Peanut-farmer in Chief

Former President Jimmy Carter is a complete embarassment to the United States. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seizing the staff. They were not released until President Reagan came into office. Today, we know this as the Iranian hostage crisis. Carter has no idea how to deal with hostile enemies, instead thinking that the evil people in the world are just misunderstood. Last night on Chris Matthews' Hardball, the following exchange summed it up for me.

CARTER: Well, during the hostage crisis in Iran, as you know, there was a very tiny group of, I would say, anomalous Muslims who were condemned universally by other members of the Islamic faith.

Condemned universally by WHICH other members? Not the ones who blew up the World Trade Center, Khobar Towers, USS Cole, the night club in Bali, or the 2 US embassies in Africa. By the way, next time some liberal tells you that George Bush wears his faith on his sleeve and it scares them, ask if they feel the same way about Carter's open expression of his faith while in office.

And then from Monday night, there was this little gem. Apparently the history books used in Georgia when Mr. Carter took US History were a bit different than the ones everybody else reads. Ahh, so we should have held another round of discussions with the King of England. Sooner or later, he would have seen the errors of his ways. Right...

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you the question about—this is going to cause some trouble with people—but as an historian now and studying the Revolutionary War as it was fought out in the South in those last years of the War, insurgency against a powerful British force, do you see any parallels between the fighting that we did on our side and the fighting that is going on in Iraq today?

CARTER: Well, one parallel is that the Revolutionary War, more than any other war up until recently, has been the most bloody war we‘ve fought. I think another parallel is that in some ways the Revolutionary War could have been avoided. It was an unnecessary war.

Ahh, so we should have held another round of discussions with the King of England. Sooner or later, he would have seen the errors of his ways. Right...