This is the same guy who missed all the problems with the Venezuelan election? Jeez!

Bill, I'd say you could use a little brush-up on your Spanish. Your sentence reads, roughly:

After the game [but in the wrong sense of "game"], we will throw peanuts in some prisoners and then ["then" is also in the wrong sense] acquire a few prostitutes.

I'm sure what you wanted to say was:

After the game, let's go throw peanuts at some prisoners, and then get us a few hookers.

or something along those lines. That would be more like:

Tras este partido, que te parece ir a tirar manis a unos presos y luego a cogernos a unas putas.

That last verb (coger) has a different meaning depending on whether you're in Spain or Latin America, but considering the subject matter, it would be pretty clear in this case. I'm not sure I'm getting the informality quite right, but I'm sure nobody would actually say "prostitutas".

In any case, I think you should give Carter somewhat of a break. He's damn old, and whatever else you say about him, he's done a lot for Habitat for Humanity and other charities. Not sure why he's so friendly with Castro, but I very much doubt it's because he's an America-hating closet commie.

HA! Thanks for the spanish lesson Walter, it's been about 10 years. Quote changed accordingly.

The left, and by "left," I mean "mainstream left," is shooting itself in the foot with over-the-top rhetoric and association with propaganda. Al Gore ("digital brownshirts") and Carter are the two best examples, and my previous problems with Jimmy aside, it really kind of struck me (after reading that election pronouncement), that I just don't trust anything that the man says.

At this point, I honestly have no idea whether he may be making pronouncements for emotional or political effect, or whether he's actually found a serious flaw in Florida's election process.

Which would be a pretty damn important story ...

OT:
Hamwich-Gate!
***Llama Exclusive!*** ***Must Credit Llamas!***

Earlier today, INDC Bill made this categorical assertion: And I have never claimed to be a "30 foot pile of ham sammiches."

LOL! I just read the whole thing at:

http://llamabutchers.mu.nu/archives/2004_09.php#047597#more

Too funny!

In that news article, Carter is quoted as saying, "Voting arrangements in Florida do not meet "basic international requirements" and could undermine the US election, former US President Jimmy Carter says."

Basic international requirements? What the hell is that? The voting requirements of any country should never have to be approved by any international convention. It's our country, our election, we can run it how we want.

And I've heard this argument before. The liberals are basically sowing doubt into voters over election potential election fraud. By doing this, they can potentially question the count of any election in any state. That will especially true if the idiot ballot measure Colorado has is passed (in which electoral votes are divided among candidates as opposed to a win/lose all). And the Dems accuse the Republicans of being divisive....

If the Grandee of Georgia Goobery would just stick to building homes for the poor and stop pretending to be the Honest Election fairy, maybe he wouldn't come in for so much criticism. I think he deserves all the criticism and, indeed, all the ridicule he gets for being an inveterate hob-nobber with dictators. Don't worry, Jimmy, Fidel's not about to pull YOU off the mound!

Do we really want to live up, by which I mean lower ourselves to, the 'basic international requirements'? And by the way, when are we going to get Cook County, Illinois up to these basic requirements? How about Ohio where over 1000 early votes have been questioned?

I hope the local Sheriffs Departments will be kind enough to escort any 'international observers' off the grounds of polling places in Florida. Maybe on the grounds of attempting to incite riots. 'Cause I'm not about to let those guys stand around my poll.

My only ray of hope about this whole thing is that it won't be close enough for FLA to matter. F'n Dems. Who cares if they're destroying democracy, their guy must win, despite any traditions or rules in place. I hope they're prepared for the whirlwind they reap.

Signing off from the Hurricane State...
/rant

If we lived up to those "basic international requirements" not only would we have to allow Nader (and others) on each state ballot, but we'd have to ensure they got air time as well.

To call for barring Nader from the Florida ballot while also saying Bush is ignoring fairness issues, is more than a little disingenuous.

