Posted on 04/06/2005 6:41:07 PM PDT by wagglebee
RUSH: All right, we're going to go to the audio sound bites because at NBC's Today Show, very troubled are they that Jimmy Carter...Can I ask, before I play this audio, just a simple question? Why in the world should George W. Bush take Jimmy Carter anywhere? Why in the world should George W. Bush extend courtesies to Jimmy Carter? Jimmy Carter has his Nobel Peace Prize that he's coveted his whole life for one reason, because he spent a whole year going around the world trashing George W. Bush, his administration; trashed him personally and trashed our foreign policy. Folks, they're never going to say this at it White House but there's no question that this is part of it but there are also other reasons, and they delve into these. Well, they delve into the snub aspect of this. Matt Lauer talking with Andrea Mitchell today on the Today Show, Matt Lauer said, "President Bush with his father and former President Clinton are off today to Rome. Why isn't Jimmy Carter going? What's the story back there?"
MITCHELL-GREENSPAN: Well, it is a question a lot of people are asking: Why isn't Jimmy Carter part of that White House delegation? And the inescapable conclusion, Matt, is that he was snubbed.
RUSH: Yeah.
MITCHELL-GREENSPAN: Carter clearly did want to go, but the White House said there was no room. You have to wonder why the White House couldn't have asked the Vatican to permit one more person in the Basilica -- particularly a Nobel laureate who actually worked on Third World issues with John Paul II -- and it seems as though the snub may have had something to do with Carter's strong criticism of the president at last summer's Democratic convention.
RUSH: Andrea, with all due respect, do you think that's all the criticism there was is at the Democratic convention? If that's all the criticism there was they would have looked the other way. This is a man who went out and carved his notch at the Nobel committee by attacking his own country, via attacking his own president and he did it for a year. Would somebody point to me where in the Third World Jimmy Carter had a made a difference for the positive? You see, it's typical liberalism. All you have to do is act like you care. You know, have a couple meetings. Have a couple meetings. The pope can count more on his little fingernail the progress he has made than Jimmy Carter in his entire life in these things. But somehow the truth escapes these people. It doesn't matter the results, only the intentions, and Carter's intentions were pure. I don't quite understand why the left liked him anyway. Jimmy Carter ran around with his Christianity on his sleeve. Here's a guy that saved the world from killer rabbits, remember that? It continued. Matt Lauer said, "But no one will say that publicly, that he was snubbed because of criticizing the president. They say it's a limit on seating, five people, the official delegation. Did someone asked representatives at the White House why they don't just ask the Vatican for one extra seat considering Carter was the only US president to welcome John Paul to the White House." MITCHELL-GREENSPAN: They seemed to be real dancing around that, frankly. What I've been told happened is that the White House called Carter and told him that this delegation was going and said that it was a very small group. He asked whether the other former presidents were going, and they said, no, they weren't. So he said, "Well, in that case, if you're very limited, then I won't go." Then of course Bill Clinton decided to go, and so did the president's father. So at that point the other former presidents were going -- because President Ford, errr, no longer travels at the age of 91 -- and Carter did want to go but was told there was no more room, so he politely stepped aside. The other person who is going, who is, of course, not the president and the first lady, and not a former president, is Condoleezza Rice.
RUSH: So Lauer says, "Well, that brings up the question it's difficult for someone who covers the State Department, though but I'm going to ask anyway. Why doesn't the secretary of state step aside and say, 'You take my spot, former President Carter?'"
MITCHELL-GREENSPAN: Well, I guess that is sort of a difficult question. It is a diplomatic trip. She is the nation's top diplomat, and of course the Vatican is a state, in fact, and she's a deeply religious woman, the daughter of a minister. But it would seem the diplomatic thing to do, to let her step down and have the former president go, but actually the easiest choice would be to simply ask the Vatican for another seat.
RUSH: Maybe they don't want one, Andrea! Maybe they don't want an additional seat. They had over 100 requests. She's got her sources, and she says that the White House called Carter, told him that the delegation was going, said it's a very small group and none of the former presidents are going, and Carter "politely" stepped aside. I have a different story. It comes from the American Spectator Online. "More details are emerging about the White House's decision...not to include former President Jimmy Carter in the official U.S. delegation to the funeral of Pope John Paul II. According to White House sources, Carter's representatives, apparently from the former president's Carter Center, reached out to the White House over the weekend and offered to lead the U.S. delegation should the President or other senior Bush administration officials not be able to attend. 'There was no misunderstanding. It wasn't Carter who made the actual call, but the message was pure Carter gumption,' says a White House source. 'We were getting lots of calls from lots of people looking to get on this delegation. I would say over the weekend alone we got more than 100 requests...' Carter went public on Tuesday with his dissatisfaction at not being invited, after the White House announced that the official delegation would be made up of," who it is.
