Posted on 04/19/2005 10:08:17 PM PDT by RWR8189
Today in Odd History, President Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabbit during a fishing trip in Plains, Georgia. The rabbit, which may have been fleeing a predator, swam toward his boat, "hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared." President Carter was forced to swat at the vicious beast with a canoe paddle, which apparently scared it off.
Upon his return to the White House, Carter told his staff about the furry amphibian's assault. Most of them refused to believe him, insisting that rabbits can't swim (although since most mammals can swim, there's no reason to believe that rabbits cannot), and that even if they could, they certainly wouldn't attack humans, and certainly not presidents. Fortunately, a White House photographer had been on the scene, and had recorded the bizarre attack. The photograph showed Carter with his paddle raised, warding off a small creature which might, or might not, have been a rabbit. One staffer was quoted as saying, "You couldn't tell what it was." Undaunted by their skepticism, Carter had the image enlarged, and there it was--a killer bunny rabbit, apparently bent on assassinating the president.
The story might have ended there, except that White House Press Secretary Jody Powell mentioned the incident to Associated Press reporter Brooks Jackson in August. 
The Washington Post ran it as front page news. The original photograph was not available (until the Reagan administration leaked it in 1981), but the paper filled the gap with a cartoon modeled on the poster for the movie Jaws, starring the rabbit and entitled Paws. Powell made a belated attempt to impress the public with the seriousness of the attack, calling the creature a "swamp rabbit," but since Carter had to appease his rabbit-loving constituents by insisting that he had not actually smacked his buck-toothed opponent with his paddle, but only splashed water at it to drive it away, it seemed unlikely that he had been in danger. The entire episode became a 
symbol of Carter's floundering presidency. According to Powell, "[I]t shows the extent to which an insignificant incident can snowball and end up in newspapers and news shows across the country.” Carter biographer Douglas Brinkley says, “It just played up the Carter flake factor.... I mean, he had to deal with Russia and the Ayatollah and here he was supposedly fighting off a rabbit.”
Note: While some presidential apologists have suggested that Carter might actually have been attacked by a nutria, a large, aggressive aquatic rodent, others have insisted that the President's assailant was a simple, if unusually vicious, bunny rabbit. Fulk, the 12th century king of Jerusalem, was killed by a rabbit. (Well, really he was killed by a fall from his horse, but the horse had been startled by a rabbit.) And many years ago, I was the owner of a Blue Dutch rabbit named Sequin. One of my friends still bears the scars of an encounter with Sequin--a perfectly matched set of parallel teeth marks, where Sequin's fangs closed on her hand and ripped through the flesh when she pulled her hand away. Bunnies are, indeed, fiercer than anyone but Monty Python has generally given them credit for.
LOLOLOLOL
And now he looks like one.
Wait...was it Jimmy Carter or Monty Python?
Even Rabbits can sense weakness :-)
I believe it was actually a large badger...
"The entire episode became a symbol of Carter's floundering presidency."
Nah.
This [ http://jschumacher.typepad.com/joe/images/vt_hike_03.jpg ] is a much better symbol of Carter's floundering presidency.
No, that was ANOTHER killer bunny incident! ; )
P.S: Love the tagline...until we see them do the job we elected them to do, my cash stays right where it is.
It's just embarrassing that anyone from Georgia - Democrat or not (Sam Nunn, after all, was from Georgia) - would have been frightened by a wittle bunny wabbit. And then he had to say he hadn't actually "smacked" it?! If a bunny wabbit attacked me, it'd have a .40 caliber hollow-point sized hole in between its floppy, cutsy big ears.
Poor rabbit!! Sounds like he was gasping for air and got hit in the head with a paddle. LOL
LOL!
Thanks for the correction
Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit...
ROFLMAO!!!!!
Where is Greenpeace when you need them? What I wouldn't give to have seen the Rainbow Warrior moving inbetween the Presidential Dinghy and the rabbit to save the poot creature from the crazed paddle swinging President!
Oh man, the memories, the memories...priceless. On to the Holy Hand Grenade!
OMG. LOL.
The whole PETA, Greenpeace thing escaped me...
Jimmah actually smacked the rabbit? In self defense? He didn't let the thing...uh...gnaw him to death???
Somebody give me a chorus of Kum Ba Yah or something!
What a TOOL Bucky is.
What would have been great, would have been the VICIOUS rabbit doing to Bucky what the badger did to Will Ferrell in SNL on his camping trip. The badger went "up somewhere," when Will tripped and fell. LOL.
(imagine Jaws theme, gradually increasing in volume)
Next week: Attack of the Killer Bluegill!!!
