Tea Party and Me
October 1, 2010 12:53 PM   Subscribe

 
Obligatory Onion Carter Op-Ed
posted by rhymer at 1:05 PM on October 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


You know things are looking up when the first word of the punchline sentence is surely.
posted by darth_tedious at 1:10 PM on October 1, 2010


I like Carter, but I think he's wrong about the lack of bipartisanship causing the problem. Actually, I don't think Obama and the Democratic leadership really want systemic changes.
posted by wuwei at 1:21 PM on October 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


The genius of our democratic system is that it is self-correcting, which is why extreme and ill-advised political trends have never prevailed. We face enormous budgetary and social challenges, and I believe it is all but inevitable that constructive governance will ultimately emerge. Surely our government will, once again, be as good, honest and competent as the American people.

Encouraging, but I wish he'd say more about how he thinks this is going to happen.
posted by box at 1:25 PM on October 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Surely our government will, once again, be as good, honest and competent as the American people.

Mr. Carter is a nice man, but I have days where I wonder if maybe we shouldn't be aiming higher than this standard.
posted by JanetLand at 1:28 PM on October 1, 2010 [8 favorites]


He seems... reasonable. We need more of this.
posted by reductiondesign at 1:30 PM on October 1, 2010


I like Carter, but I think he's wrong about the lack of bipartisanship causing the problem. Actually, I don't think Obama and the Democratic leadership really want systemic changes.

Link here to GOP votes in favor of Dem-proposed legislation this term. ... ... ...

...

.
posted by joe lisboa at 1:33 PM on October 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


Yeah, I am trying to bait Olympia Snowe into joining MetaFilter. What of it?
posted by joe lisboa at 1:34 PM on October 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Seems to me like the recurring pattern since Nixon is:

1) Republicans break government through malfeasance, incompetence, or ignorance.

2) Democrats start the hard work of fixing government, though they only have half a playbook and a metric socket set;

3) Republicans gin up controversy over some stupid shit nobody really gave a damn about before and use it like a bludgeon;

4) Democrats fold like a stale saltine cracker;

5) Goto 1.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:42 PM on October 1, 2010 [32 favorites]


Joe: There are lots of things that Obama could do (that he promised to do) via executive order. He hasn't done it. These include, closing the Gitmo prison and withdrawing from Iraq.
posted by wuwei at 1:42 PM on October 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


It's useful to remember Carter's role in the chain of events that led to 9/11:
Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?

Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
The logic of empire, even a nominally democratic empire (see Athens,) is larger than the personality and values of one leader.
posted by ennui.bz at 1:53 PM on October 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


Joe: There are lots of things that Obama could do (that he promised to do) via executive order. He hasn't done it. These include, closing the Gitmo prison and withdrawing from Iraq.

I would quibble with the latter and also debate the former (given GOP recalcitrance to accept Gitmo prisoners in their own jurisdictions), but you have a fair point, sir.
posted by joe lisboa at 1:54 PM on October 1, 2010


> 3) Republicans gin up controversy over some stupid shit nobody really gave a damn about before and use it like a bludgeon;

We must never forget that, in 1980, the GOP successfully saved the country from the evil and decadence of Ham Jordan-- and again in 1993, from the unholy fiend named Jocelyn Elders.

Heroic resistance rises from the unlikeliest quarters!
posted by darth_tedious at 2:21 PM on October 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


The big difference between then and now is that there was still American manufacturing back then.
posted by Joe Beese at 3:03 PM on October 1, 2010


Jeezum gay, has anybody read the comments? I could only make it through the first three.
posted by Leta at 3:30 PM on October 1, 2010




Carter was elected as the last Democratic president when the South was still part of the Democratic coalition formed in 1932 to elect FDR. The southern Democrats (Dixiecrats) had been seeking a deal with the Republicans since 1964. In 1980, the long-expected change from Dixiecrat to Republican finally took place. In 1972, the groundwork was laid for a massive crossing of the aisle by southern politicians, but they were thwarted by Nixon's criminal misconduct. 1973 was not the best year to become a republican, though a few rats like John Connelly climbed on Tricky Dick's sinking ship.

The power of the Republicans is centered on the South's desire for political revenge for the Civil Rights Act. As a southerner, it's not surprising that Carter can't see it. As an astute politician who spent his entire life on the side of racial justice, it's surprising that Carter isn't able to talk about it.

The last honorable and upright man in the White House until now.
posted by warbaby at 8:24 AM on October 2, 2010 [3 favorites]


... as well as the first evangelical Christian, though I'm sure it pains the Christian Right to acknowledge it.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:08 AM on October 3, 2010


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