Posts tagged as Jimmy Carter
"Operation Bristol" Just Does Not Exist
Something about the Palin family inspires conspiracy theories. The latest one is that Bristol Palin has only survived as a contestant on "Dancing With the Stars" because "Tea Partiers," whatever that means (fiscal conservatives? Old people? Oolong fans?), have engineered a way to vote for her in some unnatural or unfair way, whether that be without watching the show or through automated voting mechanisms or, I dunno, planting suggestions in our dreams or something. It's no mere Internet rumor, either—I heard it about it on my morning shows, and it's become a major news story to the degree that both the show's producers and Bristol herself have felt motivated to respond. But here's the weird thing: "Operation Bristol," as it's been called, almost certainly does not exist. READ MORE
The "Bad Dad, Good President" Theory
I have been sort of developing this theory on modern presidencies and how the successful ones have all been held by men with distant or completely absent fathers, while the failures were men who came from stable and prosperous upbringings. READ MORE
Jimmy Carter On Barack Obama And Race
Former President Jimmy Carter jumped into the debate about whether the opposition to President Obama is, in part, due to racism with a fervent "yes." Naturally, the discussion is all about whether or not this is good politics. (Ben Smith says it's terrible for the White House and Mickey Kaus asks, "Remember the Carter era of smug moralizing? Anyone want to go back to that?" It's a good question! Do you remember the Carter era of smug moralizing?) And really, what was Carter thinking? Here's my guess: Maybe he was thinking that some of the opposition to President Obama is due to racism. Maybe he felt that, as a former President and a lifelong resident of the South, he had an obligation to speak out against it rather than to let it remain an ugly truth which we refuse to acknowledge because we still have difficulty talking about race in this country. But what do I know? Maybe he just wanted to be on TV.
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: READ MORE
