Wasn't Jimmy Carter hated by the left at one point too?

[uponit7771]

Jus sayin, other than the overt FUD here (No seriously, someone indicated Obama bailed out the banks in a thread today,....one of first post) anyone else get the feeling that some of it is an OLD planned outside strategy?!

FUD - http://www.cavcomp.demon.co.uk/halloween/fuddef.html

Back in the days where there were no internet tubes what did they have?

Basically a relative few detractors ... don't know how they implemented the strategy but I'm sure it involved FUD then too

Look at Clinton, why in the WORLD would Al Gore run away from that economic record?! Not only that Clinton was relatively well liked!!

Historically these tactics seem viable; introduce some stupid into the base ranks and laud the imperfect of a person to make them look like they're unworkable...


Do you see this going on at a low level today?

tia for your input

[cthulu2016]

1. It doesn't take a conspiracy for people to disagree with you

[uponit7771]

11. I don't think it's a conspiracy, I think it's overt at this point... Obama bailed out the banks is a

...winger meme from like... 5 years ago and crap

[MannyGoldstein]

85. Obama *didn't* bail out the banks... And isn't continuing to bail them out today

with almost zero interest rates with zero obligation to help the 99%?

Do tell.

[Jesus Malverde]

2. No..nt

[uponit7771]

6. Why so many votes for RayGun by those on the left? regards

[cthulu2016]

10. Why would we think there were a lot of Reagan votes on the left?

Reagan Democrats were not anybody's idea of the left. They were the center.

A few lefties might have voted for Anderson in 1980, but not Reagan.

And some Teddy Kennedy pouters probably stayed home in Novemeber... but doubt they voted for Reagan in appreciable numbers.

[datasuspect]

33. reagan democrats were also holdovers from the old south

democrats who were largely racist. the reagan movement was a racist movement.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. What? Reagan got significant votes from the left!

In which universe did that happen?

[uponit7771]

17. RayGun Democrats? Even if they weren't far left they were center and dems had an ear

[Warren Stupidity]

19. You've misplaced your own narrative.

Reagan democrats were from the right wing of the Democratic Party. I suggest this is not a good example to bring up while attempting to disparage the left.

[uponit7771]

21. So ALL raygun dems were conservative?! tia

[Warren Stupidity]

25. "Why so many votes for RayGun by those on the left?" - your argument.

You are not engaged in honest discourse. I'm done.

[uponit7771]

24. also, my point is I don't think the vast amount of these people are REALLY from the left...they are

...FUD

[adirondacker]

63. My first thought as well. I'm willing to wager .01% of the left voted for reagan. nt

[Jesus Malverde]

18. I think the swing voters might have been southern D's.

The so called dixie-crats.

Peace

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

38. The Reagan Democrats were also from the Midwest and some

parts of the industrial belt. Chris Matthews talks about this quite a lot.

Reagan did well because he used the "Southern Strategy" to pit working class whites against working class blacks. Reagan won 49 states because that racist strategy worked well for him and the Republicans. It has been working well for the Republican Party ever since.

I don't think it was just the Southern Democrats or Dixiecrats that went to Reagan; I think it was a much larger contingent of both white Democrats and Republicans and from all over the country.

[burnodo]

59. any source or evidence for that statement?

You think left-leaning Dems voted for Reagan?

[Egalitarian Thug]

104. No votes from the left for reagan, just many nominal Democrats. n/t

[LordGlenconner]

3. So was LBJ

Our 1960s campus activist predecessors would be horrified at how he is worshiped by some here. He was absolutely despised by the left then, or so I have read and seen on the tubes.

[uponit7771]

8. It just sounds too...orchestrated...I mean, Clinton?! Gore ran from Clinton?! Even teh GOP likes

...him today and it's not because of his OVERALL policies

[MicaelS]

16. He was hated, and because of the Vietnam War.

I remember the protests, especially after he escalated the war. I still remember the anti-war movement chant:

"Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?"

