Althouse: "I have a crush on Jimmy Carter. I admit it. He has an extraordinary mind. He's an exceptional human being."

January 31, 2009

"I have a crush on Jimmy Carter. I admit it. He has an extraordinary mind. He's an exceptional human being."

"And he writes poetry, for crying out loud. He's all good things."

47 comments:

Skipper50 said...: "Extraordinary mind"? True.; 1/31/09, 11:24 AM
George M. Spencer said...: Why We Get Cheaper Tires from Liberia

The miles of rubber trees bend from the sea.
Each of the million acres cost a dime
nearly two Liberian lives ago.
Sweat, too,
has poured like sap from trees, almost free,
from men coerced to work by poverty
and leaders who had sold the people's fields.

The plantation kiln's pink bricks
made the homes of overseeing whites
a corporation's pride
Walls of the same polite bricks divide
the worker's tiny stalls
like cells in honeycombs;
no windows breach the walls,
no pipes or wires bring drink or light
to natives who can never claim this place as theirs
by digging in the ground.
No churches can be built,
no privy holes or even graves
dug in the rolling hills
for those milking Firestone's trees, who die
from mamba and mosquito bites.

I asked the owners why.
The cost of land, they said, was high.

Jimmy Carter, Always a Reckoning, 1995

I wonder if John Updike ever reviewed one of Jimmy's poetry books.; 1/31/09, 11:27 AM
SeniorD said...: If Jimmy Carter has an extraordinary mind, he should remember 'A mind is a terrible thing to waste'; 1/31/09, 11:33 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Renee has lost her mind. Seriously, you are off the edge of reason, and plunging towards the bottom of the valley like Wile E. Coyote; 1/31/09, 11:37 AM
Simon said...: "The Last Jimmy Carter Fan." Wow, there's got to be a Twilight Zone episode in that, right? Oh, wait... They already made it.; 1/31/09, 11:37 AM
TitusLovesLife! said...: I was too young to know what kind of president Carter what but from what I read he was bad.

I like him though. I saw him interviewed on Charlie Rose this week and he seemed intelligent. He travels constantly. I was impressed that a man his age was so active.; 1/31/09, 11:40 AM
TitusLovesLife! said...: When I was little my parents and I drove to Florida and we stopped at Plain Georgia. He was president at the time.

His house was a small brick ranch home. Very modest

What ever happened to Amy Carter?; 1/31/09, 11:42 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Well, she's right about the exceptional part, but not in the way she thinks. We are indeed quite fortunate that there aren't a lot of folks in Jimmy's mold.

I do have to ask why this didn't qualify for a lameness^32 tag, however.; 1/31/09, 11:47 AM
Patm said...: Zellwegger is an exceptionally talented dingbat.

And I say that as a fan. I really don't want to hear here fawning over Jimmy Carter or George Clooney. Just shut up and act, damn you, act!; 1/31/09, 11:47 AM
MayBee said...: Remember, this is a judgment from the same mind that chose to look like this at the Golden Globes.; 1/31/09, 11:47 AM
SteveR said...: she lost me at extraordinary; 1/31/09, 11:54 AM
SteveR said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/31/09, 11:54 AM
Bissage said...: (1) When I was a theater major, we’d hang out in the lobby and sometimes we’d pass the time joking about the stuff we’d say to an interviewer to give her something to write about.

It looks like we were not the only ones.

Kudos to Ms. Zellweger for going all the way.

(2) Frankly, Mr. Shankly, this position I've held
It pays my way and it corrodes my soul
Oh, I didn't realize that you wrote poetry
I didn't realize you wrote such bloody awful poetry, Mr. Shankly

(3) I like that retro-pose Ms. Zellweger is striking. The black top obscures her body and makes her face and hands predominate. Those are the outward, expressive symbols of her inner craft.

She’s a pretty good actress and I thought she was great in “Cold Mountain.”

Looking at that photo, I can’t help but wonder what those hands would look like choking my chicken.; 1/31/09, 11:55 AM
reader_iam said...: Titus: Amy eventually got a BFA and a master's in art, married a computer programmer, and they a son, around 10. She retreated into private life with that family, which lives in Georgia.

I think Amy had a rough time of it in her White House days, for whatever reasons, much more so than Chelsea, despite the turbulence in the latter's era. I hope the Obama girls do all right in that environment.; 1/31/09, 11:57 AM
The Dude said...: He never met a tyrant he didn't like. Never met a group of radical islamic students he wouldn't back down from. He never built a house that didn't mold and he never met a rabbit that wasn't a better fighter than he was.

How that douchebag ever made it through the Naval academy is beyond me. And he was nice to his bitch-ass mother - that alone puts him in pansy territory.

