Jimmy Carter Speaks Out On Wright, Obama, McCain

Former President Jimmy Carter appeared on CNN's Larry King Live on Monday, addressing everything from the 2008 election and Rev. Jeremiah Wright to his recent talks with Hamas.

In the first segment, Carter said he would not have left Wright's church after hearing his remarks, and that Wright wouldn't be "anything permanent or damaging" to Sen. Barack Obama's candidacy.

CARTER: I grew up in Plains, Georgia and we have 600 people and 11 churches. And the largest and most powerful church is the Lebanon Baptist Church, which is an African-American Baptist church, so I have heard this kind of preaching all my life when we visited their church and they came to mine. What I think he's teaching is a liberation theology and his origins... I think sermons are still shaped by the deprivation of racial discrimination that our country has felt for 100 years after the civil war.

Carter said he would not be endorsing a candidate during the primaries (despite the fact that "all of my grandchildren and all of their spouses and all of my children and all of their spouses were for Obama"), and predicted that the party would rally around a winner after the primary elections were over in early June. But he did offer praise to both candidates:

I think [Obama] has brought a new level of eloquence and inspiration to a lot of people. Hillary has also surprised a lot of people with her tenacity and her capability as a formidable candidate. I think at first she was kind of in the shadow of her husband. I think now she's blossomed forth in a very formidable fashion. If I were she, I would not withdraw until defeated and if I was Obama I would go forward as well.

In the second part, Carter addressed his recent trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, during which he spoke twice to representatives of Hamas. King played clips of John McCain challenging Obama to condemn Carter's meetings, and of Obama saying he personally would not have met with Hamas.

Carter responded:

Well, you know, I know the pressures that are on candidates running for president or Congress or governor or anything else in this country, and I don't blame Senator McCain for making what I consider a very foolish statement, telling Obama to tell me what to do. And I think Obama takes the right attitude by saying it's not his place to tell me what to do, but he would not go and meet with them. I think it's perfectly rational.

Comments

[ntmessage]

Carter is a lose cannon and should stop trying to fix his mess in the Middle East that has plagued us for over 30 years. I was the first to give him credit for the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Of course, those Middle East leaders paid the ultimate price.

Because Carter was so unsophisticated in his approach, he was completely surprised and unprepared for the inevitable blowback of his actions. Iran ejected the Shah, religious fanaticism emerged to target the US our diplomats were taken hostage while rescue attempts proved disastrous due to his lack of concern regarding the emerging national security risks. One the current leader of Iran was even one of the hostage takers

In fact, his inexperience and naivety about the world in general and the Middle East in particular most resembles Obama today. Check the box list of items that no serious thinker would ever consider policy, without any tangible idea on how to achieve the lofty rhetoric. Rookie mistake ridden Presidential policy, take 2.

[JasonEverettMiller]

You have a very light grasp on history and context.

Carter had to deal with the blowback caused by Eisenhower and the CIA when they overthrew Iran in 1953 and the decisions of every administration between then and when he was president. In fact, had Carter enjoyed the full support of Congress and an American voter who was more informed, he could have done a lot of good for this country.

That you would blame one man for a string of foreign policy disasters that are at least 100 years old just shows that your follow-on point about Obama is ill-informed as well.

[Bullyness]

Thank you J.E.M. for injecting facts into all these opinions. I've come to believe that a great majority of Americans enjoy being lied to, they want the story crafted to fit into their prejudged beliefs. We have a very very long way to go.

[ntmessage]

Thanks for the comments. Of course, we disagree. To blame Carters mistakes in the late 70s as blowback to the 1953 coop is blatantly disingenuous. That coop was conceived and driven by the British as a response to the nationalizing of Irans oil business in 1951 after huge investments by what is now known as British Petroleum. Our CIA was much more involved in the cold war, Korea and Vietnam at that time. In addition, don t forget Eisenhower’s warning about the IM complex.

Regardless and without bickering about the facts, under the Shah, Iran was the first Arab country to recognize Israel and had good or developing relationships with Yemen, Oman, UAE, and Saudi Arabia (this was as controversial as the Israeli relationship), Iraq, Jordan., Egypt. Morocco and Turkey. Light years from the situation we have grown used to since Carter were President.