It was actually made into a song.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

40. LBJ was despised because he escalated the Vietnam War

vis-a-vis the Gulf of Tonkin. That's why I always get a kick out of the DUers and the liberal bloggo-experts who want Obama to be more like LBJ. Had Obama done what LBJ did, we wouldn't hear the end of it. Also, LBJ was a despicable person, too. For all the great things he did to advance civil rights, he was mean-spirited and made a lot of enemies in Congress. Nevertheless, many on the Left want Obama to be the same kind of politician. They think he should go and step in the face of Mitch McConnell or push him against the wall and make demands. Whatever. They live in a fantasy world if they truly believe that President Barack Hussein Obama could get away with getting in somebody's face and physically confronting them in some way.

Fairies in Wonderland, the way these people think.

[liberal N proud]

4. How do you think we ended up with Raygun?

[Capt. Obvious]

20. Because of Nader

[tsuki]

91. Because he told the truth. He told us the party was over after

the oil embargo. He said we all needed to live a sustainable lifestyle, look for alternative sources of energy and he turned up the thermostats in public builds. The Parent told us the party was over, and the kids said NO WAY. And he was mocked and ridiculed by the Washington Establishment.

You know, he really wasn't one of the good old boys, he was just a peanut farmer. An outsider. Jeer and sneer.

[G_j]

5. not really

I do remember a very well orchestrated October surprise though.

[ecstatic]

7. "Do you see this going on at a low level today?"

Low level?! Ha!

[Warren Stupidity]

9. That randroid racist Ted Kennedy for example?

Many of us had serious issues with Carter's policies on economic issues.

[uponit7771]

14. ...but to denegrate him to the point of electing raygun?! I mean, by NOW we have to figure out

...it was congress no?

If the left elected of more left congress what could a left elected president do or say?

Ma

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

43. As much as I loved Teddy and miss him dearly, I do

think the Democratic Party suffered from the division. President Carter had his problems on economic issues and even some social issues. However, if people would just use their brains and not act on their emotions we could have possibly avoided the era of Ronald Reagan. Things haven't been the same for this country since. Race relations have gotten far worse because Republicans ran on exploiting the racist tendencies of many whites, particularly in the south and Midwest. Republicans excelled at instilling fear among the masses and with the brilliant use of words and imagery. The propaganda persists to this day; the hatred of government, the disdain for people who are different; the constant efforts to divide people...that's what the Republican Party stands for. That's what they do.

Yes, Carter had problems, but consider how horrible Reagan economics has been for this country...for decades.

I see the same with Obama. Yes, he won a second term, but this man has been denegrated so much to the extent that I fear that Republicans will continue to gain power throughout the entire system. They already have complete control of 30 of 50 state legislatures and governorships, many lower courts, the Supreme Court, the House (and probably the Senate), and perhaps the presidency as well if we Democrats don't wake up.

Our focus should be on electing as many progressive Democrats to lower level offices and getting as many into the halls of Congress as we can. We probably won't overtake the House, but we can work to reduce Republican numbers. We cannot, however, afford to lose the Senate. And we damn sure cannot afford to those the executive in 2016.

I have my problems with Obama and the Democrats in general. But this country is regressing. It's regressing on civil rights, on reproductive rights, on union rights, on a host of other advancements we've made during the course of 60 plus years. We can't go back any further simply because we're angry at Obama. We must forge ahead!!

[Bluenorthwest]

88. They don't have 30 they have 24. It's roughly half. And I question the use of the word 'already'

as if higher numbers were a foregone conclusion. Democrats have the Senate majority, not probably we have it. Sometimes I wonder about the nature of cynicism when it has to pad the facts to keep afloat.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

96. Thanks for the correction. I wish I had the optimism that you have, though. I don't have

that much faith in the average American voter.

[Scurrilous]

12. There's a small segment of the population that's never happy about anything...

...and prone to constant and unending complaining.

I see this routinely among family, friends, acquaintances, etc.

Why should politics (and discussion forums) be immune from this dynamic.

[uponit7771]

15. ...unnnn, we're all malcontents to some degree. This is Carter, Clinton and no Obama focused ...

... that is not contructive.

We look back up again and see another RayGun how in the world is one supposed to feel after that?

[nolabels]

27. It's a wink and a nod

The kind of people who put Raygun in office learned a compliant congress is necessary. Therefore an Obama who would only do on tenth of what Raygun would want to do would be twice as affective. They have us on a spreadsheet and are getting the most from it.

