Jimmy Carter on Larry King last night was asked about abortion

[JohnnyRingo]

King pressed him on whether he'd mind a defeat of Roe v Wade.
Carter stated that he didn't believe it should be overturned and back when he was president he had WIC (Women With Infant Children) and if a young woman decided to carry a child she knew she would have the finances to raise it.

He didn't preach abstinence only while offering up cuts in social programs for poor unwed mothers.
He didn't suggest that young mothers pull themselves up by their bootstraps and find a working husband to support their children.
He didn't flatly state that abortion is murder without offering up an alternative that provided for the care and nurturing of a baby born into poverty.

Listening to a man who could answer impromptu questions so comprehensibly and glibly without resorting to sound bites and slogans was so refreshing, It made me long for a return to the days of an intellectual White House.

I don't usually watch Larry King, but this one one of the best interviews I've ever seen anywhere. If it's rerun, I highly recommend.

[CottonBear]

1. Jimmy Carter is a true Christian, a real patriot & a great American.

If we had only elected him to a second term, we'd probably all be driving hybrid and high mileage vehicles and using solar and alternative energy sources and the world would be more peaceful and the environment would be healthy.
:(

[dchill]

2. The questions may have been impromptu...

but the answers were not. Carter has obviously given a lot of thought to just about everything. He'd be a terrible Republican.

[jseankil]

3. Carter is a brilliant man and a class act.

Truly a national treasure.

[mdmc]

4. I love Jimmy!

He politicized the young, second grade, mdmc back in 1980. My first political rally was in support of Jimmy!

[msgadget]

5. All of Carter's interviews are fantastic

I have great respect for him and his views and he's said before he's against abortion but it doesn't bother me because he doesn't rave about fetuses and pain or judge women who seek them or people who support the procedure. If conservatives on the other side were less vengeful maybe the nation could have a dialog. He doesn't have to run for office so he can say what he wants these days. Same with Gore, I think.

[shaniqua6392]

6. Please read his book "Our Endangered Values".

It is wonderful and sets out the truth about the entire Bush administration and all they have done to this country. He speaks about how they have hijacked the name of God and profess to be godly men, yet they are not godly in their actions. When I read it, I found it so moving it brought tears to my eyes. He was saying all the things I have been feeling as a Christian that have been driving me insane. There are so many people who think Bush is a Christian and he is not. They fell for it hook, line and sinker. Carter also speaks out on different issues such as abortion in the book. It really is a must read for everyone!

[JohnnyRingo]

9. I gave the book to a friend's daughter for Christmas knowing that

I'll be borrowing it soon.

[FreedomAngel82]

13. It is wonderful

I love the book and he says everything I feel too as a Christian. The fundies think if they overturn Roe v Wade than all the babies "will be saved from 'murder'" but it won't change a thing. People need to be educated about what life was like before Roe v Wade for women.

[China_cat]

15. I've ordered that one from Zooba

Unfortunately, the reviews of it are almost entirely freeper and smears of a good and decent man because he thinks it's important to care about others.

[madmom]

7. He discusses this at length in his book "Our Endangered Values"

I highly recommend it.

[Selatius]

8. The only thing that bugs me about Carter...

Is his administration's support of Indonesia's invasion/occupation of East Timor through failure to stop weapons sales to the Suharto regime, and many of those weapons were used against East Timorans.

[RaleighNCDUer]

17. That would have been his foreign policy guy --

what's his name... Brezinsky?...same guy who OKd the arming of the mujahadeen in Afghanistan. Cold war made for a lot of poorly considered decisions.

I won't fault him too much for that.

[Selatius]

18. It was Richard Holbrooke who oversaw the bloodshed, not Zbigniew n/t

To set the record straight, Ford and Kissinger gave tacit approval to Suharto's invasion of East Timor, and successive administrations supported the regime despite it's brutal occupation marked my mass graves and slash and burn tactics that led to the deaths of thousands. For example, Carter's regime OKed the sale of OV-10 Bronco aircraft used to bomb the occupied populace into submission. Richard Holbrooke was Carter's Under-Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. To be frank, I think both Holbrooke and Carter deserve to blame as well as everyone else in the administration who knew and did nothing about the atrocities.

[Chalco]

10. Jimmy Carter, I love him.

If we'd listened to him we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now. I'll never forget his predicting this mess and his attempts to prevent our "addiction" to oil. Then, they did a coup on him.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. And also remember

when he was President he had solar power on the White House roof and when Reagan was President he took them off.

[mrcheerful]

11. The real sad thing about Carter is because

Ronnie blame everyone so the buck stops anyplace but here Reagan gave the man a bad reputation. Carter did more for world peace and for america in 4 years then the entire 20 years of Reagan, Bush, Bush dictatorship. Everything good about america is embodied by Carter yet because of the stupid followers of the anti christen anti american right wing lie machine he will go down as the worst president ever. Look at how everything bad that happened in the 1970's was laid on Carters back, everything from inflation to the gas shortage has been Carters fault. Carter wasn't the one who caused run away inflation, it was republican greed and corporate greed, notice how fancy book keeping, the feds have been able to keep the inflation numbers down, so the stupid out there think inflation is a thing of the past. Inflation is even higher today then it was during Carters administration. We are reaping what the repukes have sown.

[FreedomAngel82]

12. Was this new or a rerun?

He talks about this in his book "Our Endangered Values." He talks about how there are other ways to lower abortion than overturning Roe v Wade (which won't do anything by the way like a lot of fundies think).

[Nashyra]

16. It was not a rerun

and those of us in Northern Nevada are blessed with the fact that his son Jack is running for Senate. On Monday the 6th, Jack Carter and his family, including his Wife, children and mother Rosalyn will be in Carson City for his offical announcement to run for Seanate, rumor has it that there might be a mystery guest. Guess who? I can't wait.