History's greatest monster gooonnnnneeeeee!!!!

[Hellraiser]

100 years young. A good innings by any account.

[Uncle fester]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... dApp_Other

One of the most decent human beings to hold that office.

[Tichtheid]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... dApp_Other

One of the most decent human beings to hold that office.

Carter and the next couldn't be more different.


I got annoyed when I latterly saw the debates between him and Reagan - there were complex issues at play and Reagan's team managed to make idiocy a virtue, something that continues to this day, it would seem.

[Uncle fester]

Also an interesting thread on him being a style icon with some side eye at more recent occupants of the office.

[Hugo]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... dApp_Other

One of the most decent human beings to hold that office.

Carter and the next couldn't be more different.


I got annoyed when I latterly saw the debates between him and Reagan - there were complex issues at play and Reagan's team managed to make idiocy a virtue, something that continues to this day, it would seem.

Spot on.

It grated on Carter so much that he lost that election to someone who he perceived as being an unserious figure.

When you think about it that was such a pivotal election, maybe the most consequential US elections in history.

[Kiwias]

An inherently decent man -- the best to inhabit the WH.

Gutless BBC glosses over the Reagan team's role in dealing behind the scenes with the Iranian govt to have the hostage release being delayed until after Reagan was inaugurated so he could claim the credit.

[Biffer]

His presidency had its problems, but he's the greatest former president America ever had. His foundation eliminated Guinea Worm, horrible disease that it is. He built affordable homes for decades. The effort he put into the Camp David accords and peace between Israel and Egypt (a peace that still survives more than forty years later). Civil rights advocacy, and so many other things. I have nothing but admiration for him.

[fishfoodie]

An inherently decent man -- the best to inhabit the WH.

Gutless BBC glosses over the Reagan team's role in dealing behind the scenes with the Iranian govt to have the hostage release being delayed until after Reagan was inaugurated so he could claim the credit.

An act of treason every bit as bad as Nixon's secret advances to Vietnam during actual war !!!

[Gumboot]

His presidency had its problems, but he's the greatest former president America ever had. His foundation eliminated Guinea Worm, horrible disease that it is. He built affordable homes for decades. The effort he put into the Camp David accords and peace between Israel and Egypt (a peace that still survives more than forty years later). Civil rights advocacy, and so many other things. I have nothing but admiration for him.

Yep, all of this.

RIP

[fishfoodie]

His presidency had its problems, but he's the greatest former president America ever had. His foundation eliminated Guinea Worm, horrible disease that it is. He built affordable homes for decades. The effort he put into the Camp David accords and peace between Israel and Egypt (a peace that still survives more than forty years later). Civil rights advocacy, and so many other things. I have nothing but admiration for him.

A couple of acts that I'd just add are; his blanket pardon for those that fled the Vietnam draft to Canada; so that they could just come home for funerals of loved ones, without fear of being imprisoned; a simple, common thing, but an act of humanitarianism that showed his humanity; & the other is that at the height of the Three-Mile Island Crisis, when the PA Leadership was flapping around & issuing evacuation orders, & everyone was crapping themselves, he & his First Lady, flew to the site & met with team tackling the issue, & when America saw a former Nuclear Navy Engineer, not being afraid to put himself & his wife in potential harms way, they dialed back the panic, & were soon returning to their homes. That's Leadership !!!

His work after his term just showed what an honorable, decent & caring person he was, & how much we all missed out on with him not having a 2nd term.

[Enzedder]

Voted out due to the cost of petrol and a campaign of bullshit.

Nothing has changed by the look of it.

Would have been proud to have him as our PM.

[Kiwias]

His presidency had its problems, but he's the greatest former president America ever had. His foundation eliminated Guinea Worm, horrible disease that it is. He built affordable homes for decades. The effort he put into the Camp David accords and peace between Israel and Egypt (a peace that still survives more than forty years later). Civil rights advocacy, and so many other things. I have nothing but admiration for him.