[Fumesucker]

22. God yes, I see them here on DU every day

Complaining and whining about anyone who dares to voice a criticism of any Obama policy.

[Jamaal510]

56. Small, and noisy. eom

[Democrats_win]

23. He started deregulation. Victim of "malaise"

He deregulated the trucking industry so the teamsters voted for Reagan. Maybe he wasn't hated so much by the left but they weren't really happy.

The real story of Carter is the general "malaise" of the 70s. It was very much like today but it seems that Americans today are much more savvy about what's going on: Republican sabotage of America. We returned Obama to the White House and didn't buy the garbage of the "modern" Reagan: Romney.

In the 70s it was Nixon destroying the economy and Nixon's extreme corruption. Today we have Bush destroying the world's economy and the incredible evil associated with his "presidency." Yet the malaise is creeping into America again and the GOP traitors in congress and in the state governments are hoping that it will lead to more GOPmonsters in charge. Beware of the Malaise! (Americans should put malaise on our sandwiches and eat it for lunch. Learn to love the malaise or die with another GOP president.) Vote Democrat or DIE! You know it's true. Look at how the GOP has increase poverty in America while giving multi-billionaires a free lunch. Let's put malaise on their food!

[uponit7771]

26. I prolly should change the OP title, my point being is I don't think the vast amount of them were...

....the left but they were people acting like the left and lauding the mans imperfections over his accomplishments as if he couldn't be worked with.

Didn't know about the deregulation part though...yeah....that would've ticked me off to.

[truebluegreen]

31. Also deregulated the airlines,

and then there was that little incident in Iran--emphasized, manipulated and exploited to the max by Raygun.

[WI_DEM]

28. Of course that is why Kennedy challenged him because he wasn't liberal enough.

[spin]

29. Jimmy wasn't real popular period. ..

I remember those days well. I voted for Carter as I wished to see our nation have a health care plan. Carter had a plan that might have passed in Congress but believe it or not Ted Kennedy opposed it.

Jimmy Carter: We Could Have Had Health Care Reform in 1970sBy CHRISTINE DELARGY / CBS NEWS/ December 1, 2010, 4:52 PM

Former Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) may be remembered as a champion of health care reform, but not by Jimmy Carter.

In an interview with CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante, the former president said he doesn't have "any doubt" that Kennedy stood in the way of his administration's plans for national health care insurance.

***snip***

"At the last minute, the same week we were going to reveal what we have finally come forward to present to the entire Congress and the public, Senator Kennedy decided not to support it," he said.

***snip***

At the time, Kennedy was campaigning against Mr. Carter for the 1980 Democratic nomination for president.

"He considered himself the inevitable next president and maybe he wanted to have his, I'd say, gold plated comprehensive plan put into effect under his own administration," said Carter. "Or maybe he didn't want me to have a major legislative success."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20024330-503544/jimmy-carter-we-could-have-had-health-care-reform-in-1970s/

I also remember sitting in long lines waiting to get to a pump at the gas station. I remember 13.5% inflation in 1980. Home mortgage interest rates were 16% or higher.

I don't necessary fault Carter but he did get a lot of blame for the state of the economy. It seemed that everything that could go wrong went wrong during his administration. Carter is a very intelligent and compassionate l man and but he definitely had a run of bad luck while he was in office.

[Go Vols]

44. I remember all of that,and the gas lines got old fast

but I remember this too.

1976 Carter campaigns on the decriminalization of marijuana.

Noting that several states had already decriminalized marijuana, Jimmy Carter campaigns in favor of relinquishing federal criminal penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. Carter's drug czar, Dr. Peter Bourne does not view marijuana, or even cocaine, as a serious public health threat.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/

[spin]

67. As I said Jimmy Carter had unbelievably bad luck while President but ...

was a very intelligent individual.

We lost our War on Drugs decades ago. Carter was right to favor dropping the criminal penalties for the possession of small quantities of marijuana.

[HoneychildMooseMoss]

89. I remember going to Boston in 1978

and people were smoking dope right out in the open, with cops walking by and it was no big deal.