All hail the the chicken shit in chief, and his worthy successor, Obama the weak.; 1/31/09, 12:00 PM
Bob said...: I can't stand Rene Zellweger. Her usual expression is that of someone who just realized, from the smell, that she stepped in dog poo.

Jimmeh Cahtah has turned rather anti-Semitic in his old age. He just published another book, We Can Bring Peace To The Holy Land (If The Jews Would Just Jump Into The Sea).; 1/31/09, 12:03 PM
jaed said...: I'm afraid Jimmy Carter lost me for good when he started talking about "a final solution" in the Middle East. It's always good to give the benefit of the doubt, but Carter is neither stupid enough nor ignorant enough of history to use that phrase without knowing exactly what it implies. (My theory is that he's just spent so much time around people who talk like that in private that he let it slip in public. A common problem.)

Also, I grew up in the 70s. I figure giving him the benefit of the doubt in the first place qualifies me for sainthood, or at least beatification.; 1/31/09, 12:35 PM
Jeff with one 'f' said...: For Stern fans only:

This quote reminds me of hen Miss Howard Stern admitted that she was in love with former Stern producer KC Armstrong, saying he was "everything good and beautiful in the world"!

She said this the same day she admitted giving KC a blumpkin, which he laughed about...; 1/31/09, 12:43 PM
Methadras said...: Who the fuck does she think she's kidding? This fucking moron has about as much intellectual acumen as a pinprick on a cadaver. Jimmy Carter is a piece of filth who doesn't know his place or his role in American life. Oh, wait, he actually does know his place and role in American life and he didn't like it, so now he gets to write his insipid books and go on his revisionist tour. That piece of shit saddled the American public that still remembers what it was like under his administration double digit inflation, high double digit interest rates, while this little twig of a clusterfuck gets to prattle about she has a giant boner for one of the worst human being on the face of the earth. You two can have each other, just make sure it's on Pluto. Better yet, just leave the solar system and infest your idiocy elsewhere completely.; 1/31/09, 12:49 PM
Daryl said...: Jimmy Carter is a crackhead--but he's not addicted to crack cocaine, he's addicted to fawning crowds.

He will say whatever gets him the most admirers. And the easiest way to get lots of admirers is to take shots at US/Israel and not at dictators.

Unfortunately, Obama comes from the Carter wing, not the Clinton wing, of the Democratic Party.

This stimulus (err, "recovery") package is going to undo every good thing Bill Clinton did in office. It's going to be as if he never existed. That's a shame, because he was a decent president.; 1/31/09, 12:50 PM
Methadras said...: Jeff with one 'f' said...

For Stern fans only:

This quote reminds me of hen Miss Howard Stern admitted that she was in love with former Stern producer KC Armstrong, saying he was "everything good and beautiful in the world"!

She said this the same day she admitted giving KC a blumpkin, which he laughed about...

I think I remember that, but KC is an idiot. F JACKIE!!!; 1/31/09, 12:51 PM
Clyde said...: Five hundred people waited in line to get their books signed by that old reprobate? Only in New York...

Seriously, the guy was the worst president of my lifetime (I was born at the end of Eisenhower's second term) and the worst ex-president ever, in terms of violating protocol by trying to meddle in the foreign policies of his successors. He screwed things up horribly in his four years. He should stick to building hovels for the poor, since that's one of the few things he's done reasonably well.; 1/31/09, 12:51 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Rene Zellweger. She is smoking hot! Who cares what she says today or tomorrow or ever.; 1/31/09, 12:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Awesome. I wonder if she shares his antisemitism, too?; 1/31/09, 12:56 PM
garage mahal said...: Nobody could have predicted this thread would bring out the tail-gunners.; 1/31/09, 12:59 PM
Mark O said...: Self-righteous asshole. Worst president of all time. Beyond rational debate. Perhaps the most damaging result of Watergate.

Yes, that's how I really feel.; 1/31/09, 1:03 PM
Balfegor said...: Contra pretty much everyone above, I think Carter probably does have a pretty extraordinary mind, and not in the "haha-extraordinarily-stupid" way. He's probably up with Hoover and Nixon in the list of our smartest presidents. Unfortunately, he's also up there with Hoover and Nixon in the list of our worst presidents too.

I was reading a bit about the Ford-Carter transition, and the CIA briefings Carter received -- the people assigned to brief him (incl. Bush I) were favourably impressed by his command of the details, and extraordinary memory. Besides that, didn't he train as a nuclear engineer when he was in the military? I don't think we can deny that the man was highly intelligent. He just lost himself in a maze of details (famously including the tennis court schedules). Couldn't see the forest for the trees.; 1/31/09, 1:21 PM
George M. Spencer said...: I thought sad tomato Amy was slappin' skins for R.E.M.

