When the news broke Sunday that former President Jimmy Carter had passed away, I immediately popped that into the headline section. The death of a former US president is always instantly noteworthy, no matter where you come down on his time in office. Condolences to his family are the appropriate response, regardless of personal feelings (perhaps to the contrary). There is also that inherent respect for the presidency – a rare honor bestowed on so few human beings that carries the nation’s trust with it.
A heartfelt rest in peace to President Carter and warm thoughts to his family sans any political shading was easy, and the Boss did his usual beautiful, sensitive job once he had a chance to get a longer piece up.
…We will no doubt have time tomorrow to open a debate over Carter’s legacy, which remains controversial even in his post-presidential years. For today, we do best to recognize his service to his country in multiple ways…
In all honesty, if this was anyone but Jimmy Carter passing away, there would have been subdued, mostly fond remembrances and the heartwarming, all-American traditions that come with a presidential state funeral. The ones that still remind us of our exceptionalism. The pageantry of a funeral procession, a ‘Black Jack’ riderless horse, the somber ceremonies of lying in state in the Rotunda guarded by a twenty-four hour military Honor Guard. The flags at half-mast, perhaps a cannon fusillade in a final salute.
A last twenty-one guns.
Taps.
There are so many moving American moments that are done so well when honoring the life of a former president. Our country shines through in the symbolism of every step, every gesture.
But President Carter has died against the backdrop presidency of the malevolent vegetable vying with him for the title of “Worst President in Our Lifetines If Not EH-VAH.”
Admittedly, this adds a certain amount of zest to what would normally be a week or ten days of national, if not mourning precisely, let’s say, thoughtful reflection on legacy.
It is already an effort watching the media – who are still grappling with how to fake pretending they had nothing to do with the conspiracy that enabled a dementia-addled, geriatric sack of mendacious carbon, his ruthlessly ambitious wife, crack-head son, and grifting family to ascend and maintain their place at the pinnacle of American politics – carefully tiptoeing around Carter’s four years in office and his political interference afterward, all trying to feel their way through to put a bit of a shine on the Carter years. Burnish the man himself.
The CBS Evening News lead-off piece on it last night had two stand-out guffaw moments for us.
Lemme ‘splain what I mean.
Former President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100, is being remembered as a peacemaker and a humble man of faith and integrity who was tirelessly dedicated to the causes of democracy and helping others. Mark Strassmann has more
Guffaw Number One
2:10 More trouble than triumphs marked Carter’s presidency. Double-digit inflation, long gas lines, and, most memorably, Iran held 52 American hostages for more than a year…[Walter Cronkite insert]…President Carter had two notable achievements. He negotiated the Panama Canal treaties, keeping it open to American ships and troops…
Wait, he what?
The Panama Canal was never going to close “to American ships and troops” because WE ALREADY OWNED IT.
In a symbolic visit to an American out-post that will soon become part of Panama. President Carter warned the Panamanian government yesterday to respect the rights of Americans here and appealed to the Americans to ease the transition to Panamanian rule.
“Everyone understands that we want to enter upon a new era of harmonious cooperation and goodwill between the people of Panama and the Americans associated with the canal, and that there is no room for bad faith in that relationship,” Carter said. “It requires a hospitable and cordial attitude not only on our part but on Panama’s as well.”
It was not a celebration that took place here yesterday.
…One young man held a large poster that proclaimed, “Re-elect Carter, the best president Panama ever had.” Above the slogan there was a picture of Panama’s military leader, Gen. Omar Torrijos.
Carter gave it away to a brutal military dictator for $1 and promises that the Panamanians would ‘behave’ and ‘respect the rights of American citizens.’
Everyone involved in that abomination paid a price.
And the United States has been paying ever since the handover was completed in 2000.
TRUMP’S TARGETING OF PANAMA
Jimmy Carter once noted that no senator who voted for the Panama Canal Treaties in 1977 won re-election. Americans’ anger over giving it away then may explain the desire to take it back now.@CraigSmpa @DBrodyReports pic.twitter.com/MwjboDT7An
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) December 30, 2024
I have a good idea how CBS missed that part of it, but with all the trouble media is in right now, why are they digging any deeper…she rhetorically asks the wind.