[hfojvt]

45. except the economy was worse in Reagan's first term than it was in Carter's

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/142

and Reagan still got handily re-elected.

I think a huge part of Reagan's appeal and Carter's loss was not the economy - it was greed. Reagan promised big tax cuts when he ran. Many people above the median income, who perhaps normally voted for Democrats could see $$$$ when they looked at Reagan. Not a huge amount, perhaps, but 3 or 4 percent. Go look at the election of 1976 and take 3% from Carter and give it to Ford and you basically have the Reagan landslides of 1980. Here's a list of states decided in Reagan's favor by less than 8%

Alabama - 1.3% (9) *
Arkansas - 6.1% (6) *
Delaware - 2.33% (3) *
Illinois - 7.93% (26)
Kentucky - 1.46% (9) *
Louisiana - 5.45% (10) *
Maine - 3.36% (4)
Massachusetts - .15% (14) *
Michigan - 6.49% (21)
Mississippi - 1.32% (7) *
Missouri - 6.81% (12) *
New York - 2.67% (41) *
North Carolina - 2.12% (13) *
Pennsylvania - 7.11% (27) *
South Carolina - 1.53% (8) *
Tennessee - .29% (10) *
Vermont - 5.96% (3)
Wisconsin - 4.72% (11) *

With the asterisks showing the states he won in 1976.

There are enough electoral votes in that list to swing the election to Carter with just a four point swing (or less in many states) from Reagan to Carter.

There were perhaps other factors too besides the $$$$. Carter won Texas in 1976 but lost big in 1980 perhaps because Bush was on the Reagan ticket. Carter lost Massachusetts in 1980 probably because some in that state were still mad about the primary battle with their local boy Ted Kennedy. From where I sat as well, it seemed like the media spent four years basically roasting Carter. But I also did not like him because I was from South Dakota, so that may color my perceptions. (Upon being elected, Carter's first budget slashed a whole bunch of water projects in SD and somebody in his administration was reported to have said "Who cares about South Dakota anyway, nobody lives there. Carter lost SD by 4,437 votes in 1976 and by 94,488 votes in 1980. 90,000 voters in SD took the opportunity to say "same to you" back to the middle finger that the Carter administration gave to SD.)

[spin]

70. Let's not forget Carter's bad luck. ...

He not only had to beat Reagan but the Democratic Party was divided and there was a third candidate, John Anderson.

Carter later wrote that the most intense and mounting opposition to his policies came from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, which he attributed to Ted Kennedy's ambition to replace him as president.[51] Kennedy surprised his supporters by running a weak campaign, and Carter won most of the primaries and secured renomination. However, Kennedy had mobilized the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, which gave Carter weak support in the fall election.[52]...emphasis added

Carter's campaign for re-election in 1980 was one of the most difficult, and least successful, in history. He faced strong challenges from the right (Republican Ronald Reagan), the center (independent John B. Anderson), and the left (Democrat Ted Kennedy). He had to run against his own "stagflation"-ridden economy, while the hostage crisis in Iran dominated the news every week. He alienated liberal college students, who were expected to be his base, by re-instating registration for the military draft. His campaign manager and former appointments secretary, Timothy Kraft, stepped down some five weeks before the general election amid what turned out to have been an uncorroborated allegation of cocaine use.[53] Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan in a landslide, and the Senate went Republican for the first time since 1952.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter#1980_presidential_campaign

[roamer65]

72. Jimmy Carter got stuck with LBJ and Richard Nixon's inflation problem.

Fact is when we broke the link to gold in August 1971, the die was cast for dollar devaluation. It had been pent up from the previous years of money creation to fund the Vietnam War along with the "Great Society". The fact is we couldn't have "guns and butter" without paying for it in inflation for years to come. You fund wars one of two ways, either through higher taxes or inflation. We chose the latter.

Jimmy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[spin]

81. I totally agree. (n/t)

[dennis4868]

30. Every single Dem President

has been hated by the left because they don't produce change in 10 minutes after taking the oath.