Crush with Eyeliner!; 1/31/09, 1:24 PM
Bob said...: Balfegor said: Besides that, didn't he train as a nuclear engineer when he was in the military?

Yah, he did. He also pronounces the word nuclear as nuke-you-lar, just like George W. Bush does, but only Bush gets grief about it from the MSM.; 1/31/09, 1:44 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I heard the nuclear engineer was a myth. When the Dems saw the myth gave Carter gravitas with the voters, the myth stayed.; 1/31/09, 1:48 PM
Balfegor said...: I heard the nuclear engineer was a myth. When the Dems saw the myth gave Carter gravitas with the voters, the myth stayed.

Even if it's a myth, it shows up on a Navy website:

When Admiral Hyman G. Rickover (then a captain) started his program to create nuclear powered submarines, Carter wanted to join the program and was interviewed by Rickover. On 1 June 1952, Carter was promoted to Lieutenant. Selected by Rickover, Carter was detached on 16 October 1952 from K-1 for duty with the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Reactor Development in Schenectady, New York. From 3 November 1952 to 1 March 1953, he served on temporary duty with the Naval Reactors Branch, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, DC to assist "in the design and development of nuclear propulsion plants for naval vessels."

From 1 March to 8 October, Carter was preparing to become the engineering officer for the nuclear power plant to be placed in USS Seawolf (SSN 575), one of the first submarines to operate on atomic power. He assisted in setting up training for the enlisted men who would serve on Seawolf. During this time his father became very sick and died in July 1953. After his father's death in 1953, Carter resigned from the Navy to return to Georgia to manage the family interests.; 1/31/09, 1:54 PM
Frodo Potter said...: I used to find Renee Zellweger hot, but part of my attraction to women is based on their character, and she just failed the character test. Kenny Chesney doesn't know quite how lucky he is--or perhaps he does.; 1/31/09, 2:05 PM
jr565 said...: I'd be willing to cut Carter some slack provided he wrote GOOD poetry not simply because he wrote poetry. And any slack provided to Carter would be towards his poetry not to his sucky presidency or even suckier post presidency where he became an advocate for anti Jewish sentiment and pro lefty cant.
It would be something like this: "Jimmy Carter is a real douchebag and horrible president but did you know he wrote some good poetry?" Or if he wrote crappy poetry it would be something like "Not only is Jimmy Carter a real douchebag and horrible president but did you also know he wrote really bad poetry?".

Methinks Renee is overly impressed with people who write poetry.; 1/31/09, 2:08 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Balfegor:

I know it is a fact Carter served on a nuclear sub. My point was he was never a nuclear engineer.

I voted for Carter and I believed at the time he majored in nuclear engineering at the Naval Academy. Years later I learned that was a falsehood that Carter and others saw no need to set straight.; 1/31/09, 2:09 PM
Zachary Sire said...: It's a beautiful day outside, and you all are kind, thoughtful people. Your comments inspire peace and love in the world.; 1/31/09, 2:18 PM
Simon said...: Zachary Paul Sire said...
"It's a beautiful day outside"

It is. I just spent a couple of hours shoveling snow and took a nice warm shower. Feelin' good. :)

garage mahal said...
"Nobody could have predicted this thread would bring out the tail-gunners."

Climb into the sky, never wonder why...; 1/31/09, 2:32 PM
Balfegor said...: I know it is a fact Carter served on a nuclear sub. My point was he was never a nuclear engineer.

I voted for Carter and I believed at the time he majored in nuclear engineering at the Naval Academy. Years later I learned that was a falsehood that Carter and others saw no need to set straight.

Fair enough -- I never heard the myth in the form of "majored in nuclear engineering," which would be obviously false. He does seem to have received special training for his service both with the Atomics Commission and as engineering officer on a nuclear submarine, and -- while rather less impressive than being a nuclear physicist -- it does suggest a technical proficiency in excess of any president since, well, Hoover, who started out as a mining engineer. Most of our Presidents are nothing more than lawyers.; 1/31/09, 2:44 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Now, now, if they put actors in movies based on knowing something about politics, the movies probably wouldn't be very good. Think all new releases with casts from PJTV and NRO. See what I mean?; 1/31/09, 3:04 PM
William said...: I think it's kind of democratic that Renee waited in line for a couple of hours in order to get her book signed. I'm sure she could have pulled rank, gone to the front of the line, and even had a private audience with the great man. I don't share her enthusiasm for Jimmy Carter, but she seems like a good person. I sometimes question the sincerity of admirers of Al Gore, but I would never question the sincerity of a crush on Jimmy Carter. It's way too idiosyncratic....I recently saw her movie Apaloosa. It was a pretty good western. The men said manly, laconic things before they killed each other. The women were weak and unfaithful. There were no veiled references to Bush and the war in Iraq....I don't know if it was the role she was playing or the hacksaw of time, but she didn't look as endearing as she did earlier in her career. Movie star beauty is a fragile thing, and her days as a leading lady are numbered or gone. But she will always be a talented actor and a nice person.; 1/31/09, 3:05 PM
campy said...: I know it is a fact Carter served on a nuclear sub.

