning is even without them saying anything. WOW! Tell me, what amI thinking now?

I'm thinking you guys are desperate. Scurry along now.

[DuctapeFatwa]

21. Carter DID say something. He made a public statement

indicating that he would be happy to meet with any of the candidates.

He is an older gentleman, and a busy one. I think it was a very nice offer.

[bobbyboucher]

28. What's your point.

Many here are trying to imply that the Dean campaign was saying that Carter would endorse him, wrong. Also saying they were trying some tricky kind of end run thingy to force him to endorse him. Wrong again.

My point is that many here are making shit up as they go along with their only motive being to try, and it always fails because it is so lame, but try to bring down Dean in any way they can.

Are you one of them?

[DuctapeFatwa]

31. I don't support any of the candidates. see post 18

I think that Carter handled the situation very graciously. As I said, he is an older gentleman, but he was young once :)

[burrowowl]

7. I was surprised when the Dean Campaign

said Carter might endorse him.
Didn't seem the Carter way. Besides, I think Carter would be closer to Kucinich's platform.

[chimpymustgo]

Trippi on CNN yesterday was very coy and suggestive that he had a secret.

Trippi announced that Dean was going to Plains on Sunday, but he couldn't say what it was for.

"Is it an endorsement from President Carter?", asked Tucker/Begala?

"Well, I can't say," simpered Trippi, smiling slyly, batting his eyelashes.

Sheesh. Carter ought to tell them to stay in Iowa.

[bobbyboucher]

16. Link? And not Washington Times.

Thanks. "Batting his eyelashes"? You guys are as bad as the Dean guys you so hate.

[polpilot]

32. I saw Trippi 'blinking' too. and maybe even scatching something????

It was a clue I'm sure. Stealing 2nd maybe?

Dean '04...

[sandnsea]

39. I heard it too, tacky n/t

[Clark4VotingRights]

9. Well, that was the mother of all clarifications.

I didn't know Clark had met with him earlier.
I guess Wes was more discrete about it.

[revcarol]

10. Just when I was getting ready to send Carter one "stiff note."

(For those of you unaware of the language of diplomacy, a "stiff note" is when you holler, scream, and zonk your addressee in dulcet tones with smooth language and everyone knows YOU'RE FURIOUS!!)

Glad I held off. Dean tries the pressure to support him tactics, AGAIN. Carter outfinessed him.

[LuminousX]

12. Dean's people on the blog made sure we knew it wasn't an endorsement

it was The Note that called it "as good as an endorsement."

[bobbyboucher]

19. You're drreaming.

All you guys are spinning this like mad and you don't really know what has been going on do you? You are as bad as .....Ooops, better not say that.

[revcarol]

20. Are you talking to me?

I'm NOT with Dean, just going on what was posted here, was going to ask Carter to stay out of this, in no uncertain terms.

[bobbyboucher]

26. I thought by your post you implied that

Dean was trying to strong arm Carter into endorsing him? Si or no? You don't really believe that Dean would, or could try to strong arm Carter into something like that do you? If so, prove it.

[Lefta Dissenter]

11. WOW, THAT was interesting!

I sure wish that Jimmy Carter would pull together his merry band of poll observers and supervise all of the primaries and the G.E.

THAT would be fabulous! (hey, if he can do it in... where the heck DID they do it?... then he should be able to do it in the good ole USA)

[TacticalPeek]

33. "where the heck DID they do it?"

Monitored, observed, etc., since 2000:

Venezuela
Mozambique
Guatemala
China (village elections)
Kenya
Jamaica
Sierra Leone
East Timor
Zambia
Nicaragua
Bangladesh
Peru
Guyana
Mexico
Dominican Republic

Whew!


And this is interesting, don't think I caught it when it went by:

"Nov. 6-8, 2000: The Center’s Democracy Program hosts an observation of the U.S. election by a delegation from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, which oversees village elections in some 930,000 China villages." I hope he held his hand over their eyes. :)

About the Carter Center

[cally]

13. Doesn't Carter's son work for Dean?

I was surprised at the Carter endorsement (now false) and I'm surprised at this. I wish I had the inside scoop at what really happened.

