Jimmy Carter

That isn't an "appeal to authority." I didn't show that and then present it as something definitive about who Jimmy Carter was. Nor I am trying to get you to "capitulate" as you said in that other post. Nor did I call Jimmy Carter a "horrible person." Even in the toned down response, you are still creating strawmen rather than just responding to me.

I think the guy was a phony. A salesman. A holier than thou type. ... who was more about his ambitions than he was about being the do gooder he sells to people.

You can believe whatever you want about Jimmy Carter based on whatever you selectively choose to consider about him.

I simply posted that I think the guy was a phony to a very good degree, and not just in the way that a lot of politicians are to get elected, but in a way I can't stand because he does a holier-than-thou pious sales job as his brand that has been belied by so many things I have read and saw others saying about him over the years.

And I can't stand people like that.

In the case of that Reg Murphy video, it wasn't someone who was employed by Carter or who was part of his inner circle like James Fallows. It was an outsider, a political reporter and editor who dealt with just about every politician in Georgia and he was giving his impressions. Take it for what it is worth. If I don't post something like that, or reference the Reeves book (and I suggest othrs read it), in between all the strawmen ridiculously mischaracterizing what I posted, I find out that Carter founded Habitat for Humanity. I'm just trying to demonstrate to anyone open minded enough to toss aside the hagiopgraphies, that there is a lot of evidence of the phoniness I am talking about. And I suspect there is a lot to it.

This whole thing started with the Mary Prince thing, which someone tweeted as yet another example of how Jimmy Carter was kind and caring and saintly. ... he rescued that poor black woman from prison. Now contrast that to the clip I posted, in which Murphy was talking about the Jimmy Carter who visited George Wallace when an election was in jeopardy and went full on segregationist (and then denied it over and over again when it stuck to him) in the final days of the campaign.

That is why I don't think much of Jimmy Carter as person. I expect politicians to be hyenas. Where he loses in me in particular, is that he preached to people, acted holier than thou, always tried to craft a public image of being a do gooder (yes, he did a lot of do gooder things). ... and I think he is very likely full of shit to a good degree. I do believe he was a salesman (the way Reeves put it), one who was full of shit, and his Christian principles only went as far as how they benefited. ... Jimmy Carter and his ambitions.

 

Absolutely. Which is why despite the post from someone that had me calling him an asshole for doing charity work. ... my posts actually have included things like this:

"my guess would be that the Carters were legitimately fond of Mary Prince. Amy Carter adored her from stuff I was reading, and I would bet that the Carters genuinely wanted to help her. I am sure they did take care of her throughout her life, and I am sure it went beyond the play that he got from being the benevolent saint who rescued her from prison."

"you are correct about him using his status as an ex president to raise a ton of money for Habitat for Humanity, and that he was personally involved in Habitat for Humanity projects every year for years."

"He has used his status as an ex president to lend his name to a lot of very charitable causes. As much as any ex president has."

"It doesn't take away from any good causes he lent his name to or make him building homes for habitat for humanity into a bad thing."

I'm not questioning the image of him. At the same time, I think he carefully cultivated that image as a saint and devout Christian to craft a legacy. ... when he had a demonstrable history as a politician of behaving very differently when his holier than thou attitudes conflicted with his ambitions.

The quintessential Carter story was that as a candidate he would carry his own bags when the press was around, but ask the Secret Service to carry them when no one was around (and according to the Kessler book, he treated the little people worse than the other presidents it covered). He was selling an image of being a regular guy. ... he was a salesman.

 

When Jimmy Carter Was Silent on Civil Rights

 

This was no sudden moral transformation. Mr. Carter had opposed segregation since his Navy years, but at home he concealed his enlightened views on race in the interest of protecting his business and his political prospects.

During his 1970 campaign for governor, Carter used dog whistles and code words such as ‘Georgia’s heritage,’ ‘law and order’ and ‘local control.’

Mr. Carter is still reluctant to discuss his early record on race, especially the brief period when he shifted from acquiescing in segregation to appealing to its supporters. During his 1970 campaign for governor, he used dog whistles and code words (“Georgia’s heritage,” “law and order,” “local control”) to signal to conservative rural voters that he was on their side. When I pressed him recently about this, he asked me softly, after a few minutes, “Are we done talking about this yet?”