A couple of acts that I'd just add are; his blanket pardon for those that fled the Vietnam draft to Canada; so that they could just come home for funerals of loved ones, without fear of being imprisoned; a simple, common thing, but an act of humanitarianism that showed his humanity; & the other is that at the height of the Three-Mile Island Crisis, when the PA Leadership was flapping around & issuing evacuation orders, & everyone was crapping themselves, he & his First Lady, flew to the site & met with team tackling the issue, & when America saw a former Nuclear Navy Engineer, not being afraid to put himself & his wife in potential harms way, they dialed back the panic, & were soon returning to their homes. That's Leadership !!!

His work after his term just showed what an honorable, decent & caring person he was, & how much we all missed out on with him not having a 2nd term.

Big thumbsup to both these posts.

[Niegs]

I didn't realize young Lt Carter, USN prevented a nuclear meltdown in Canada!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/c ... -1.6293574

[TedMaul]

Also was the best Wonder Woman in my view.

[Certain Navigator]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... dApp_Other

One of the most decent human beings to hold that office.

Carter and the next couldn't be more different.


I got annoyed when I latterly saw the debates between him and Reagan - there were complex issues at play and Reagan's team managed to make idiocy a virtue, something that continues to this day, it would seem.

Still under-estimating Reagan after all these years...

[Kiwias]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... dApp_Other

One of the most decent human beings to hold that office.

Carter and the next couldn't be more different.


I got annoyed when I latterly saw the debates between him and Reagan - there were complex issues at play and Reagan's team managed to make idiocy a virtue, something that continues to this day, it would seem.

Still under-estimating Reagan after all these years...

Reagan understood the populace very well, that a jovial nature, a few well-placed jokes, and coming across as not dangerous works. Bit like Trump in many ways.

“Sleepwalking Through History” is a fascinating look at the Reagan presidency and what an absolute shit show it was.

[Gumboot]

Still under-estimating Reagan after all these years...

[Marylandolorian]

Biden became the first senator — and first politician outside of Georgia — to endorse him for his White House bid.



https://www.npr.org/2024/12/30/11610501 ... lationship

( the last pic in this link is …strange)

[Torquemada 1420]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... dApp_Other

One of the most decent human beings to hold that office.

This.

[Niegs]

[Kawazaki]

This article puts a different spin on things...

There are not many politicians who are remembered most for what they do after they leave office, rather than what they achieve, or fail to achieve, in it. However, Jimmy Carter is one such example. In the 44 years since he left the White House he not only managed to rehabilitate his reputation, he became the nearest thing there is to a living saint. At least, that is certainly the case if you read some of the tributes made to him by people on the Left of politics.

He’s gone from being seen as a disastrous failure as president, to an example of a great humanitarian. His contemporary, British prime minister James Callaghan, experienced something similar. He was seen as a dreadful prime minister at the time, presiding over a country in deep decline and riven by industrial strife. I know. I was there. Yet Left-wing revisionist historians now portray him as some sort of political hero.

The same was the case with his chancellor, Denis Healey. When he had to beg the IMF to bail out Britain in 1976 he was the most reviled man in Britain, yet within a decade he had become a kind of avuncular figure, able to laugh at himself alongside Dame Edna Everage on many a chat show sofa. The fact that he presided over the highest inflation in our country’s history, an economy beset by strikes and known as “the sick man of Europe” was largely forgotten.

So, as you read all the tributes to Jimmy Carter, all lionising him for his unquestionably positive role in bringing about the Camp David Accords which brought (temporary) peace to the Middle East, let’s also remember that while there were many reasons why Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election, Jimmy Carter was the main one.

In contrast to the ever-optimistic sounding Reagan, Carter had the sort of hang dog demeanour that would compete with Keir Starmer for depressing the hell out of everyone. He talked of a “crisis of confidence” afflicting the United States without seemingly having a single idea of what to do about it. It was dubbed the “national malaise” speech, although he never actually used the words.

Similarly, he failed to revive the US economy, bring down inflation or deal with the energy crisis. However, it was the Iran hostage crisis that cemented his reputation as a loser, something which Reagan took full advantage of.

While Carter’s post presidency good works, especially in Africa, did wonders to rehabilitate his reputation in the eyes of the world, this cannot mask the fact that his period in office was a failure, whatever the Left might have you believe.

[Lobby]

This article puts a different spin on things...