As I've said on my own blog, I feel that there is a clear internationalization of politics and it's between the socialist/bureaucratic camp and the capitalist/self-governing camp. Guess which team Carter is on.

What the hell is this pair of ding-dongs doing?? One is a supressor of liberty and the other is just the dictator of Cuba. Jesus Christ! Somebody throw a net over these goobers and put them in a padded room.

Given Carters history it's very likely that he is chummy with Castro precisely because he is an anti-American closet commie. Read some of his recent remarks and consider his foolish presidency. Has he ever met a dictator that he didn't make kissy-face with?

Basic International Requirements? According to whom? This isn't a g-d international election in the first place. The UN and their sense of decency and their protection of liberty has done exactly as much as the Carter presidency to empower dictators like Castro. How about following the rule of law and educating the electorate.

Jimmy Carter is in his dottage and could be an effective spokesman for Habitat, or SCAN, or Cancer research, or any number of good causes. Instead he maintains a place of honor among the mainstream left because he meant well. These two are both foul balls and need to be remembered for the damage they've done.

Dan Patterson

Bill,
Come on man, you know theres no such thing as political prisoners in Cuba. It should read something like:

Ok, despues de este partido, que te parece si les tiramos unos manisitos a los detenidos y luego nos hechomos una par de tremendas jineteras?

I don't think Carter belongs to the America-hating faction of the Democratic Party. Rather, he's an old-fashioned liberal, characterized by a childish naivete about human nature and a fatuous belief in the perfectibility of man (and woman). These kind of people are infatuated with talk, negotiation, dialogue, process, reaching out, common ground, a dogmatic non-judgmentalism, a disregard for facts or history, a soapy self-absorbed kind of morality, a careless confusion of personal morality with international behavior and relations, and an adamant refusal to take people (especially thugs and dictators) at their stated word.

Such people give us such things as unilateral disarmament proposals, an infatuation with the UN and its "process," a slavish devotion to an abstract non-entity they call "international law," worthless treaties with N Korea (and other rogue states), an instinctive preference for appeasement, an undefined and guilt-ridden search for the "root causes" of terrorism and brutality, superficial anguish and finger-pointing over the world's poor, the Kyoto "treaty" and other anti-Western fatuities, the International Criminal Court, the UN's disgrace in Rwanda, the UN's hand-wringing over Sudan, the Panama Canal giveaway, etc, etc.

Carter is cut from this mold. To him, Castro isn't a brutal, one-party dictator with blood on his hands; he's a statesman unfairly ostracized by small-minded people who don't understand the power of "dialogue," appeasement, and goodwill (Carter's goodwill, that is). In Carter's mind, if the US only treated Castro with openness, fairness, and generosity, Castro would transform into the wonderful guy he always wanted to be (and was prevented from being by the awfulness of the US and its policies).

Updated yet again. I'll be sure to run all my Castro quotes by you next time, Val!

MD:

No offense but I don't give a shit why Carter is like he is. No former PRESIDENT should EVER call for international observation of elections in America. ESPECIALLY on naked partisian grounds. F'king up the legitimacy of the Presidency is a good way to start Civil Wars! The stakes are too high and these people have no clue. As I said earlier, I am afraid that all of us will have to reap the destruction being sown by the Democrats and their fixation on Government power that has lost any moral fiber. They have no shame, they will stop at nothing.

Sorry MD, I know you weren't apologizing for Carter. Just got a little carried away by the rant.

Carter may be a nice guy, but he's an assmunch plain and simple.

ctob -

I'm considering using your comment to retitle my post.

International standards? Like the elections held in Cuba, wait, there aren't any there. How about Iraq under Saddam? He had an election not too long ago, and got 100% of the vote and Jimmy didn't complain about that.

Brett, if Cook County is still a problem (as it certainly was when the Daily machine ruled), then it should be fixed. It has no bearing on the problems (or lack thereof) in FL.

IMO, there were clearly problems in FL during the last election, though the most of that can be attributed to a screwed up, error prone process for removing felons from the roles and the lack of a statewide standard (and in some counties the lack of any written standard) for recounting ballots.

