August 12, 2005
And suddenly it makes sense that Dawn Summers likes Jimmy Carter
From BOTW:
The Peanut Farmer
Columnist George Will settles a score with Jimmy Carter and reminds us of just how petty Carter is. At issue is Carter's recent claim that Will "had stolen my briefing book" and given it to Ronald Reagan's campaign, which used it to prepare for the sole Carter-Reagan debate. Will acknowledges that he inappropriately (from the standpoint of journalistic ethics) participated in the debate preparation and that the Reagan campaign had the briefing book, but he says he was not its source.Carter also claimed recently that Will wrote to him "asking for forgiveness." This too is not true, Will says. "The only letter I ever wrote to Carter was in response to one he wrote to me on Oct. 29, 1993," Will writes, and he quotes from his own letter setting Carter straight on the false briefing-book allegation.
What's most striking about the story, though, is Carter's 1993 letter to Will, which Will quotes:
His letter began: "For a number of years I have felt some resentment toward you because of the reports that you either knew about or actually used my personal briefing book in preparing Reagan for our campaign debates [sic]." He added:
"Because of this feeling, and despite my lifetime interest in baseball, I even refrained from reading your 'Men at Work.' Recently, in order to learn how to be a better Braves fan next year, I spent $1 in a used bookstore for the book, and really enjoyed it.
"Even if the news stories about the debate incident are true, I feel that we are even now.
"Best wishes,
"Jimmy Carter"
So Carter (a) nurses this trivial grudge for 13 years (and still is after 25 years), (b) refuses to read Will's book because of it, (c) feels vindicated when he finds it on the remainder table, and (d) writes a letter to Will boasting about (c)! Next to this guy, Bill Clinton is Winston Churchill.
Read the George Will column. Will sees Carter's slap and raises him a sharp finger to the eye.
Posted by Karol at August 12, 2005 01:39 AM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags: George+Will Jimmy+Carter George+Will+Jimmy+Carter
A. Reagan cheated
B. Using Carters personal briefing book is not trivial.
C. Carter has every right to hold a grudge for eternity.
D. Carter is able to forgive. I sure wouldn't.
You're right. The '80 election was stolen. As were '84, '88, '00 and '04.
Jimmy Carter's just a pathetic shell of a man now. No dignity whatsoever. Builds a mean house, though.
Posted by: Jay at August 12, 2005 09:17 AMCarter would have lost anyway.
Posted by: PAUL at August 12, 2005 09:24 AMCarter forgets that the US was in a state of economic chaos when Reagan took over. Carter had made some very stupid decisions such as:
Carter got it into his head that there was a gasoline shortage. He put in a government allocation system run by bureaucrats. Immediately long lines formed because the bureaucrats could not do as good a job as the free market.
One of Reagan’s first actions was to remove the government allocation system and let the free market do its thing. Ted Kennedy threw a fit and predicted a huge disaster for America.
Within one week, the gas lines disappeared.
Paul, George Will denies being the source of the books. So, Carter's petty grudge against Will is ridiculous. He can hold a grudge against Reagan all the live long day. I'm pretty sure Reagan won't mind.
Jake, my personal favorite Reagan/Carter story happened, I believe, at this one debate. Reagan looked into the camera and said 'the day I take office, the hostages in Iran will be released'. My father used to tell me this story and say that Reagan just looked so terrifying and like he meant business (which, of course, he did). The day Reagan takes office the hostages are released. From a NY Times piece from that day:
The hostages, whose 14 months of captivity had been a central focus of the Presidential contest last year, took off from Teheran in two Boeing 727 airplanes at 12:25 P.M., Eastern standard time, the very moment that Mr. Reagan was concluding his solemn Inaugural Address at the United States Capitol.
No one was going to mess with the cowboy from California.
Posted by: Karol at August 12, 2005 10:45 AMKarol:
Which reminds me of another favorite moment. A moment that proved that Reagan was 100 times the man Carter was:
Reagan sent Carter to greet the hostages as they came off the plane so Carter could get some favorable publicity after his humiliating defeat.
Posted by: Jake at August 12, 2005 11:00 AMWell Carter believes Will gave his book to Reagan and that is the source of the grudge. It might not be true but as long as Carter believes it he is entitled to a grudge.
True or not, it's still not petty or trivial or are those kind of election tactics fair play in your book?
Anyway it might be ridiculous to you because you don't believe it's true. That is cool.
Or is it ridiculous to understand why Carter was mad?
Which one do think it ridiculous or both?
No one was going to mess with the cowboy from California.
Not that there weren't those who tried (see Hinckley, John)
Posted by: Shawn at August 12, 2005 11:51 AMOther than Carter and his apologists, who cares about a frickin' briefing book? I never even heard of one before today and can't imagine it's any different than a football team sneaking a peek at their opponent's playbook should it happen to become available. And do you really think if Carter had a chance to look at Reagan's briefing book, he would've tossed up his hands in righteous pride and proclaim "Oh no, I'm not going to look at that. That would be cheating."?
Posted by: Marco at August 12, 2005 12:25 PMMarco, your football example is also cheating.
It would be an interesting and revealing integrity test to have a hidden camera style operation to see what politicians would do something similar and what ones wouldn't.
And a similar test for football coaches.
Posted by: PAUL at August 12, 2005 12:44 PMExclusive excerpt from Carter's briefing book:
1) Subtly make fun of him for being an actor.
2) Pretend that we didn't have a gas crisis, hostage situation or economic malaise.
3) DON'T SAY MALAISE AGAIN.
4) Don't mention the Olympic boycott.
5) Talk about the future, not the past. (This one, by the way, was used to much better effect by W.)
In other words, I don't think Reagan needed the briefing book to slaughter Carter.
As for the remaindered book, he wouldn't be the first person to take solace in that. This poem is awsome. (Hat tip to Francis.)