There are not many politicians who are remembered most for what they do after they leave office, rather than what they achieve, or fail to achieve, in it. However, Jimmy Carter is one such example. In the 44 years since he left the White House he not only managed to rehabilitate his reputation, he became the nearest thing there is to a living saint. At least, that is certainly the case if you read some of the tributes made to him by people on the Left of politics.

He’s gone from being seen as a disastrous failure as president, to an example of a great humanitarian. His contemporary, British prime minister James Callaghan, experienced something similar. He was seen as a dreadful prime minister at the time, presiding over a country in deep decline and riven by industrial strife. I know. I was there. Yet Left-wing revisionist historians now portray him as some sort of political hero.

The same was the case with his chancellor, Denis Healey. When he had to beg the IMF to bail out Britain in 1976 he was the most reviled man in Britain, yet within a decade he had become a kind of avuncular figure, able to laugh at himself alongside Dame Edna Everage on many a chat show sofa. The fact that he presided over the highest inflation in our country’s history, an economy beset by strikes and known as “the sick man of Europe” was largely forgotten.

So, as you read all the tributes to Jimmy Carter, all lionising him for his unquestionably positive role in bringing about the Camp David Accords which brought (temporary) peace to the Middle East, let’s also remember that while there were many reasons why Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election, Jimmy Carter was the main one.

In contrast to the ever-optimistic sounding Reagan, Carter had the sort of hang dog demeanour that would compete with Keir Starmer for depressing the hell out of everyone. He talked of a “crisis of confidence” afflicting the United States without seemingly having a single idea of what to do about it. It was dubbed the “national malaise” speech, although he never actually used the words.

Similarly, he failed to revive the US economy, bring down inflation or deal with the energy crisis. However, it was the Iran hostage crisis that cemented his reputation as a loser, something which Reagan took full advantage of.

While Carter’s post presidency good works, especially in Africa, did wonders to rehabilitate his reputation in the eyes of the world, this cannot mask the fact that his period in office was a failure, whatever the Left might have you believe.

"spin" being very much the operative word here.

Its worth noting as well that, far from "lionising" him, the Guardian article linked to earlier on this thread fully acknowledges the failures of his time in office:

"Hopes for the Carter presidency were dashed, however, by economic and foreign policy crises, starting with high unemployment and double-digit inflation and culminating in the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A rolling energy crisis saw the price of oil triple from 1978 to 1980, leading to lines at US gas stations ....

Carter’s fruitless attempts to halt the economic slide led Republicans to label him “Jimmy Hoover”, after the Depression-era president. But as Carter prepared to run for re-election in 1980, it was the Iran hostage crisis that weighed most visibly on Americans’ minds, the TV anchor Ted Koppel devoting his broadcast five days a week to the plight of 52 Americans held in Tehran. A botched rescue attempt left eight US servicemen dead and fed doubts about Carter’s leadership.

[Biffer]

This article puts a different spin on things...

There are not many politicians who are remembered most for what they do after they leave office, rather than what they achieve, or fail to achieve, in it. However, Jimmy Carter is one such example. In the 44 years since he left the White House he not only managed to rehabilitate his reputation, he became the nearest thing there is to a living saint. At least, that is certainly the case if you read some of the tributes made to him by people on the Left of politics.

He’s gone from being seen as a disastrous failure as president, to an example of a great humanitarian. His contemporary, British prime minister James Callaghan, experienced something similar. He was seen as a dreadful prime minister at the time, presiding over a country in deep decline and riven by industrial strife. I know. I was there. Yet Left-wing revisionist historians now portray him as some sort of political hero.

The same was the case with his chancellor, Denis Healey. When he had to beg the IMF to bail out Britain in 1976 he was the most reviled man in Britain, yet within a decade he had become a kind of avuncular figure, able to laugh at himself alongside Dame Edna Everage on many a chat show sofa. The fact that he presided over the highest inflation in our country’s history, an economy beset by strikes and known as “the sick man of Europe” was largely forgotten.

So, as you read all the tributes to Jimmy Carter, all lionising him for his unquestionably positive role in bringing about the Camp David Accords which brought (temporary) peace to the Middle East, let’s also remember that while there were many reasons why Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election, Jimmy Carter was the main one.