The role purges were especially problematic, because they contained so many errors, ranging from ex-cons from another state (more than 2000 known cases), who had already had their voting rights restored, to sitting Judges to never convicted Floridians who happened to have a name similar to a convict or were related to the felon. In fact, the errors were intentional.

"Obviously, we want to capture more names that possibly aren't matches and let the [county elections] supervisors make a final determination rather than exclude certain matches altogether," said Emmett "Bucky" Mitchell, who headed the state purge effort, in a March 1999 e-mail to Database Technologies product manager Marlene Thorogood, who had warned him of possible mistakes.

In an interview, Clay Roberts, director of the state's division of elections, confirmed the policy. "The decision was made to do the match in such a way as not to be terribly strict on the name."
(Washington Post, May 31, 2001)

How would you feel if in 2000 you'd been told you can't vote and informed that you're an ex-con? Now how would you feel had that happened mostly to evangelical Christians and Bush had lost by a hundred votes or so?

Over 2000 out of state ex-cons are known to have been wrongfully purged. That's many times greater than the delta between the winner and loser.

I doubt international observers will solve or prevent many problems, but I fail to see how they'll hurt. I don't recall anyone complaining when they were sent into other countries to monitor elections.

Addidas, hmmmmm... I guess Nike is a little too American for his tastes.

Brett, I agree with you completely -- it does cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Presidency (and from a former President!), just as you say.

This leads me to believe that, at least Jimmy Carter, expects Bush to win. No such noises would be made if Kerry had a commanding lead.

Robert Said:
Like the elections held in Cuba, wait, there aren't any there. How about Iraq under Saddam? He had an election not too long ago, and got 100% of the vote and Jimmy didn't complain about that.

Neither were democratic elections. Neither needs observers for legitimacy, because they don't care, so long as they have power.

Brett Said:
As I said earlier, I am afraid that all of us will have to reap the destruction being sown by the Democrats and their fixation on Government power that has lost any moral fiber. They have no shame, they will stop at nothing

Brett, just as Democrats feel the same way about Republicans. They'll point to everything from the last election to the countless investigations of Clinton.

Both sides are guilty. Both sides use wedge issues (gay marriage, abortion et. al.). Unfortunately, president Bush hasn't been much of a uniter. The country is every bit as divided as in 2000. His one saving grace may be that Kerry has run a terrible campaign.

Kevin

Kevin:

How many of these "other countries" have 200+ years of successful elections. Yes, some voted who shouldn't and some couldn't who should have been able to. If you believe that was the problem, stop with the Kool-Aid enema.

By any and every count, Bush won Florida. And it's dishonest to not include the Gore attempts to dishonor military and other mail-in voters in a craven attempt to get a recount that would fall his way.

I can only say that if there is an 'international observer' at my polling place, I will politely ask him to leave. If that fails I imagine I will be arrested for assault and inciting a riot.

Florida is not equivalent to Venezuela in respect to questionable polling practices. Period.

I thought it was still illegal to travel to Cuba. If so, how did he get there, and shouldn't he get arrested for breaking the ban on travel? I liked him better when he kept his mouth shut and built houses for poor people. He needs to stick with what works!

Amen Pete. Carter and Arafat, leading the argument for making the Nobel Peace Prize a posthumous honor.

Carter's trips to Cuba have not been illegal.

At a bar last week with the usual group of addicts, I made the following observation about agricultural subsidies, which is, I think, almost eerily relevant to this current subject:

A peanut farmer with a doctorate is still a sucker for fat sophistry.

- I was a bit surprised when the peanut vendor popped up like an ancient gopher during this election cycle, since I was convinced back when he left office, even he would think it was in abject disgrace.

- This country was f'kd up beyond belief by the end of Carters administration. We had no plan whatsoever to deal with what was then, the growing threats of Russia in western Europe. The economy was in a total nosedive, and he had the proud distinction of having managed to "dialog, negotiate, and appease" the entire American embassy in Iran into more than a year of capture and confinement. This in spite of countless warning's by everyone in both parties in Washington...