"The U.S. Embassy at the Vatican has also been inundated with requests for assistance to attend the funeral on Friday. According to a State Department source, Carter's people have called there as well. Carter did meet with Pope John Paul II, and hosted the pontiff in Washington, D.C., in 1979. Carter claimed a kinship with the Catholic priest, though it isn't clear that the Vatican thought so highly of Carter's diplomatic skills, particularly after he left office. Carter was often on the wrong side of the political fence when it came to elections and policies in Latin America, where John Paul II devoted a great deal of time in the 1980s... 'The other thing that people forget is that Carter has treated President Bush very badly. He has openly criticized the President in a manner that President Clinton has not,' says a Bush administration source. 'He has traveled around the world bad-mouthing this president and this country's policies. I would be surprised if a single person gave a thought to including [Jimmy Carter] in the delegation.'" You reap what you sow here, folks. It's just that simple -- and the idea here that they called Carter first? He called! He's calling all over the place trying to get on a delegation. Well, his people at the Carter Center did.
Can you imagine getting a phone call from somebody, some underling at the Carter Center? (Only known Carter Center lackey impression.) "Hi, from the Ca'ter Center here. Is this the White House? Yeah, I'm calling for Jimmy Carter, and, uh, uh, and the pope's funeral coming up. We've been watching TV on this, and if -- if -- if -- if -- if -- if -- if, ah, if the president is not going, President Carter wants to lead the delegation of Amer'ca." So you get that call to the White House, hang up the phone and say, "What the hell is this? If the president isn't going, Jimmy Carter wants to lead the delegation?" Now, that's the story coming from innnnside sources at the White House as to how contact was initially made. I'm not the president, I'm not in the White House, but to me, when I heard that Jimmy Carter wanted to go and the White House said no, it's no mystery to me here. It really is no mystery. People have forgotten that whole year and a half leading up to the election -- and I have to say that, you know, Clinton was doing his part, too, run around, criticizing President Bush and his policies -- overseas. But there has since been a mending of those fences for whatever reasons. We can only speculate. Andrea did sound like an advocate there for Jimmy Carter rather than a reporter. I mean it sounded like Andrea was doing her best to get Jimmy Carter on the trip offering solutions to the problem here, the gridlock that has occurred in whether or not Carter can be on the official delegation. I think the Vatican is swamped. You know, they've got the wait, the wait in line to see the pope's body is 15 to 24 hours. The hotels over there have locked their doors. The city is hard expressed to handle who's there. They've asked people if you're not in Rome, don't go, you aren't going to get here to see the pope anyway, there's even stories about how people standing in line, media stories, have gone without food and water for as long as 12 hours. Well, I haven't reports of euphoria, but, no, suffering, 12 and more hours without food and water, and the people in line are suffering in the media.
why should he take Clinton?
And I wish W would dump Clinton as well.
I don't understand it either; for whatever the reason, Bush is being WAY TOO NICE to the Bent One.
it wouldn't bother me so much if Hillary weren't running for the presidency in 2008. any benefits from being seen in a positive light at these "events" like the tsunami and the Pope's funeral accrue to her benefit.
Actually, I think that Bush letting BJ do these things and EXCLUDING the Hildabeast makes her look "unpresidential."
I personally wouldn't take Jimmuh-Jane Cahtuh anywhere; behind the woodshed is the one exception.
There is an unwritten protocol amongst ex-prez's. You don't bad mouth your predecessor. Carter has not only bad mouthed every prez since he was in office, he has bad mouthed the United States at every turn. As much as I can't stand slick willy, I think he has at least some semblance of love for our country, which that f***in peanut farmer does not.
If he MUST take Bubbaloo, make him sit in the back and get out at the back........(shoot! Dubya ain't gonna do that, but I sure would). I wouldn't take Carter to a dog fight. That man should stay in the peanut field, ashamed to show his face for the utterly awful President he was. He's a loser in every since of the word!
clinton is just a little more savvy than a peanut
farmer..ha
Carter had 2 popes die while he was in office and he attended neither of their funerals. Tough toenails, I say.
Problem is that he, and many others, actually see him as a great President and Statesman.
These people are delusional.
Give him a hammer and nails and a 2x4 and let him bang away, 'bout all he's good for.
You are right, pissant. He went out and trashed our country and elected government. He crossed the line many times. What a piece of trash.
It's hard for a Carter weed to grow, in the shade of a Reagan shadow.
Eff Carter- freegin peanut farmer!
Did anyone- ANYONE in the media bring up the point that while carter was prsiding America down the tubes two- that's TWO- Pope's dies (Pope Paul VI and JPI) died and Carter never went to their funerals'
Good for President Bush. Carter doesn't deserve to go ANYWHERE to represent the USA. He sure as heck doesn't represent me and never has. Go Dubya!!!
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