In contrast to the ever-optimistic sounding Reagan, Carter had the sort of hang dog demeanour that would compete with Keir Starmer for depressing the hell out of everyone. He talked of a “crisis of confidence” afflicting the United States without seemingly having a single idea of what to do about it. It was dubbed the “national malaise” speech, although he never actually used the words.

Similarly, he failed to revive the US economy, bring down inflation or deal with the energy crisis. However, it was the Iran hostage crisis that cemented his reputation as a loser, something which Reagan took full advantage of.

While Carter’s post presidency good works, especially in Africa, did wonders to rehabilitate his reputation in the eyes of the world, this cannot mask the fact that his period in office was a failure, whatever the Left might have you believe.

I don't think I've seen anyone claim he was a good president. A good man, yes. His presidency had some disasters in it, not least Iran,which was a massive cockup both by him, for concentrating so massively on Egypt - Israel, but equally for. The US security services, who didn't know the Shah had cancer and assured him six months before the revolution that there was no possibility of revolution. The attempt to rescue the hostages was also a disaster, and highlighted the very poor state of US security services and their capability of working in a cross service manner, but Carter was smart enough to take on board what happened and set in motion the establishment of JSOC. But he also negotiated the peace between Israel and Egypt which still lasts and the arms reduction treaty with the Soviets which was later signed by Reagan,effectively the beginning of the end of the cold War. The Carter Doctrine is still the underpinning of US foreign policy in the gulf. In retrospect his presidency was mixed but all the good stuff was longer term impacts and all the bad stuff very immediate.

But it's his post presidency theat I really admire him for. How many other people can you point to who led or enabled a successful effort to eliminate a disease? Salk perhaps, and Snow,but not many others.

You didn't put a source in there but it's an obvious attempt by a right winger to emphasise the negatives, and try to frame all of the praise in a different way by concentrating on the presidency, as if that was the most important part of his life. I bet he never got lowered into a nuclear reactor after core accident as part of a repair team, as Carter did. For that one act alone he deserves everyone's respect.

[Uncle fester]

I don't think I've seen anyone claim he was a good president. A good man, yes. His presidency had some disasters in it, not least Iran,which was a massive cockup both by him, for concentrating so massively on Egypt - Israel, but equally for. The US security services, who didn't know the Shah had cancer and assured him six months before the revolution that there was no possibility of revolution. The attempt to rescue the hostages was also a disaster, and highlighted the very poor state of US security services and their capability of working in a cross service manner, but Carter was smart enough to take on board what happened and set in motion the establishment of JSOC. But he also negotiated the peace between Israel and Egypt which still lasts and the arms reduction treaty with the Soviets which was later signed by Reagan,effectively the beginning of the end of the cold War. The Carter Doctrine is still the underpinning of US foreign policy in the gulf. In retrospect his presidency was mixed but all the good stuff was longer term impacts and all the bad stuff very immediate.

But it's his post presidency theat I really admire him for. How many other people can you point to who led or enabled a successful effort to eliminate a disease? Salk perhaps, and Snow,but not many others.

You didn't put a source in there but it's an obvious attempt by a right winger to emphasise the negatives, and try to frame all of the praise in a different way by concentrating on the presidency, as if that was the most important part of his life. I bet he never got lowered into a nuclear reactor after core accident as part of a repair team, as Carter did. For that one act alone he deserves everyone's respect.

Iain Dale
Frequent failed candidate for MP
Can see why toga "forgot" to add that little detail.

[Kawazaki]

But it's his post presidency theat I really admire him for.

As does the author of the article assuming you read it?

[fishfoodie]

Iran wasn't Carters cockup; it was decades of both sides propping up the Shah, to the extent of sending over CIA hoods to help his murders learn how to torture better !!

Carter just had the misfortune to be in office when the excrement hit the fan, & so had to deal with the cleanup. Ditto Afghanistan !, although there it was Moscow doing the propping up of a murderous bastard.

Proxy wars were a feature of the Cold War, & dirty deals like Iran/Contra were always the favorite of the GOP; Carter was the exception because he tried fixing the conflicts instead of just replacing one murderous bastard with a different one. There's that classic picture of G H Bush when he was CIA director posing with Saddam to illustrate the point !