Instead of understanding, the regional complexity he drove what we now know was an ill-conceived peace accord with Israel that the region was not ready. It seems wholly logical that the region blowing up at that time, as opposed to 30 years prior was the cause. We now know the affect, a region in shambles with major powers like SA, Iran, Israeli and Iraq completely at odds with each other when budding regional peace was developing just fine before Carter got involved.

Obamas caviler approach is no different.

[andyboy]

ntmessage,

Yeah. great point. Carter "started" religious fanaticism.

Sophisticated approach to foreign policy. Kill.

Religious fanaticism just "emerged' in the 1980's is that it? Are you sure? Have you read ANY history books? I seem to remember a bit of religious fanatacism going back quite a ways.

Crusades? Inquisition? Ring a bell at Mr. "serious thinker"?

Jimmy Carter is inexperienced? Sure I believe you.

You gotta love these wannabe experts.

[ntmessage]

Dude, you must have read a different post. Here is the passage you refer to:

religious fanaticism emerged to target the US directly when our diplomats were taken hostage

I dont know what planet you are living on or what drugs you are doing when you think this statement has anything to do with the Crusades or Inquisition since the US was not really a country then.

[personalpolitical]

Yeah, she should go on until defeated, which was a while ago if you can do basic math:

http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/04/pennsylvania-results.html

[Witchitalineman]

I have always admired Jimmy Carter. Thank you for your continued contributions towards peace, and your willingness to not let what "other people think" dictate what is right.

[hip dibler]

the last honest president we had.

[cramos]

THANK YOU!!!!!!

Somebody who reads and remembers.­.......Jim­my Carter is the father of jihad......

[rwe]

if it were not for Jimmy (the worst ever) the nightmare of the islamo fascist rampage in the middle east would not have occurred.

[djthedj]

Right because he installed the Shah of Iran and armed Saddam for years....oh wait, that was the republicans. Shove your head back up that dark hole now, OK?

[Mooyizz]

no you fool, he ddnt install teh shah of iran

[CaptainVideo]

Carter brought about a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. This is the only progress toward peace that has been achieved.

Islamo fascist is a nonsensical term concocted by the right wing ideologues.

[Skex]

WTF is an Islamo fascist? Islamo isn't even a word and the fact that you combine it with Fascism just shows you don't have the slightest idea what fascism actually is. You're just parroting mindless drivel you've heard elsewhere.

[DAE]

Yeah right. What about Reagan arming the mujahideen and Bin Laden in Afghanistan. If we had let the Soviets establish a secular regime there we wouldn't have so-called islamofascism to deal with today.

[RoloTomassi]

I know you know better...but you do love to spread disinformation, don't you? Is that now a GOP requirement for membership?

[cindysundancer]

It would be amusing if it wasn't so sad--so many on the right insist we are a primarily "Christian" nation , and yet are so blazingly ignorant about the Bible.
I've been studying the Bible for over two years now--and God damns many nations for their sins, INCLUDING HIS OWN CHOSEN NATION OF JUDAH! Read the book of Ezekiel or Isaiah! God dams the Israelites and many nations around them sending plague, famine, climate change and enemy armies to utterly destroy them.
We want to live in this ignorant bubble where we can swell with pride over Amerika and command God to bless her no matter how greedy, violent and depraved her people behave. God is not a warm and fuzzy Santy Claus, happy to fulfill our wishes!
Rev. Wright is Biblically correct--God's wrath is real and he damns nations for their sins. God's covenant relationships with his people are CONDITIONAL, not automatic.
Of course, no one wants to hear such hard truths. That's why many of the Bible's prophets were eventually attacked by their own people and suffered horrible deaths.

[JasonEverettMiller]

Great point. This country has become pretty wimpy of late. We can't handle even the most mild of criticisms, let alone some harsh truths like the Reverend pointed out. I know Wright is something special when my agnostic mom says she would go to his church and she hates the bible.

She also said she had no idea who he was until he came out on TV and talked about the distortions the media offered. Wright coming out and setting the record straight is going to pay huge dividends between now and November. The truth, for once, seems to be helping us out this year.

Thanks to the Internet.

[doublesvb]

maybe i can go with your mom.... i'm an atheist. take away the bible verses and he does speak the truth

[wmfor]

That's what everyone here was saying yesterday.