That is not a rabbit. Look at the rounded ears. Maybe that is a nutria?
I was attacked by a rabbit once.......but it was a Volkswagon.
:^)
You people have been great. Don't forget to tip your waitress.
Jimmah and the pesky rabbit. ROTFLMAO .......
I'm too lazy to put in the DVD...relying on memory here (major geek alert, LOL)
"What? Behind the rabbit?"
"It is the rabbit!"
"The rabbit? You scared us half to death over a rabbit? I nearly soiled my armor!"
"I'm telling you, that's no ordinary rabbit. It's a killer! It's got a mean streak a mile wide!"
"You stupid git! Sir (don't remember), go kill it!"
"Right! One dead bunny rabbit coming up!"
.
.
.
(snarrrrl)....(growwwwwllll)....(CRUNCH!)....(spurt, spurt, spurt!)....(munch, munch, munch)....
.
.
.
"J**** C*****!"
"I warned you! I told you it was a killer, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, 'it's just a little bunny rabbit!' No, they never listen to Tim! I always warn them..."
"SHUT UP!"
Rabbit my butt - that's Amy Carter in the river he's swinging away at. Not that I could blame him you understand.
Dangerous Bunny
George H. W. Bush will be remembered for his leadership in Desert Storm and Liberating Kuwait.
George W. Bush will go down in history for toppling the dictators who supported the export of terrorism and the spread Democracy in the Middle East.
Jimmy Carter will go down in history for allowing our Diplomats to be held hostage in Iran for 444 days, and his near death experience with a Rabbit.
And last but not least.... Bill Clinton will go down in History for the Intern that went down on him and doing absolutely nothing in response to several Terrorist attacks under his watch.
The record of Democrats in power speaks for itself :-)
President Carter Attacked by Rabbit
Funny but I remember the secret service fending the rabbit off from their canoe.
Looks like the poor thing is just trying to get across the river.
We were talking about this earlier in the month...
ya gotta love it!
The Columbine High School massacre was 6 years ago today when two students opened fire killing twelve classmates, a teacher, and themselves; twenty-six others were wounded in the attack.
Vice President Clinton died on April 20, 1812 -- George Clinton was the first American VP to die in office; he was seventy-three years old.
On this date in 1979, US President Jimmy Carter claimed he was attacked by a "killer rabbit" while fishing in a rowboat in Georgia -- this came just two weeks after Carter disclosed that he’d once seen a UFO.
This is the 102nd anniversary of the discovery of radium by Marie and Pierre Curie.
RCA demonstrated the first electron microscope on April 20, 1940.
On this date in 1589, Andrew Battel became the first European to see a gorilla -- he called it "Pongo."
Shirley Temple made her movie debut 71 years ago tonight in a picture called "Stand Up and Cheer."
This is the 58th anniversary of the night radio star Fred Allen was cut off in the middle of his show while making wisecracks about a network vice president.
On April 20, 1961, the FCC granted FM radio stations the right to broadcast in stereo -- that decision led to the "underground radio" movement, which in turn spawned commercial FM radio.
20 years ago today, "Wham!" became the first outside group to sell recordings of its music in China.
"ABC's Wide World of Sports" debuted on this day in 1964 -- the crashing ski-jumper shown during the "agony of defeat" opening segment suffered only a few bruises.
Original opening theme from "ABC's Wide World of Sports" 1.0mb
BIRTHDAYS TODAY: Adolph Hitler in 1889. Ryan O'Neal celebrating his 64th. Carmen Electra is 33. Jessica Lange hits 56. George Takei (Mr. Sulu) turns 65. Early Rocker Johnny Tillotson is 66.
On a serious note.... I hold Jimmy Carter responsible for the birth of Terrorism as we know it today. If that spineless invertebrate would have issued an ultimatum to the Islamic Fundamentalist in Iran back in 1979 that was backed up by the full force of our Military and the power they project, we would not have had our Marines blown up in Lebanon and the many Terrorists attacks we suffered at the hands of the Islamo-fascist who considered us weak and incapable of responding to their attacks.
Jimmy Carter was a monumental failure, and his unbridled affection for third world Dictators as well as his unconditional endorsement of every fraudulent election that any Tyrannical Dictator could rig is another testament to his Invertebrate classification :-)
Say what you will about that bunny, but I'd vote for it before Skippy anyday.
Ping!
You are correct, and even before the Ayatollah took over, Carter hated the Shah and helped push him from power. As an immediate reward Carter was humiliated by the extremists and (thankfully) driven from office.
Nam Vet
It says in the 2nd article the, ahem, attack happened in April.
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