The Reagan Administration subsequently supported Saddam against Iran, & didn't give a shit that he used chemical weapons or anything else

[Biffer]

But it's his post presidency theat I really admire him for.

As does the author of the article assuming you read it?

He spends a slightly sneering opening paragraph saying that other reports do that, then bizarrely insinuates that the peace between Israel and Egypt was temporary, although it’s still in place and that was during his presidency, and it was Reagan’s failure to capitalise on that peace deal that has led in part to the situation today. The deal committed Israel to a permanent deal for Palestine, to be negotiated after the Israeli Egypt treaty was signed. Reagan never pushed them on this commitment. To blame Carter for Reagan’s failure is a strange take on history.

He outright claims it’s left wing revisionism, and he doesn’t say he admires him or his works anywhere in that, only that other people do.

[Hugo]

The article is based on a false premise - that people have tried to portray his Presidency as a success. Everyone knows Carter's Presidency was fraught with crises and that his post Presidency is where he has done his most consequential work.

Considering his post Presidency was more than ten times longer than his one term in office it's not much to ask that it be afforded more consideration in evaluating his legacy. If you judge people by their failures we are all going to come up a little short.

[Niegs]

With that article's focus on gas prices and inflation back in the late 70s, is there anything Carter could have done to drastically swing things for the better? Similar with Biden now (Trudeau to come), people are largely concerned with the cost of living, and voted accordingly.

... I was just a kid in the 90s, but was there a global recession then too? There was here in Canada and the Conservatives went from a majority to just 3 seats. Was HW Bush's loss also due to economic woes?

Anyway, is there anything leaders can do to massively swing cost of living in a short period of time? Or are they doomed with a 'failure' brand when there really wasn't much they could do versus the global economy / power of mega corps?

That losing Canadian PM is now looked at fairly positively for his diplomatic successes - including a massive one: South Africa - and not so much the devastating loss.

[Biffer]

With that article's focus on gas prices and inflation back in the late 70s, is there anything Carter could have done to drastically swing things for the better? Similar with Biden now (Trudeau to come), people are largely concerned with the cost of living, and voted accordingly.

... I was just a kid in the 90s, but was there a global recession then too? There was here in Canada and the Conservatives went from a majority to just 3 seats. Was HW Bush's loss also due to economic woes?

Anyway, is there anything leaders can do to massively swing cost of living in a short period of time? Or are they doomed with a 'failure' brand when there really wasn't much they could do versus the global economy / power of mega corps?

That losing Canadian PM is now looked at fairly positively for his diplomatic successes - including a massive one: South Africa - and not so much the devastating loss.

92 financial crash in the UK, but not sure how that affected anywhere else.

Just checked thee was a wider early nineties recession, and Canada had domestic issues as well.

[Kawazaki]

The article is based on a false premise - that people have tried to portray his Presidency as a success. Everyone knows Carter's Presidency was fraught with crises and that his post Presidency is where he has done his most consequential work.

Considering his post Presidency was more than ten times longer than his one term in office it's not much to ask that it be afforded more consideration in evaluating his legacy. If you judge people by their failures we are all going to come up a little short.

You're using a false premise to try to portray one!

If a person has a 50 year working life then the 4/8 years as the POTUS are likely to be the ones people focus on!

[Biffer]

The article is based on a false premise - that people have tried to portray his Presidency as a success. Everyone knows Carter's Presidency was fraught with crises and that his post Presidency is where he has done his most consequential work.

Considering his post Presidency was more than ten times longer than his one term in office it's not much to ask that it be afforded more consideration in evaluating his legacy. If you judge people by their failures we are all going to come up a little short.

You're using a false premise to try to portray one!

If a person has a 50 year working life then the 4/8 years as the POTUS are likely to be the ones people focus on!

And you’re just posting misdirection after misdirection.

[Hugo]

The article is based on a false premise - that people have tried to portray his Presidency as a success. Everyone knows Carter's Presidency was fraught with crises and that his post Presidency is where he has done his most consequential work.

Considering his post Presidency was more than ten times longer than his one term in office it's not much to ask that it be afforded more consideration in evaluating his legacy. If you judge people by their failures we are all going to come up a little short.

