Just say no to Carter

[bemildred]

Senior Israeli officials were not the first to try to get out of meeting Jimmy Carter. A number of members of Bill Clinton's administration have already tried, including the former president and his wife the candidate; most members of Bush senior's administration, including George H. W. himself; and it goes without saying the same applies to his son and his administration.

Carter has a strange characteristic: He finds it easier to make friends with dictators. If a person's companions testify to his personality and character, then here is a partial list of people with whom Carter has gotten along well: Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat and Kim Il Jong.

Carter has helped in no small number of humanitarian activities, said Brent Scowcroft, George H. W. Bush's former U.S. National Security Adviser, but "his political judgment was just awful." After Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, Carter objected to using force to remove the invaders. He even had a creative idea of how to solve the crisis: "Now is a propitious time for Israel to come forward with a genuine peace initiative."

In simple terms, an Israeli withdrawal from the territories in return for an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait. He had quite a lot of such creative ideas, few of them useful, a few dangerous and most just eccentric.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/975711.html

[fascisthunter]

1. I Just Say No to Stupid People Who Want War

and have nothing to offer when it comes to peace.

[subsuelo]

2. That's kind of the idea that Carter is against, IMO

[fascisthunter]

11. He's against saying no to warmongering?

I think you are misinterpreting my post.

[Submariner]

3. Tough talk from those cowards that hide behind the protections

of the U.S. Secret Service and Mossad. Chickenhawks who talk the talk but are too childish in their behavior to walk the walk. They would crap their pants on a battlefield. Carter is doing the right thing trying to keep the doors of diplomacy open, even if it's just a crack.

[Preston120]

4. My Bible tells me "Blessed are the Peacemakers"

It's hard to expect people who are not Christian to understand the philosophy of love. I believe President Carter is treating people the way he would like to be treated. What is wrong with peace? What's wrong with truth? What's wrong with Loving your neighbor as yourself?

It sure beats an unjust and immoral war! It sure beats the loss of over four thousand of our troops! Sure beats spending a half trillion dollars for nothing!

You said "his political judgment was just awful." Well, He didn't start any wars! America was still respected as a world leader when he left office. He didn't torture anyone. He didn't trade missiles for hostages. In my opinion, the United States hasn't produced a better President since he left office.

[Shaktimaan]

6. ho boy.

I believe President Carter is treating people the way he would like to be treated.
Provided that the people in question are dictators.

What is wrong with peace? What's wrong with truth?
Nothing at all. If Carter ever decides to pursue a policy of telling the truth then I will support it fully.

What's wrong with Loving your neighbor as yourself?
Nothing, unless your neighbor is a hostile enemy who is opposed to your existence. There's a reason that so few people line up to give suicide bombers a big, hearty hug.

It sure beats an unjust and immoral war! It sure beats the loss of over four thousand of our troops! Sure beats spending a half trillion dollars for nothing!
But nothing beats staying on subject instead of veering off to discuss something totally unconnected to the discussion!

It's hard to expect people who are not Christian to understand the philosophy of love.
Jeez, I know! The Christians are unparalleled in their selfless acts of love throughout history. I mean, what says "love" more than sending someone up to heaven to finally meet God and baby Jesus? In fact, if the Christians had loved people any harder over this past century then there might not have been anyone left to love in this century. Can you even imagine? Who would the Catholic priests have been able to shower their love upon had that come to pass?

Is it possible that maybe... just maybe, Christians love too much?

[LeftishBrit]

8. Huh???

'It's hard to expect people who are not Christian to understand the philosophy of love.'

So the whole Middle East is permanently doomed, just 'cos they're not Christian? And what about Hindus, Sikhs, and even us eeevil atheists?

And any history of the UK, or of other parts of Europe, will show you that there's been LOTS of sectarian violence over the centuries between Catholics and Protestants.

[angrycarpenter]

5. diplomacy is soooo boring and slow.

unlike a bullet:sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[azurnoir]

7. This quote say it all

about the Israeli right wings attitude about any peace accord with any Arab neighbor. The hatred of Carter started when he began peace talks between Israel and Egypt.

And his work, for years, has had one goal: undermining the status of Israel, thwarting its policies and ridiculing its hopes.

This is also true of the Camp David accords which judging by the attitude of some of the posters here was seen as an "undermining" of Israels plans and hopes.

[LeftishBrit]

9. It should be noted...

that if one is going to attack Carter on the following:


'Carter has a strange characteristic: He finds it easier to make friends with dictators. If a person's companions testify to his personality and character, then here is a partial list of people with whom Carter has gotten along well: Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat and Kim Il Jong.'

one would need to 'just say no' to most American presidents and indeed most (even democratic) world leaders. They do make friends with dictators. Saddam in particular was propped up by Reagan et al. Maggie and Ronnie were both pretty friendly with Pinochet. Etc.

So among political leaders, this is hardly a 'strange characteristic'.

[...of J.Temperance]

10. Word....and I remember that Margaret Thatcher looked

Like she was going to stroke out when that evil MoFo Pinochet was placed under house arrest in Britain....Thatcher and I think it was that buffoon Norman Lamont were both babbling away about how awful it was that this old man was being treated so "appallingly"

Yeah, they want to talk about appalling treatment, go and talk to the relatives of the people who were murdered by the pig and go and talk to the survivers of that pig's Regime's torture policy.

Hypocrites.

[ralphN]

12. BTW; have you seen this story; Hamas Endorses Obama ??

On Sunday, Aaron Klein and John Batchelor interviewed Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to the Prime Minister of Hamas, on WABC radio. The interview produced a scoop which, for some reason, has not been widely publicized: Hamas has endorsed Barack Obama for President. Yousef said, "We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election." Why? "He has a vision to change America." Maybe Yousef has some insight into what Obama means by all these vague references to "change."

Of course, Hamas's taste in American presidents is suspect. Yousef also described Jimmy Carter, who was about to pay a call on Hamas when the interview was taped, as "this noble man" who "did an excellent job as President."

Yousef was asked about Obama's condemnation of Carter's visit with Hamas, but didn't seem troubled by it. Hamas, he says, understands American politics; this is the election season, and everyone wants to sound like a friend of Israel. Nevertheless, he hopes that the Democrats will change American policies when they take office.

You can listen to the entire interview by clicking the "play" button below


http://powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/04/020315.php

[LeftishBrit]

13. Powerline Blog?

They are incredibly right-wing. They sometimes criticize Bush for not being right-wing. And it's a blog, not a proper news outlet. Does anyone more reliable have this story?

As regards the particular story:

(1) Obama refuses to speak to Hamas - why should Hamas endorse him?

(2) Obama signed a letter to the UN asking them to condemn Hamas' rocket attacks if they criticized Israel. Why should Hamas endorse him?

(3) Hamas are very nasty but they're not totally stupid. They doubtless know that American voters, to put it mildly, are NOT likely to vote for the Hamas-endorsed candidate. If they ever did endorse someone, it would probably mean that they wanted them to lose!

I note that this is your only post so far. Enjoy your stay!

[bemildred]

14. LOL. That's funny.

A new kind of opposition research. "Hmm, let's see, who else can we get to 'endorse' Obama?"
Chavez? Castro? Mugabe? The possibilities are endless here.

Doesn't this all smack of guilt by association, or guilt by admiration, or something like that? If Hamas decides they like me, does that mean I'm not worthy?