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.
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.
Ahhhhh ... Thanks ... you are correct
I did't see that in the article :0)
What a maroon.
lol, I'll bill you for squinty eyed reading later!
don't know if you stuck around long enough to see post 36
hahahahahaha!
That rabbit's eyes look really evil.
Show me Satan's own bunny, and I'll show you a bunny.
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