You're using a false premise to try to portray one!

If a person has a 50 year working life then the 4/8 years as the POTUS are likely to be the ones people focus on!

Not in this case.

Carter is better known for his post Presidential stuff and is widely recognised as being a well intentioned but ineffective President.

Essentially, the jury has long since decided that despite Carter's unimpressive Presidency that the good stuff he did afterwards outweighs that. So for someone to be stating that people are trying to rewrite that narrative is pretty wide of the mark.

[Hugo]

In my lifetime the two Presidents who I think were the best people, as in had the most integrity were George HW Bush & Carter. I'm more politically aligned with Carter but I read extensively on HW and he was a good man too, moderate and willing to compromise. Very gracious and well mannered. He had very little time for the wing nut element of the Republican party.

I bring this up because having just looked it up, they were both born in 1924 and they were of course both one termers. Given how much the baby boomers have monopolised the Presidency it's ashame we did not see more from Carter and Bush generation because they really were pretty noble men.

[Biffer]

In my lifetime the two Presidents who I think were the best people, as in had the most integrity were George HW Bush & Carter. I'm more politically aligned with Carter but I read extensively on HW and he was a good man too, moderate and willing to compromise. Very gracious and well mannered. He had very little time for the wing nut element of the Republican party.

I bring this up because having just looked it up, they were both born in 1924 and they were of course both one termers. Given how much the baby boomers have monopolised the Presidency it's ashame we did not see more from Carter and Bush generation because they really were pretty noble men.

Still hasn’t been a Gen X President either.

[Uncle fester]

In my lifetime the two Presidents who I think were the best people, as in had the most integrity were George HW Bush & Carter. I'm more politically aligned with Carter but I read extensively on HW and he was a good man too, moderate and willing to compromise. Very gracious and well mannered. He had very little time for the wing nut element of the Republican party.

I bring this up because having just looked it up, they were both born in 1924 and they were of course both one termers. Given how much the baby boomers have monopolised the Presidency it's ashame we did not see more from Carter and Bush generation because they really were pretty noble men.

Still hasn’t been a Gen X President either.

Remarkable. Obama was only off by 5 years though.

[Sandstorm]

And if Trump pegs early (please baby Jebus), then Vance is too young to be Gen X.

[Tichtheid]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... dApp_Other

One of the most decent human beings to hold that office.

Carter and the next couldn't be more different.


I got annoyed when I latterly saw the debates between him and Reagan - there were complex issues at play and Reagan's team managed to make idiocy a virtue, something that continues to this day, it would seem.

Still under-estimating Reagan after all these years...

I certainly don't underestimate Reagan, I give him a huge amount of credit for destroying the middle class in America and bringing about perhaps the greatest transfer of wealth to the top 1% since the days of absolute monarchs, along the lines of the collapse of the former Soviet Union and who took control of the wealth there.

He encouraged deregulation which became a huge problem long after he was out of office (the 2007/08 financial crash could be traced back to that approach), he introduced and legitimised a system where billionaire owners of multinational companies could act like gangsters and force the competition out, stifling small businesses - the exact opposite of the so called free market they supposedly espoused.

GW Bush was very much against those economic plans and "trickle down" is now used as a pejorative.

[Biffer]

In my lifetime the two Presidents who I think were the best people, as in had the most integrity were George HW Bush & Carter. I'm more politically aligned with Carter but I read extensively on HW and he was a good man too, moderate and willing to compromise. Very gracious and well mannered. He had very little time for the wing nut element of the Republican party.

I bring this up because having just looked it up, they were both born in 1924 and they were of course both one termers. Given how much the baby boomers have monopolised the Presidency it's ashame we did not see more from Carter and Bush generation because they really were pretty noble men.

Still hasn’t been a Gen X President either.

Remarkable. Obama was only off by 5 years though.

Although we’ve had three Gen X Prime Ministers and that hasn’t gone particularly well (Cameron, Truss and Sunak).

[Kiwias]

As Carter was carried from the funeral service, all those attending stood and placed their hands on their hearts as a sign of respect. All but one. We don't really need a photo to tell us who that was but for the record.