[DuctapeFatwa]

18. What really happened is no mystery. Some people in the Dean campaign

either did not realize that Carter had indicated he would be happy to meet with any and all of the candidates, and misinterpreted the meeting, or some people in the Dean campaign misassessed the consequences of suggesting or implying the possibility of an endorsement of Dean's candidacy, and are banking on that segment of the voting class that is less breaking news dependent than most people on here are still believe, and will believe next week, that Jimmy Carter endorsed Dean.

[bobbyboucher]

24. Do you have sources?

Or are you inside their heads?

[DuctapeFatwa]

30. I am assuming that there was no malicious intent. do you think there was?

[Clark4VotingRights]

37. Not "malicious" - strategic.

n/t

[progressivebydesign]

14. With Carter's son Chip on Dean's campaign..

I really don't see this as a big misstep as it's being portrayed. People just got overexcited. I am on the Dean Blog several times a day. It was never billed as an endorsement, nor did I see anyone OFFICIAL say 'it's as good as an endorsement'. Another tempest in a teapot. Doesn't the media have anything more pressing to discuss? Like.. sending us to Mars? Or strengthening marriage? Or North Korea's nuclear threat? Or perhaps our troops dying in Iraq? Or maybe even.. something POSITIVE about ANY of our Democratic candidates? I'd love to see some decent news about the goals, plans, and experience of ALL the candidates. But all I'm getting is jokey little innuendos from hairsprayed, face-lifted, eye-linered bubble heads (and those are the guys!).

[candy331]

25. Carter is loved down here in Georgia

and is considered a very spiritual man who does not wear his religion as a badge to prove that he is a spiritual man but lives his life as a spiritual man in helping others. This man proves his spirituality by his deeds and not just lip service. You can bet your socks he supports Dean because if he didn't he would never allow himself to be used, he is no fool he knows that this is all over the media. He is just a different sort of man, he is not looking for the spotlight and he is a man of peace, a true peace seeker.

[RetroLounge]

22. Spin Spin Spin

Spin Spin Spin...

[BootinUp]

23. I knew Carter would leave it to us to decide

This was a very "statesman" like statement. I would expect nothing less from our former Prez.

thanks Jimmy C.!

[lowflyer10]

27. I honestly believe that Dean's a goner now.....

Less than half the candidates who start out in front before the primaries actually win. I predict it will be one of the more quiet ones (Kerry, Edwards, Kucinich (although with this Iraq war reparations thing, he's fast becoming media cannon fodder too). They're saving their political energy for better days (to come soon). Clark's opening his mouth too much. Al-Jazeera using his words as propoganda, for pete's sake. Mark my words. The candidates just under the media scope will emerge and one THEM will win. Clark and Dean have been media cannon fodder all along. They've just been rode hard and are about to be put up wet.

[MIMStigator]

29. OUCH!

nt

[DemonFighterLives]

34. Carter as usual is above the fray

I'm glad he is not endorsing at this moment. There is a primary race going on and I would love to see what the people had to say. I respect Al Gore plenty, but thought that trying to sway the elections was a bad precedent. Then Bradley which was cool and the trifecta with Harkin. They are all great and anyone who has a meeting with Carter cannot help but come out a better person or candidate.
Side note, Ann Richards is waiting in the wings to help Dean. I don't want a coronation, but it is becoming clear that Dean may be the one. I bet Ann would like a piece of Georgie Porgie.

Don't worry, Carter will be there in the end! :grouphug:

[David Dunham]

35. Carter Is a Man of Honor; Trippi Is a Stuntman

[TacticalPeek]

36. Well put.

:toast:

[Cheswick2.0]

38. the night before the Iowa caucus

Jimmy Carter knows what he is doing. Chip Carter works for the Dean camp. President Carter is giving Dean a gift and he knows it.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

40. Exactly -- this is a great thing

Dean is going to Georgia on the eve of the Iowa Caucus, he knows what he's doing here.

I love Carter, by the way, and I understand why he's not endorsing.