Carter Says Bush Exploited Sept. 11 Attacks

[maddezmom]

LONDON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) has exploited the Sept. 11 attacks for political gain, former president Jimmy Carter said in an interview published on Monday.


Asked in an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper why U.S. polls were split over the war in Iraq (news - web sites), the former Democrat president said:


"I think the basic reason is that our country suffered, in 9/11, a terrible and shocking attack ... and George Bush (news - web sites) has been adroit at exploiting that attack and he has elevated himself, in the consciousness of many Americans, to a heroic commander-in-chief, fighting a global threat against America."


"He's repeatedly played that card, and to some degree quite successfully. I think that success has dissipated," he added.


more:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=4&u=/nm/20041025/pl_nm/campaign_carter_dc



GO President Carter....tell it like it is!!!!

[Brundle_Fly]

1. click

"opens a billy beer"

been saving this bad boy for a few years!

[Hello_Kitty]

2. Rated it a 5. n/t

[jhain]

3. I LOVE President Carter

who knew it was possible to swoon over an 80 yo man?

I would give up democracy if he could be King

[Mz Pip]

4. Ya think!!????

Exploited, played, optimized, used, over-used, oh just pick one.

Bush whored up our tragedy for personal gain. There is no other way to say it.

MzPip
:dem:

[GRLMGC]

5. Good

Somebody prominent has gotta say it.

[Sterling]

6. That's a step.

Now hopefully people like him will figure out Bush did not JUST exlpoit 9-11.

[jukes]

7. Jimmy's kicking butt!

he's usu so diplomatic, he must really be pistoff.

[barb162]

8. I am more and more impressed with him, he's amazing

[struggle4progress]

13. He'sthe best human being that I can remember holding the office.

[barb162]

18. yes there is a very definite internal goodness there and it shows

in the way he builds the houses for the poor.

[kodi]

9. Carter could have bombed Tehran and won in '80, he knows what Bush did

Carter knows that Bush broke the sacred trust a president has to the nation to place the nation above re-election and he knows with all his heart that Bush went to war because it was politically expedient for his re-election.

it is why he detests what Bush did in Iraq

[CottonBear]

12. Carter had a plan to bomb Iran

if they did not release the hostages. He was going to send them back to the stone age. The important point is that he only told them that. He did not broadcast it through the media. And, you know what, they released alll of the hostages. They all came back alive. Sure, it took awhile because he used diplomacy backed with the threat of the most powerful military force in the world. The sucky part is, that they waited to release the hostages until Reagan was sworn into office. Bastards.

[Eloriel]

14. The Original October Surprise -- here's the story on that

Bush's Impending Watergate
By Harvey Wasserman
originally published on May 23, 1991

http://old.valleyadvocate.com/25th/archives/bushs_watergate.html

George Bush should be impeached. Whether he will be impeached depends on the intestinal fortitude of Congress. But the evidence is clearly sufficient to begin proceedings.

The grounds for impeachment rest in the now-familiar circumstances around the 1980 Iranian hostage crisis. The story has circulated since the mid 1980s, but in recent weeks has gained startling new confirmation.

The circumstances are worth repeating: On November 4, 1979, radical Iranian students seized some 55 American citizens and began a crisis that lasted until the moment Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president 444 days later.

Future historians may well blame President Jimmy Carter for the inception of the crisis. He ignored warnings that it could happen and stumbled badly once it began. Some may also wonder if he exploited the situation to deflect a challenge to his renomination from Sen. Edward Kennedy.

But by October of 1980, one thing was clear: If the hostages were released prior to the election, Carter would be re-elected. If not, Ronald Reagan would win. All major polls -- including one by the primary Republican pollster, Richard Wirthlin -- showed a 10 percent swing on just that issue.

In early October, word spread through the world media that Carter had negotiated a deal for the hostages' release. It was widely believed that he had agreed to unfreeze some $4 billion in assets claimed by the deposed Shah, and to supply spare parts to the American-made arms inherited by the Ayatollah Khomeini's revolutionary regime. The hostages were due home by mid-October, in ample time to assure Carter's re-election.

Then, mysteriously, the deal was off. The hostages weren't coming home after all. What happened?

-- more --

[GregD]

10. I like this prayer in the message board for that story

Bedtime prayer...

Now I lay me down to sleep
And pray for a Democratic sweep
November third, when we awake,
And back, our country, we will take.

[burrowowl]

11. Lovely

prayer!

[Dem2theMax]

17. I love it! Thanks for posting it.

And as for Jimmy Carter - way to go. He is one of the best human beings to ever walk this planet. I love him.

[Polemonium]

15. Carter the most honest politician in the works - my Dad a long-time

rethug, said that if Carter were running today, he would vote for him in a heart beat. Kerry hasn't won him over, but I'll keep throwing Carter's message out to him. One week to go.

[NVMojo]

16. I love him too and he did only threaten to bomb Iran ...

the repukes screwed him royal for it ...

[PurityOfEssence]

19. Hey, if he could get us nuked, he'd probably win in a landslide

The more fucked-up it gets, the better he does. It's incredible. He starts a war so he can say that it's treasonous to question a wartime president; now THAT'S chutzpah.

Thanks Jimmy; you've always been one of my heroes.