There are reasons Carter lost twice

A recent trip to UNR by a visitor brought tears to my eyes—almost literally. To-wit, former President Jimmy Carter who came to do a bit of grandstanding for son Jack’s bid to defeat big, bad Republican Sen. John Ensign.

The event was sponsored by the Young Democrats, a hapless little bunch who apparently have been brainwashed by some revisionist UNR history professors. Otherwise, they would have realized that no Democrat in 20 years has wanted anything to do with Carter since he cost them the White House. (The fact that they didn’t let him hang with Michael Moore until the 2000 election only shows how desperate they were back in 2000.) Anyway, here are a couple of choice quotes that made it into the Reno Gazette-Journal here in the Biggest Little City.

“University of Nevada, Reno freshman Sophia Raphael plans to vote for U.S. Sen. John Ensign in the Nov. 7 election. '[Meeting Carter is] a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me,’ said Raphael, 18, of Reno. ‘Anytime I can see a former president, I will, regardless of party affiliation.’ “

“ ‘I’d rather be informed, so we don’t make the same mistakes because some day we will be in charge,’ said Democrat Laura Piette, 18, a freshman who plans to vote for Jack Carter on Nov. 7.”

Out of the mouths of babes.

As I reach for the nausea bag, let’s recall the happy four years the country endured while Carter and Company was running the show.

For starters, the man almost singlehandedly lost the Cold War. He tried to make nice with the former Soviet Union with his SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) and, just for good measure, he once kissed Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev on the cheek. He also tried to tell the rest of us knuckle-dragging Neanderthals on the right that we could negotiate with the former Soviet Union—right up until they invaded Afghanistan. Oh yes, and his response after that? Boycotting the 1980 Olympic Games. Because clearly talk and boycotts are preferable to any action. Or something.

Also on his watch, the country had the highest inflation rate since the Civil War. As a result, the dollar lost more than half its buying power. Carter’s response—like most Democrat’s thinking in such cases—was government price controls and rationing. Which, if anything, make prices rise even further.

In 1979, he pulled his support from the Shah of Iran. Then he sat back and watched that country fall to a fundamentalist Islamic uprising—the same loony toons who eventually took out our embassy in Tehran. And instead of being the leader of the free world and demanding the return of the embassy and the release of the staff (or else), Carter sat on his thumbs for 444 days doing what Democrats do best—pleading publicly for mercy. His idea of “action” was to stage exactly one military response months later. When that failed, he “took responsibility” for its failure and went back to public whining.

As a result, the emboldened dictatorship of the Ayatollah Khomeini introduced some 20,000 pro-Western Iranians to a firing squad. Oh yes, and less than a year later, Iran and Iraq would be at war. (If Democrat’s assertions that President Bush’s bold leadership is only raising more terrorists, then it truthfully can be said that Carter was the obstetrician who gave birth to the Islamic Fundamentalist movement in the first place by his lack of it.)

Although, just so you know that age doesn’t necessarily impart wisdom, here was one Pat Ball, age 73. “I adore him, I love him, he’s my favorite president,” Ball said.

Can anyone explain why?