Scott at Powerline has posted this letter from Dr. Kenneth W. Stein, in which Dr. Stein distances himself from former President Jimmy Carter.
Dr. Stein lays a pretty good smack-down of the former President.
President Carter’s book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analyses; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book. Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook. Having little access to Arabic and Hebrew sources, I believe, clearly handicapped his understanding and analyses of how history has unfolded over the last decade. Falsehoods, if repeated often enough become meta-truths, and they then can become the erroneous baseline for shaping and reinforcing attitudes and for policy-making. The history and interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict is already drowning in half-truths, suppositions, and self-serving myths; more are not necessary. In due course, I shall detail these points and reflect on their origins.
Uncle Jimbo at Black Five adds:
Well now he [Carter] has gotten a truly righteous smackdown from the former director of the Carter Center who wanted to make crystal clear that he no longer has or wants anything to do with Jimmah’s blatherings. It is rare for a professional and especially an academic to make such a public statement denouncing as lies the published ignorance of as august a presence as Mr. Cahtah. That makes this all the more tasty.
Jimmy Carter is one of the first Presidents that I remember as a kid (I was 9 when Carter became the 39th President of the United States). By the end of his Presidency in 1981, even though I was only 13-years old, I knew that I had just witnessed the worst Presidency in the history of the United States.
Twenty-five years later, and I still contend that not only is Carter the worst President of all time, but he’s also the worst person to have ever held that office. Yes, I despise the man as much as Liberals hate President Bush (albeit for completely opposite reasons — I hate Carter for being a withering, terrorist-shmoozing coward; the Left hates President Bush for not being a withering, terrorist-shmoozing coward).
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UPDATE: A day after all the blog coverage, the al Qaeda Times of New York is now covering the story too:
That criticism is the latest in a growing chorus of academics who have taken issue with the book, including Alan M. Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard, who called the book “ahistorical,†and David Makovsky, director of the Project on the Middle East Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
I served in the USAF during President Carter’s term. (Oct 1975 through Jan 1980) We sure tried. We were fighting the Cold War on one side and the terrorists (remember the Red Brigade et al?) on the other. Not much happening, until Iran. It was a little tough being the laughingstock of the civilized world though, after the Shah was kicked out.
I believe Jimmy Carter is smart, and he means well. I think competence has nothing at all to do with intelligence, though. Some people simply wish in one hand and they believe by sheer force of will that they can create reality where there is none.
People who look at reality look at what DOES work. Natural Law. They say “Gosh, not enough people are buying my blivets. I must not be pricing them right” so they LOWER the price. Others say “Gosh I’m not selling enough blivets, so in order for me to make more money, I must RAISE the price.”
President Carter was the latter during his term and continues to be. He simply doesn’t have the understanding to know how things work.
Sorry for waxing poetic, folks, but the difference is clear. There are too many Malthusians. They shouldn’t be given positions of authority. Period.
Not much happening, until Iran. It was a little tough being the laughingstock of the civilized world though,
Thanks for your service HH. I have to note, though, it’s simply the way of the world. We flatter ourselves with delusions of self-determination: we go to school, study hard, and try to get a good job and pat ourselves on the back when we succeed. But all it takes is a guy crossing over the double yellow line into our car or a guy with a shotgun entering the jewelry store while you’re browsing to change your life forever.
Every American President is subject to being a ‘laughingstock’ at the hands of a small country: can I turn your attention to Iran’s neighbor? Before Iraq, Bush and Clinton had Somalia. Reagan had Beirut. Nixon and Johnson had Vietnam.
Iran was special perhaps that there was so little that Carter could do without provoking the death of 53 Americans. But a little perspective is in order: nearly as many Americans have died in Iraq since Thanksgiving.
Jimmy Carter’s reputation amongst the right wing as the ‘worst president ever’ (at least among those who have never heard of James Buchanan) is based on two events: the hostage situation and the skyrocketing gas prices sparked by OPEC. Two things he or any president would have little control over.
I haven’t read President Carter’s book and I probably won’t, but it’s alarming that it’s already discredited by a person that close to Carter, and he’s not the only critic. What motive would Carter have to author falsehoods? Is he senile or he is malicious?
Is he senile or he is malicious?
Probably a little of both, but the real reason is that he’s a a glaring anti-Semitic racist.
I just read some scathing reviews, including from the Huffington Post. Your assessment appears to be correct.
Jimmy Carter is a dumbass, and a snake in the grass. He has never gotten over the American people voting his sorry ass out of office. But his policies left them no choice, and so we can all thank Jimmy Carter for the Presidency of Ronnie Raygun, who was a little better, but not by damn much.
Everybody that thinks the US President should conduct foreign policy as though he were Ghandhi, I have two words for them-Jimmy Carter.
That old Killer Rabbit isn’t the worse President we ever had, but by God he is definitely up there in the top five.
Just found your site so I’m late in responding. Jimmy IS the worst president in modern times.
Many of the best CIC’s of the past would not measure up today but Ol’ Jimmy rates up there with silent Cal and James Buchanan as total failures only Jimmy did it in modern times and they didn’t and I agree with the staatement that Jimmy’s an anti-semitic and, isn’t he a Sunday school teacher? We put so much pressure on one position that only Jesus Christ could measure up and he has another job and I’m sorry all you atheists but I’m making a point. The current crop we have is only pathetic and they all seem to be cut out of the Jimmy mold but, I really don’t want or think that any of them or any I’ve seen run in the last 20 years are what we need.
Thank God for the electoral college because the masses in the WORLD and the US are becoming too ignorant, and may always have been, to put the right man in office. We’ve got too many that vote for their own selfish reasons and forget about the rest of the country and the world.
Teddy R. was in my opinion the best after Washington but we and the world have nothing to offer like that because of eroding social and moral values so we’ll have to take what we get and it’s the best around unless you want to change to a totalitarial way of life, I don’t.
Lets let some of the movie star type personalities that think the way to Nirvana is having the western world lay down its arms first, go live in these countries anonomously and see how it really is. Let them practice their open minded life styles and see how bad the US looks after that and then let them come back and see if they will support the weak minded crop of presidential hopefuls that are running today.