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Edited on Fri Oct-14-05 05:11 PM by Horse with no Name
I sent a complaint in to WBAP regarding the racial slurs of Limbaugh.
I never heard back from them...but now they put me on their mailing list?
:puke:
Anyway...I get this in my email today. Feel free to email the idiot that wrote it.
Some Old Presidents Should Just Fade Away
By Allan Saxe, WBAP Political Analyst
Former President Jimmy Carter left office in 1980 in disgrace. And now as a former President of the United States he is in disgrace as well. He has been called the greatest former president, apparently in deference to his completely incompetent tenure as President. He has been an advocate of some good causes like Habitat for Humanity. But he will have to construct thousands of homes to make up for the devastation his presidency caused.
During his Presidency, he began to aid the radicals in Afghanistan who would eventually come back to haunt us to this day in the form of terrorism around the world. He believed that supporting militant religious factions there it would be a barrier to Communist/Soviet expansionism. He was right in his original premise, but the “blowback” from his strategy still haunts us to this day. (It must also be mentioned that his successor, President Reagan also continued the aid to the Afghan religious militants).
In Iran, President Carter dropped our support of the Shah in defense of civil liberties and human rights. True, the Shah was no perfect democrat, but he was on his way toward bringing women into the forefront of Iranian life, and modernizing the society. Iran had always been a close ally of the United States for much of the last century. But President Carter, actively sought to have the Shah removed from office, bringing about the rise of a militant regime that nourishes terrorism to the present period and perhaps will even preside over a nuclear weapons arsenal. Even the Europeans, with little appetite for facing up to dictators, is even worried about the nuclear weapons capability of Iran.
Then, to rub salt into our wounded national ethos, President Carter had little response to the taking of American hostages in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran during the start of the Iranian Revolution. Eventually, there was a feeble and bungled attempt to rescue the hostages, resulting in the loss of more American soldier lives.
On the domestic front, President Carter left office in 1980 with an inflation rate of double digits and an interest rate to match. The country was in the doldrums and he made a speech referred to as “the malaise” speech in which he blamed us, the country, for the nation’s problems. Instead, he needed to look to himself and his utterly failed leadership. Perhaps the only bright spot in his domestic record was his attempt to develop alternate sources of energy as a national priority.
Since leaving the presidency, he has been a consistent critic, often strident at times, of various successor presidents. It has been a tradition, that former presidents rarely if ever, question openly the policies, especially in foreign affairs, the actions of those that succeed them. But President Carter has repeatedly broken that tradition, especially with regards to our present President. He has even said recently that in the presidential election of year 2,000 there was no doubt that Al Gore really won. What a disgrace to have a former president make such a statement openly.
President Carter has cultivated a persona to be above politics, sort of a Mother Teresa of the American political scene. In reality, he was always a very adroit and skillful politician as Governor of Georgia and then gaining the Democratic nomination for president. He was a detailed politician, skillful in political maneuvering through the presidential primary process. There is certainly nothing wrong in knowing the political process well and using it for personal political ends. But he has purposefully tried to rise above it all, even saying that he did not even consider himself a true politician. In reality, he has been very much the politician for much of his public life.
He has written poetry, several books, and leads Sunday church groups. If only he had stuck to these activities he would have been an honored and gracious man. But unfortunately he has left us a legacy, both domestic and foreign, that still haunts to this day.
Allan Saxe serves as political analyst for WBAP News/Talk 820 and writes an opinion column for the Star-Telegram.
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