[Daemonaquila]

39. That's a serious exaggeration.

However, when the left is frustrated with Dem POTUSes' lack of change, it's understandable. Drooling morons like Shrub come into power and decimate the country in a matter of months. It's not unreasonable to expect that those policies (though not necessarily the damaging effects, which will linger for years) can be undone in a reasonable amount of time. If 4, or even 8, years after that POTUS was elected, if we aren't in a better position than when he started there's something wrong.

[dennis4868]

47. right..

Obama should ignore the obstructionist congress and pass laws by himself...haha!

[Le Taz Hot]

42. That is an unequivocable lie.

And with that, you have NO credibility.

[dennis4868]

48. but its true...

sorry but you cant handle the truth. Name one dem president who did not get hell from the left for not acting fast enough or change did not come quick enough?

[cascadiance]

32. Back when he was "born again" and attracted Michele Bachmann to work on his campaign...

I think that along with a few other things lead me to vote for John Anderson then as the last time I voted for someone who was at one time a Republican...

Looking back at what he's done now, I wish I'd voted for Carter instead... He certainly as an ex-president has far more ethics than just about every other ex-president of our age.

[WI_DEM]

34. He's still 'born again' his religious views haven't changed.

[cascadiance]

37. I know he's always been a good Christian. Hard to say though about other "born agains"...

... And at the time, he was trying to appeal to these other "born agains" that weren't necessarily Christian in their views and more interested in just having a Christian "label". You know of the crowd we're speaking of.

Yes, Carter has always had the ethics that later when we've come to know the man a lot more of a true follower of Christian beliefs, and has earned the admiration from people like me for that.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

35. He sure was. I work for the federal government and my

older colleagues who have been around since the early 70s would tell me how even George Romney (I'm at HUD) was more liberal than Carter was. Carter was all for this faith-based initiative thing and moral majority. Believe it or not, as a Southern Baptist, he wasn't all that friendly to families headed by single mothers. He thought they all needed church. He didn't really disagree with Republicans in terms of cutting back social programs to the extent that he believed in hyping up charities and faith-based organizations. He did a little better on homelessness programs, but not that much better than his predecessor or Jack Kemp.

Carter's liberalism, in short, is fairly recent. It's only been within the last 5 to 10 years that he has truly evolved on some social issues, like reproductive rights, for instance. He is still fiercely religious, but he finally broke away from the Southern Baptists on a host of issues to his credit.

(Note: I grew up in Georgia and Carter was my governor as a child and later the president.)

[X_Digger]

53. +1 from another southerner

It's a complex issue and not as black and white as those today would have you believe.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

97. Yep. That's right. It's easy to sit on the sideline and express disappointment on a message forum...

...on the internet. It's another thing altogether to GOVERN and deal with very complex issues. It's not as simple as many on this forum seem to think it is. Living in the D.C. area and working for the federal government has given me a perspective on how things actually work here. It's not cut and dry, and it's definitely not black and white, as you say.

[X_Digger]

99. I imagine that's an eye-opening experience (working inside the beltway w/ politicians). n/t

[Daemonaquila]

36. So what?

Carter screwed some things up, and Obama is screwing some things up. Carter has been a much better ex-president than a POTUS. You don't need any organized strategy for the left to criticize the policy gaffes of a Dem president. You just need a Dem president who seems to forget he's a DEM president sometimes.

[uponit7771]

64. Raygun = so what? I don't think so, tearing down the president and criticizing is 2 different things

[Le Taz Hot]

41. Actually, no.

The left never abandoned Carter. The DEMOCRATIC PARTY abandoned him and that was because the Republicans began their "librul is evil" crap, which the MSM of course picked up and the DEMOCRATIC PARTY, instead of meeting it head on, turned their tale and ran and allowed the Republicans to dominate the narrative. They have YET to get it back.

Clinton was successful (impeachment notwithstanding) because he was the first to cozy the Democratic party up to the 1%, basically selling out the rest of us.

Gore ran away from Clinton because that's what the DEMOCRATIC PARTY STRATEGISTS told him to do because they believed the Lewinsky scandal was relevant to anyone but outside the beltway bobbleheads. They were wrong. Again.

