Former president Jimmy Carter has progressively become a looser and looser cannon. He has obviously 'represented' the United States in many foreign countries, since losing his race for re-election...all on his on dime since he was "without portfolio" as the phrase goes. He went on his own, conducted his foreign policy meetings on his own and did his best to muddy the waters of the sitting president.
As if mixed signals were not enough, he was taped discussing John McCain in the past day or two. His partisanship took an amazingly nasty jump during this press conference. He remarked that John McCain had "milked" his tour in the North Vietnamese POW camp, known as the 'Hanoi Hilton', "every chance he got". His remarks centered on the Saddleback debate. Carter remarked that he (McCain) seemed to get that into every answer he gave no matter the question.
To the contrary, my feeling has been that McCain didn't raise that point often enough since the contrast it draws between him and his opponent is stark. That Carter, an Annapolis graduate and former nuclear submarine officer, can have come to this saddens me as much as it angers me.
Jimmy Carter is an embarrassment to me as a former president of my country. He ought to be an embarrassment to his political party since he was a failed one-term president, and has become a pariah. He ought to have enough self-control to be able to avoid such remarks. But...he doesn't.
Carter needs a muzzle...pure and simple.