Strassman does note that Reagan’s victory was a ‘landslide repudiation of the Carter years.’ That comment seems kind of out of left-field after the benign picture he just finished painting of Carter’s presidential ‘missteps’ vice the actual misery that abounded.
Maybe Carter had been much worse for the map to look this bad on Election Night?
How miserable was Jimmy Carter as President? This was the actual 1980 election result when Ronald Reagan defeated Carter. pic.twitter.com/LRc7c8ocg7
— The Colossus of N.Y. (@ColossusofNY) December 31, 2024
In that spirit, Mark Strassman’s fan-fiction-filled love song to Jimmy Carter wasn’t done.
He had a whale of a closing line.
Guffaw Number Two
3:40 …When we last saw the 39th president in 2024, he looked frail, but alert, celebrating his 100th birthday…
Now, this guy has lost his ever-lovin’, kiss-ass media mind, and it’s shameful.
No, he didn’t look ‘frail but ALERT.’
Carter flat-out looked like a desiccated corpse in a wheelchair, rolled out for some perverted family photo-op.
Who does this?!
This is a photo from today of Former President Jimmy Carter
Look I am just being honest but why are they rolling this man out in this type of shape?
This looks inhumane. pic.twitter.com/XeXPFJjl71
— Vision4theBlind (@Vision4theBlind) October 2, 2024
It was GROSS and abusive.
But right on brand for Democrats and their media toadies who were busy assuring us all this…thing…in the White House was as sharp as a tack, and shame on us.
“Start your tape right now, because I’m about to tell you the truth. F U if you can’t handle the truth. This is the best Biden ever. If it weren’t the truth, I wouldn’t say it.”pic.twitter.com/z6oBLquPU5
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) December 31, 2024
Yeah, it will not go smoothly for them in their efforts to drop a halo on the Georgia peanut farmer because he built houses for folks and had that soft voice.
What little credibility they had to spin those soft stories before has been completely schotzied after Biden, and Jimmy Carter is not the guy to try a gentle re-working massage job on.
Too many people have too many legitimate axes to grind, and now there are avenues for their stories to be heard about the real cost of life thanks to the unlucky presidential saint from Plains.
Jimmy Carter enabled the Mullahs to take power in Iran, gave away the Panama Canal, and actively sought to undermine Reagan and Trump in foreign policy. His benevolent public persona ran counter to his dark political machinations https://t.co/HL6iv1Gxc3
— Erin Brophy – don’t forget to laugh.. (@ERINBROPHY18) December 31, 2024
Reagan laid it out.
President Ronald Reagan: “I did criticize the President [Jimmy Carter] because of our undercutting of what was a stalwart ally— the Shah of Iran.
And I am not at all convinced that he was that far out of line with his people or that they wanted that to happen. The Shah had done… pic.twitter.com/C6dIZlq6eG
— Sarah Raviani (@sarahraviani) December 30, 2024
…”I did criticize the President [Jimmy Carter] because of our undercutting of what was a stalwart ally— the Shah of Iran.
And I am not at all convinced that he was that far out of line with his people or that they wanted that to happen. The Shah had done our bidding and carried our load in the Middle East for quite some time, and I did think that it was a blot on our record that we let him down.
Have things gotten better? The Shah, whatever he might have done, was building low-cost housing, had taken land away from the Mullahs and was distributing it to the peasants so they could be landowners— things of that kind.
But we turned it over to a maniacal fanatic who has slaughtered thousands and thousands of people, calling it executions.”
While kind, compassionate Jimmy Carter was building Habitat houses, he was busy undercutting the White House occupant – be he Democrat or Republican – at the same time.
Exactly. Carter even tried to undermine Clinton on foreign policy too. I remember lots of articles at the time about how mad Clinton would get at him.
— Fred Simpson (@poliestabnevert) December 31, 2024
Such a humble man, huh?
Maybe, just maybe, the rabbit was on to something.
When he was president, Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabbit in a swamp. pic.twitter.com/9wI6p77UhW
— Possum Reviews (@ReviewsPossum) June 18, 2024
In Carter’s defense…
…swamp rabbits do have a nasty reputation.
Looking over Jimmy Carter’s accomplishments, it’s one of the few times his luck held – when the only one who would have been hurt was him.
Classic.
And the celebration of his ‘legacy’ is just getting dusted off, so settle in.