And these same DEMOCRATIC PARTY STRATEGITSTS are the one advising Obama to "compromise" (read: sell out) to the Republican. And it's these same Democratic Party strategists who are pushing the "Hillary is inevitable, resistance is futile" meme.

[HiPointDem]

46. no.

[TBF]

49. I think liberals were pretty loyal to him --

Socialists/Communists will have critique. To wit -

A Brief History of the Democrats:

Jimmy Carter was a president who claimed that human rights was "the soul of our foreign policy" despite making an agreement with Baby Doc Duvalier to not accept the asylum claims of Haitian refugees. His duplicity, however, was not limited to our hemisphere; Carter also earned his Nobel Prize in Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, Jimmy Carter and his national security aide, Zbigniew Brzezinski made an "untiring effort to find peaceful solutions" by initiating a joint U.S.-Thai operation in 1979 known as Task Force 80 which, for ten years, propped up the notorious Khmer Rouge under the all-purpose banner of anti-Communism. "Small wonder present U.S.-originating stories about the Khmer Rouge end abruptly in 1979," says journalist Alexander Cockburn. Interestingly, just two years earlier, Carter displayed his "respect for human rights" when he explained how the US owed no debt to Vietnam. He justified this belief because the "destruction was mutual."

"Candidates say "vote for me, and I will do so-and-so for you." Few believe them, but more important, a different process is unthinkable: that in their unions, political clubs, and other popular organizations people should formulate their own plans and projects and put forth candidates to represent them. Even more unthinkable is that the general public should have a voice in decisions about investment, production, the character of work, and other basic aspects of life. The minimal conditions for functioning democracy have been removed far beyond thought, a remarkable victory of the doctrinal system."

-- Noam Chomsky

[bluestate10]

94. Bullshit. The far Left split and weakened the party. Sometimes is is better to work

from the fringe to exact change. The far Left can't seem to get that correlation.

[TBF]

102. To a supporter of two parties that makes sense -

some of us don't support any of that bullshit at all. We don't want capitalism - period. And we certainly don't want your "take this candidate or this other one that is pretty much just like him" crap.

The far left rejects your analysis because it only benefits the owners.

[1-Old-Man]

50. I have always been part of the "left" and there has never been a moment when I hated him.

One of the finest men this nation has ever produced if you ask me, and I despise religion for the most part.

[Drunken Irishman]

51. Carter was despised by Tip O'Neill and Ted Kennedy - liberal heroes...

HE consistently clashed with the more liberal senate because they wanted him to be more aggressive on their agenda and he felt they worked for him. It was a very contentious relationship that strained his ability to get things done. Just look at healthcare reform. Carter had larger majorities in the House and Senate than Obama did in 2010 and he couldn't get it done. Why? Because Carter wanted to compromise from the right - he felt the bill would drive up the deficit. Kennedy and Carter could never come to an agreement, the deal died, Kennedy blamed Carter, Carter blamed Kennedy and that led to their rivalry ... which subsequently laid the foundation for a Kennedy primary challenge in 1980.

[Fumesucker]

95. Yep, if we could just get rid of the left this country would be a paradise n/t

[RebelOne]

52. The only time I hated Jimmy Carter was during the Muriel boat lift

and allowed all the criminals from Castro's prisons to come to Miami. I lived there at the time and the crime rate jumped almost overnight.

[snot]

54. I think you're mixed up.

Carter was hated by the corporate media, which still passed as "liberal"; but to me, that's when it became obvious that they'd been co-opted.

Neither I nor any true liberal I know ever hated Carter.

[Zorra]

55. Yep. Conservatives hated Carter. Not the left.

"Neither I nor any true liberal I know ever hated Carter."

Same here.

[Rex]

58. Funny how people have selective memories on this subject.

I guess they forget we have conservative dems in the party. I wonder why they never focus on THAT side of the party? It is always the LEFT...never a word about moderate dems.

[Zorra]

68. I know what you mean. nt

[Rex]

57. I don't know about the Left, but some conservative dems

hated him. Kinda like in the OTHER direction.

[Zen Democrat]

60. The left went for Ted Kennedy in 1980 and the party never united before the election.

A large chunk of Kennedy supporters sat home or voted for John Anderson. Reagan won by default ... after dealing with the Ayatollah for Iran to keep the hostages 'til after the election and a Reagan Administration would sell arms to them.