This morning I turned on the TV with my early coffee--my torture ritual, watching the reruns of last night's news shows:

Hannity: A panel discussion on Rev. Wright. Wright is going to continue to hurt Obama. Obama won't be able to "get his message out, because the cable shows will be playing Rev. Wright". [That's you guys, you bastards!]

Switch to Lout Dobbs: "But I think the important issue is saying the words G. D. from the pulpit. That's what I can't abide, a man of God saying the words G. D....

Back to Fox. O'Reilly: "Bill Moyers endorses Jeremiah Wright's message of hate..."

These Republican Tools won't give up. Facts be damned! Swift boat ahead!

[Warmglobe]

Jimmuh should be in a home praying for a happy death

[RoloTomassi]

If you need for people to pray for you in that capacity, you should just ask....

[AMJordan]

Instead of going around the world and calming things down?

No matter what happens, I think he'll have a happy death.

[obamanation31]

President Carter is a great man. History will judge him as a great man.

[olivia]

He is truly a great man. That's why the neocons cannot stand him. He doesn't serve their selfish purposes. He works for the greater good. He is a true man of God.

[mike53]

Great man? Hardly. Pretty sad when a democrat president could not get re-elected. Especially before Fox news, talk radio or the internet. The man stunk as president just as he stinks as an ex-president.

[RoloTomassi]

Are you even old enough to remember a Carter presidency? What about Bush41? By your critieria he must have really sucked. Oh, and I guess that makes junior doubleplus good, eh?

The worst crime Carter committed while in office was telling the American people truths they didn't want to hear; and so, we because we can't stand to hear the truth, we get eight years of super-moron Ronnie RayGun, beloved by all rightwingnuts for laying the foundation for our current demise.

Go bone up on a little history and government, sonny-boy, and then come back and try it again.

[Steeevyo]

Carter became nothing more but a useful idiot for people whose only pursuit in life is to hate, opress and kill.
Its very sad that good christians fall victim to this type of sickminded moral relativism.

I am very happy that Obama fundamentally differs with
the growing naivety of the former US President.


Quote:
"That’s why I have a fundamental difference with President Carter and disagree with his decision to meet with Hamas,”
Obama said.
“We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel’s destruction. We should only sit down with Hamas IF they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel’s right to exist and abide by past agreements.”

[djthedj]

Hmmm, let me see if I have this straight. Cruise missles launched from miles away killing civilians = hero. Suicide bomber killing civilians = terrorist. Have I got it? Pretty sure the people getting blown up don't see the difference.

[Steeevyo]

Yeah you got it!
The excact moral relativism that allows these scumbags of Hamas to take their people hostage and let them suffer from their deeply felt conviction that "Palestine should be free". Free from jews that is.
And btw: Theyre talking about the whole thing.
Not only the the territories where they could've built their own state 60 years ago and instead decided to turn it into a shithole.

[CaptainVideo]

Obama is as intimidated by the Israel lobby as all the other major candidates. Carter can afford to defy it because he does not have any plans to run for office.

[KitChandler]

Doesn't abiding by past agreements apply to Israel as well?

[RoloTomassi]

Refusing to negotiate with "terrorists" is the most idiotic policy ever formulated. But if you notice, it is a policy that all former "terrorists" love to adopt, Israel being a perfect example.

[thisoldbroad]

Perhaps we can learn diplomacy from the only US President to every win a Nobel Peace Prize.

The time to complain about hamas was BEFORE the Palestinians elected them to their government, not after. We have always considered them a terrorist group, but because we didn't step in before they were elected - now they are a legitimate party representing the Palestinian people. Another GW Bush foreign policy fiasco.

Jimmy Carter opened the door to communication when our own government still refuses to talk to "bad people". He didn't do it for political gain - he did it for spiritual reasons. There's a place in heaven for Jimmy Carter.

The ex-president we should be scrutinizing is Bill Clinton. How many shady "photo-ops" does it take to earn $15,000,000? Read these & see why..
graphics8.­nytimes.co­m/packages­/pdf/polit­ics/memo2.­pdf
dailykos.c­om/story/2­008/4/6/20­4547/2324/­853/491377

It's time to put the spotlight back on those who claim they are "vetted", like there hasn't been anything new since 2001.

[owiseone]

Thank you; Jimmy Carter is doing what his heart and conscience tell him. He doesn't have to risk so much by talking to the leaders of these countries--he is good enough to work toward PEACE because he sees that diplomacy is the only way.