Except it isn't. Carter trained to serve aboard nuclear subs. But he left the Navy in 1953, and the first nuclear sub was commissioned in 1954.; 1/31/09, 3:20 PM
Kev said...: According to Zellweger's bio, she was born in April 1969, which means she was eleven was Carter left office. No one who was an adult when Carter was President would ever consider him extraordinary except as a failure.; 1/31/09, 3:34 PM
Kirby Olson said...: Carter was a better poet than Obama in terms of images, but Obama is a little more unpredictable. They're both hiding behind a wall of good will their actual agenda whatever it is.

Zellweger needs to get her hair out of her face in her performances. Just pin it back! It makes me feel itchy, as if I'm getting poison ivy!

Suzanne Sommers was a pretty good poet. She should run for president. She could do an exercise hour every morning, and lead the nation in fitness! And then read one of her lousy poems, or invite Jimmy carter to read one of his simplistic little numbers.

Ginsberg had the best idea: to just show the ugliest dirtiest thoughts he had. At least it's honest, and all beauty has to be underwritten with authenticity.; 1/31/09, 3:55 PM
gefillmore said...: Frodo Potter said...

I used to find Renee Zellweger hot, but part of my attraction to women is based on their character, and she just failed the character test. Kenny Chesney doesn't know quite how lucky he is--or perhaps he does.

someone told me earlier this week that w was the worst president we ever had-

no; not by a long shot-; 1/31/09, 4:38 PM
Anonymous said...: This is from my blog about "The Wacky World of Political Popularity" on Carter:
"Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter was perhaps the nicest man ever elected to the office of President. He crashed our economy, bringing us some of the highest unemployment rates this side of the great depression. Interest rates climbed to unheard of heights, with prime rates into the twenty plus percent range. Inflation soared. He mishandled relations with the Middle East causing oil shortages, long lines, and high gas prices, and hatred and hostage taking in Iran. He is literally loved by the people that were hurt the worst by his administration. He wanted so much for us but delivered so little. He was as honest as the day is long. He prayed and no-one complained about it. He told us he lusted in his heart, and we knew, cause we did too."

Jimmy Carter, I'm sure, is a good man with good and noble intentions. But he takes so very much at face value and doesn't look deep into an issue, which caused him to so often fail. Still that trait trips him up.

It's noble enough to build houses for ones fellow man, but he could probably accomplish much more with the natural contacts a President aquires than with swinging himself a hammer.

He too, it would seem, was 'snake bit' as a President. It was if the world turned against him, and perhaps it did. It couldn't have just been plain bad luck. Besides, I've never heard of anyone else being attacked by a rabbit...; 1/31/09, 5:31 PM
Eric said...: Jimmy Carter is not, and never was, a nice man. He managed to hide a lot of ugliness behind that genteel southern farmer facade, but he was a dirty campaigner and the most disingenuous president of my lifetime.; 1/31/09, 6:46 PM
traditionalguy said...: Don't hold it against Renee that Jimmah pulled her in with his Christian love and piety act. He's a master at it. In fact if he is as good as he claims to be, we can all just give up ever trying to add anything ourselves... he's already done all the good deeds there are forever. Of course there are no perfect sheep, and if someone looks like one, then you can be sure he is a wolf. Young Renee is in for a rude awakening. Please take it from a Georgian, who has enjoyed all of Jimmah's act he can stand,the man is a bitter failure who covers up his Benedict Arnold intentions with his faithful, Baptist Deacon's persona. Who could fail to trust such a good man? Well the Confidence Man will always challenge you to take a gamble and believe his story, and his other message is always how can you reject this love for you? It's ALL fake.; 1/31/09, 8:55 PM
Anonymous said...: "I have a crush on Jimmy Carter. I admit it. He has an extraordinary mind. He's an exceptional human being."

That just put Renee in the same category with Mel Gibson as far as the majority of Jews in America are concerned.

That wont help her in Hollywood.

Carter, ugg, him bad goyim.; 1/31/09, 11:30 PM