Jody Powell, 1943-2009

Joseph Lester "Jody" Powell, press secretary to Jimmy Carter, died yesterday at the age of 65. Powell's staunch support of his boss made him one of the more reliable press secretaries of the modern era, but was also symbolic of the "not ready for prime time" nature of the Carter administration. Still, there was something rather admirable about his feistiness:

During Carter's governorship, a top opponent of busing to achieve school desegregation called the governor a "gutless peanut brain." Mr. Powell shot back a note that "respectfully" suggested the man "take a running jump and go straight to hell."

That said, he is best remembered for sharing with the world the "killer rabbit" story.

It began late one afternoon in the spring of 1979. The President was sitting with a few of us on the Truman Balcony. He had recently returned from a visit to Plains, and we were talking about homefolks and how the quail were nesting and similar matters of international import.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason — he was drinking lemonade, as I recall — the President volunteered the information that while fishing in a pond on his farm he had sighted a large animal swimming toward him. Upon closer inspection, the animal turned out to be a rabbit. Not one of your cutesy, Easter Bunny-type rabbits, but one of those big splay-footed things that we called swamp rabbits when I was growing up.

The animal was clearly in distress, or perhaps berserk. The President confessed to having had limited experience with enraged rabbits. He was unable to reach a definite conclusion about its state of mind. What was obvious, however, was that this large, wet animal, making strange hissing noises and gnashing its teeth, was intent upon climbing into the Presidential boat.

Carter beat the rabbit off with a paddle, but the story was more damaging than the attack itself. There's a cautionary tale in there somewhere.