Not that this comes as a shock to anyone who has watched Jimmy Carter lately but a former aide has left the Carter Center after getting into a dispute over Carter’s latest fiction novel “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid“. Here’s what Kenneth Stein said about Carter’s book:
President Carter’s book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analyses; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book.
In other words, Mr. Stein is calling Jimmy Carter a liar pushing a one-sided agenda. To those who’ve followed Carter’s pos-presidency, this isn’t surprising. Instead, I’d characterize it as another disappointing chapter in his post-presidency.
What caused Jimmy Carter to turn into this disreputable, dishonest man is anybody’s guess. I suspect that it started with Ronald Reagan’s thrashing of him in 1980 and that it’s been eating away at him ever since. I further think that Mr. Carter feels the sting of knowing that his presidency contributed mightily to the current threat of global terrorists, though he’d never admit that. Finally, I believe that President Bush’s taking a position that is essentially the polar opposite of Carter’s was the final push that sent Carter over the edge and into Moonbat immortality.
Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook. Having little access to Arabic and Hebrew sources, I believe, clearly handicapped his understanding and analyses of how history has unfolded over the last decade. Falsehoods, if repeated often enough become meta-truths, and they then can become the erroneous baseline for shaping and reinforcing attitudes and for policy-making. The history and interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict is already drowning in half-truths, suppositions, and self-serving myths; more are not necessary. In due course, I shall detail these points and reflect on their origins.
I strongly recommend that everyone who’s serious about national security and about the Middle East read Mr. Stein’s email to the AJC. One thing that cries out in the aftermath of this letter to the Atlanta Journal & Constitution is that Jimmy Carter was the worst foreign policy president in our nation’s history. After his latest ‘contribution’ (I use the term extremely loosely), it isn’t difficult to make the case that he’s fast becoming the worst ex-president in history, too.
I never thought I’d see the day that Jimmy Carter’s biggest disgrace wouldn’t be his inviting Michael Moore in his presidential box at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Sadly, I’m now forced to see this book as his biggest disgrace. This time, though, I’m willing to accept the fact that he might sink even lower yet. That’s the case history of BDS.
Technorati: Jimmy Carter, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Fiction Novel, Carter Center
Cross-posted at California Conservative
You know that Bush is taking an opposite stance to Carter, and that he is not only being lined up to be the worst foreign policy president in history, but he’ll most likely be remembered the most all-around worst U.S. President, ever.
Do I even need to point out that Stein is obviously biased towards Israel? Look at his last name.