- as far as Castro, anyone who looks at him in any way than what he is, just another Marxist dictator, having lived through the grim days of the Russian/Cuban missile can't have too many working brain cells....

- On the election front, what you probably see with all the scare tactics going on in terms of voting , the Dem's have made it clear they'd rather burn this country to the ground than lose this election. Its also preparation for yet another round of "irregular election practice" charges when they lose. Among their other ignaramous atributes, the liberals love to play the "underdog" in spite of the fact that they run candidates like Kerry who has a more money than several hundred of them will make in a lifetime.

- Watching the gaggle of nattering naboob's on the left this election cycle, you're left with the impression as a group ideiologicaly overwrought they've lost the power of rational thought...

That man makes me want to curse uncontrollably.

"Unfortunately, president Bush hasn't been much of a uniter. The country is every bit as divided as in 2000.

Kevin, on what issues do you suggest a Democrat or Republican president unite the country? Many on the left might love us all to rally around the idea of withdrawal from Iraq and increased tax rates, while many on the right might prefer a repeal of all gun laws and the elimination of most taxes, but I doubt the country is ready for unity on these or many other issues.

Consensus is overrated and the notion of national unity is somewhat insulting to the intelligence and passion of Americans. “Can’t we all just put our differences aside and get along?” No, we cannot. The positions pushed by people whom I disagree with have serious consequences for my life and the life of my children. I am not going to unite for the sake of unification and no President is going to change that. We have serious ideological divisions and the best way to get the cream to the top is to debate ideas openly and passionately, not mediocre consensus down the middle. We’ll find our way through this.

Every single person who was removed from the voter list in FL was notfied months in advance via mail. Registered voters are required to have a valid address on file with the state. If they did, they should have received the notification that their name was placed on a list of felons who were not eligable to vote, and instructions on how to contest that to get back on the voter roles. Many, many people did just that and were allowed to vote. I do not feel the slightest bit bad for people who fail to follow the most basic of steps to vote.

Caption: Former president Carter huddles with world reknown 'democratisto' during his review of Florida's polling processes.

I used to live Florida. I lived there during that disputed election. When it happened I said "I am not surprised this is happening in Florida". Florida is run by morons. Anyone who thinks the election was stolen is a dumbass who doesn't understand the clusterfuck that is Florida. There is a reason they have the second worst public school system in the nation.

You think Florida is messed up. You should check out Hawaii. In our Primary's we had a bout a 40% turn out rate for voters. Probably because we have the worst public school education system.

Jimmy Carter has never forgiven the American people for not re-electing him. You must understand that he doesn't think he made any mistakes during his time in office. He was not the one who left in disgrace, we are the disgraced ones for not recognizing the wisdom of his ways.

People are always giving this man a pass, excusing him because he was a "good man" who "meant well." Where is there any evidence for this? What actions tell you that he is good? Building houses for the poor? Many people do that and if he would leave it at that, fine. But what does he do to the poor when he undercuts the very foundations of the Republic? How does he help anyone when he sits with dictators and declares that they are fine people with whom we can work? When the Great Leader lobs a nuke at this country, will Mr. Carter's good intentions protect us? How has his work helped the people of Venezuela, whose courage and last hope to peacefully shed themselves of a nascent dictator were erased by his pronouncement of legitimacy? Carter has given his seal of approval to every single tyrant in his view, with glowing words.

How does building houses for the poor wipe out the evil this man has done and still perpetrates in the name of being an elder statesman? What more does he have to do for people to see his actions for what they are?

(I know. I used the E word. What else would one use when someone consistently chooses to back evil men?)

Deborah Bates

Deborah:

I have another word, its assmunch (see above post).

>

Cheer for the rabbit...

http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=040904

Ain't he the cutest thing.. I think everyone should remember Jimmy Carter this Easter.