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/03/07/october-surprise-and-argo/

[uponit7771]

66. thx, sounds like Kennedy didn't want to help Carter at all

[Deep13]

77. He didn't, but there was little chance the country would reelect Carter anyway.

Part of Ted Kennedy's motivation was to save an already lost election.

[KharmaTrain]

61. If The Inner Toobs Had Existed...

...during FDR's administration I'm sure there'd be a ton of ugly threads about him try to pack the Supreme Court or interring Japanese Americans or all matters of economic manipulation and running a secret war. Truman would have been lambasted for the Korean War...surely we have no business building empire. JFK? Sending military advisers to Vietnam, not clamping down fast enough on the civil rights abuses in the south and LBJ would have been skewered (as he was in the free press) for escalating Vietnam.

The problem with winning is you can't be all things to all people and eventually someone is going to feel they're being slighted and out come the knives. There's also a big disconnect between being in campaign and governing modes...promises aren't always fulfilled fast enough or at all and again out come the knives. When he tries to negotiate and govern on what he things is the best interests of the entire country this President is sure to get blasted from all sides for either being too accommodating or being a bully. What a thankless, shitty job...

Cheers...

[greatauntoftriplets]

79. Ding, ding, ding -- we have a winner!

You summed it up nicely.

[KharmaTrain]

98. Uh Oh...

...you found me.

Miss not doing library duty with ya. Hope you're keeping warm!

[greatauntoftriplets]

100. I'm going through a bad case of MIRT withdrawal.

It's nice not to have to use the AC, but I'd at least like the windows open since it is -- allegedly -- summer.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

62. I was sometimes dismayed by Carter, but I never hated him

I thought he was too willing to listen to the Cold Warriors with his sending "advisers" into El Salvador, initiating the 1980 Olympic boycott, and proposing the MX missile program, but as I remember it (and a PBS American Experience documentary confirmed), Carter was the new kid in town, with no federal experience, and since he didn't kiss the right Congressional butts (Tip O'Neill and Ted Kennedy, in particular), the Congressional and Senatorial old guard had it in for him.

Carter was blamed for high inflation rates (the result of the Arab Oil Embargo) and high interest rates (the result of Federal Reserve policies that he had no control over). Also, I am convinced that the October surprise played a huge role. It can't be coincidental that the hostages in Iran were released on the day of Reagan's inauguration.

I was in grad school at the time of the 1980 election, and I recall sitting on the living room floor of a third floor living space with three housemates and a visiting friend and watching the election returns.

When the networks called it for Reagan, we all wailed. "President Ronald Reagan," my friend said. "That's so wrong."

We said at the time that the country had gone crazy. If, during the 1980s, I had known what I know now, I would have taken the job offers I had in Norway and Japan or followed my Australian gentleman friend to his home country.

It was the beginning of the end of the America I grew up in.

[adirondacker]

65. Thanks for the informative post. I hadn't realized the friction between Carter and old guard. nt

[roamer65]

73. Carter did have some say over interest rates.

He appointed G William Miller to head the Federal Reserve in 1978 to replace the "dovish" Arthur Burns. When G William Miller turned out to be too "dovish", they moved him to Treasury to replace W Michael Blumenthal.
Then Carter committed re-election suicide by putting that bastard Paul Volcker in at the Fed. That is the one move by Carter I will always disagree with, as Volcker literally destroyed our manufacturing base with his insane interest rate policies.

[uponit7771]

74. Yeap, seems common; Carter was undercut by other dems wanting power too

[Douglas Carpenter]

69. The official Democratic Party is simply so far removed from a major portion of the rank and file.

Most registered Democrats believe in Keynesian economics not neoliberal economics A major portion of the registered Democrats want to expand the safety net rather than "moderately" cut it back. . A major portion of the registered Democrats do want to expand the safety net and reduce military spending and enact real publicly backed universal healthcare. A major portion of registered Democrats do want to see America move more toward the Canadian or European type social-democratic model. NO Democratic nominee has even come close to embracing such positions since 1972.