He doesn't believe that killing to stop the killing is rational.

[AMJordan]

I wish I could applaud your lack of history.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first US President to win the Nobel Peace Prize (for mediating the Russo-Sino War).

However, Carter still stands heads and shoulders over everyone else in diplomacy today.

[JackieW]

Jimmy Carter is such an intelligent and principled man. As a fellow Southerner, I am especially proud of him. And I am glad he has pointed out that anyone who has attended a black church views Rev. Wright as much more familiar. For that matter, anyone who has ever attended a summertime tent revival (white church, baptist) is familiar with way more volume, way more flailing, way more everything.

[JohnKemp]

Clearly, Jimmmmmmmmy is the worst ex-President ever, and were it not for LBJ, he would have been the worst President.

Interesting that he is in the ME & not Zimbabwe where his self-installed ruler Mugabwe is stealing another election & giving all of the confiscated land to his relatives.

And here I am thinking that Jimmmmmy's pet cause was open & honest elections.

Guess not.

[undecidee]

That is right. He is the WORST president ever. Bush is the BEST in the US. Boy aren't we all lucky to have him. The war is great. What great choices our BEST president is making. I love this recession he got us into and oh yeah, that gas prices is a riot. LOL

ps. that was said in sarcasm in case you are wondering.

[djthedj]

Just curious, what did LBJ do to be worst ever in your book?

[wmfor]

In his book? Civil Rights and Medicare for a start, I suppose.

[dill]

Carter has always been an honorable man, trying to live a life of service to his fellow man. His peace efforts are to be commended. When history is written it will be kind to Carter, but if our country still exists after the damage Bush has done, history will view Bush as the self-absorbed, unintelligent criminal and buffoon who tried to destroy the constitution and our government.

[twinfinfish]

After 35 years , Carter paid off the national debt from W.W2 ... by contrast , Bush has DOUBLED the national debt accumulated over 25 years in just 6 years .

[RoloTomassi]

Thanks for being consistent; I never have to worry about you offering up intelligent comments.

[Glowcy]

I don't mind admitting that I don't understand why this country's leaders insisted that the Palestinians have a democratic election and then get totally upset when the Palestinians voted their interests in favor of Hamas. I don't understand how this country's leaders overlook the Israeli acts perpetrated on everyday Palestinians in order to fight their elected government.

Who looks right in these circumstances depends upon where you live as well as how you are treated in that part of the world. Israel is above criticism in the eyes of many in this country while Hamas is the source of terrorism according to those same people. Where, when, and how does this end?

President Carter is looking for resolution by talking to both sides. It's a good start.

[chinaskee]

When was the last time the Israelis sent a suicide bomber into a supermarket in the Gaza or West Bank with the intent purpose to kill as many women and children as they could ?

[CaptainVideo]

The Palestinians are not building and expanding settlements in Israel.

When a foreign invader with vastly superior military forces invades a peoples' land and proceedes to take it away from them, they turn to asymmetric warfare in desperation.

While I think that no cause, no matter how just, justifies intentionally killing civilians who are innocent bystanders and therefore do not support this, the actions of the Palestinans are an understandable act of desperation.

[w&cheneysuck]

Something that the current administration cannot understand and refuses to do..

[CaptainVideo]

"I don't understand how this country's leaders overlook the Israeli acts perpetrated on everyday Palestinians in order to fight their elected government. "

Can you say AIPAC? When it comes to middle eastern policy the United States is an Israeli puppet.

[wmfor]

From Tom Lehrer's song "Send the Marines":

They must be protected,
All their rights respected,
Until someone we like can be elected.

[qdog112]

Jimmy Carter is a great American in the tradition of great Americans. He speaks truth to power and places the world good over that of corporations. That makes him dangerous and a "nut" to all who feel threatened.There is no money in "peace". There will always be those who wish to silence any voice that wants to examine our relationship with Israel and our posture world wide. Our foreign policy is so perverted that even discussion of diplomacy becomes tantamount to treason. We must engage internationally as an equal player and not always come in to situations with guns a blazin'. to protect corporate interests. Our "cowboy diplomacy" is the product of our "short bus" administration. It has made us the "bad guy" throughout the world.

[BeyondTheBull]

I'll give an "AMEN!" to that.