The official Democratic Party leaves somewhere around half or more of the rank and file without the option of voting for what they believe in. Thus forcing somewhere around half or more of the rank and file to support candidates who who support polices completely out of step with a major portion of the rank and file.

[BlueToTheBone]

71. FUD?

F*cked UP Detractor?

[uponit7771]

75. Sounds good to me, Gore running away from Clinton seems like he listened to the detractors

[BlueToTheBone]

83. Yes, his arrogance cost us the world.

But I still like him. I can't understand what stick was up his a**.

[TheKentuckian]

92. No, he listened to the Turd Way. Come on now, this was just a little while back.

Gore ran away from Bill Clinton the person, not so much the policies at all. In fact he embraced the Turd Way policies and was edging toward Bush's positions, "I agree with Governor Bush" was said way too many times when too many for comfort were of the mind that both major parties were too close.

So, Gore ran the ultimate in bad campaigns he ran away from the personal popularity of Clinton and left a very effective campaigner as persona non grata but still ran Turd Way even beyond Bubba to the point of selecting fucking sleazy ass Lieberman as his running mate.

So, if he listened to detractors it was the beltway insider detractors that will always claim Democrats just aren't conservative enough because their agenda is right wing corporate and they think they are so wicked smart but are consistently caught fighting the last battle. In this case the "wise men" decided that we needed to go all Moral Majority in the wake of Clinton's sexual scandals that only TeaPubliKlans and a few of our own nannies cared about.
Hence Gore was all about being Mr. Straight and Narrow Super Husband who loves his wife and didn't want Clinton tarnishing his straight arrow shtick.

[Deep13]

76. Yes, he was significantly more conservative than LBJ on social spending.

Would that Kennedy had carried the day in the 1980 primary.

[elleng]

78. Don't recall 'hate,'

but Teddy Kennedy wasn't exactly a fan, and 'kind of' caused problems for Dems in those days, as in Raygun.

[Tikki]

80. What I remember..Mr.Carter was considered by nearly all as a Moral Man, but that isn't what...

nearly all Americans wanted.

raygun told them that greed is as good as god. That is what nearly all Americans wanted.


Tikki
ps raygun was a king sized ass.

[roamer65]

82. Yup, you have it right. Carter scolded us for our materialistic ways.

Our reaction was to have a temper tantrum and throw him out of office. Typical American spoiled brat response. I remember his July 1979 speech where he let us have it. I remember thinking, "Damn, this dude is way too honest to be a politician."

How dare he criticize our materialistic, self-centered lifestyle.

[Historic NY]

84. I find it amusing that people don't know...........

hey your either a democrat that knows, or one that plays lip service. If you didn't live or vote then perhaps some simple research would work...

[MannyGoldstein]

86. Yeah, remember when Democrats were so Democratic that Carter seemed like a rightist?

Holy crap, by today's standards Carter would be baby-eating commie!

[roamer65]

87. I recommend everyone view President Carter's July 15, 1979 speech.

It's on YouTube.

Boy, that speech rings even truer now than it did in July 1979. He nailed it "right on the head".

Too bad we didn't listen.

[Bluenorthwest]

90. The Democratic Party Beltway brats hated Carter primaried him and when he won they all

lead the 'Moderates' and 'Centrist' Democrats off to the Republican Reagan Orgy where they as greedy racist fucks wanting to deny reality to pump up short term gains were much happier. Those same Conservafucks have been seeping slowly back over to our Party and trying to move it back to the racist right wing times of Ronnie, whom they worship as 'transformative' and whose open homophobia they miss like they miss their dear old mamas.

[struggle4progress]

93. The Carter era, as I recall it, was marked by enormous political apathy

[Marrah_G]

101. Translation: The left are just haters who never loved Obama

That was the point of your thread right? Hurl some insults at the evil lefties who just don't love the President enough and then sit back and alert on anyone who takes your bait.

Instead I'm just putting your butt on ignore with the rest of them.

[Recursion]

103. He was primaried by Ted Kennedy for being a deregulator

Remember: the good is always the enemy of the perfect here on the left

[Egalitarian Thug]

105. When disingenuous callouts go bad...