Censuring the president — no not that president

May 23, 2006

Republicans were apoplectic a few months ago when Sen. Russ [tag]Feingold[/tag] (D-Wis.) suggested a [tag]congressional[/tag] [tag]censure[/tag] is warranted for George W. [tag]Bush[/tag]. Some have even used the censure resolution in a campaign context, arguing that Dems will push the measure if they take back the congressional majority.

As conservatives see it, one would have to be out of his or her mind to believe that the president should be [tag]censure[/tag]d. Well, that is, at least as far as this [tag]president[/tag] is concerned.

A group called “Move America Forward” is anxious to look backwards with a major new campaign: [tag]Censure Jimmy Carter[/tag]. A message from the group to supporters explained yesterday:

We have our “Censure Jimmy Carter” [tag]TV ads[/tag] debuting on [tag]CNN[/tag] [between 12:00 Noon and 4:00 PM Eastern / 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM Pacific] and Headline News [from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 AM – 1:00 PM Pacific]. The ads will be seen on these channels NATIONWIDE.

Simultaneously we will have “Censure Jimmy Carter” Internet Ads displayed throughout the week (starting Monday) on http://www.drudgereport.com/ and http://www.newsmax.com/ as well as http://www.HumanEventsOnline.com If you don’t see our ad on these websites, just check back with that website a little later – our ads will “rotate” with those of other advertisers…

Additionally, this Sunday, May 21st we will have a “Censure Jimmy Carter” ad delivered with Newsmax’s daily news briefing to 350,000 subscribers to Newsmax’s service.

When all is said and done, several MILLION people will see our message about the need for Congress to take action to condemn Jimmy Carter’s efforts to undermine American foreign policy.

By way of C&L we see that Max Blumenthal reported a couple of months ago about [tag]Move America Forward[/tag]’s unethical conduct, and Matt Stoller argued persuasively that the FEC should crack down on the group’s nonsense, but after seeing the ad and hearing MAF demand that Congress “stand up to Jimmy [tag]Carter[/tag],” I’m kind of left feeling sorry for these guys. The anti-Carter campaign is, well, rather pathetic.

I mean really, what’s the point of mocking a group which, in all seriousness, launches an expensive ad campaign on the premise of a congressional censure of Jimmy Carter? What, did these guys run out of attacks on Clinton?

Oh, so Warren G. Harding gets off scot-free?

  • For the life of me, I cannot figure out what is to be gained by censuring an ex president. Pathetic is putting it kindly. If I wasn’t aware I was watching CNN, I would have sworn it was from Saturday Night Live.

    I’d love to see a poll on who Americans would rather see directing our foreign policy, Bush or Carter. I suspect Bush would get his hat handed to him. If they want to burn their resources on this nonsense, fine. It’s less they’ll have to spend on the fall election.
    But, if they somehow manage to actually censure Jimmy Carter, I say we retaliate by impeaching Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Herbert Hoover.

  • I see that their website has pics of Carter with leaders of foreign nations whom the U.S. would not consider “friends”.

    Perhaps they should post a picture of W holding hands with his Saudi prince (someday, his prince will come…) or shaking hands with one Vincente Fox (you know, the guy to the south who’s invading our nation. 😉 ). Oh, that’s right, they don’t want to censure one of their own.

  • Meanwhile, in the real world, the White House takes Libya off the terror watch list.
    Besides turning over a defunct weapons program (that one State official called the “clown prince of weapons programs”), has Khaddafi improved humans rights in Libya? Is there any evidence that Libya is on the road to democracy?
    Bush gives a pass to Libya and Pakistan, and Move America Forward is okay with that. But God forbid Carter gets his picture taken with Castro.

  • Or, Gridlock, the now-infamous photo of Rummy with his arm around Saddam back when he was our buddy because he fought against Iran.

    And AYM, we should watch for Sen. Ted Stevens to insist that Congress earmark funds for that bridge to the 70s. Or else he’ll talk as though he might quit!

  • I really hope they run with this one. Nobody (aside from these wingnuts) dislikes Carter. Sure his presidency was not so good and Reagan kicked his ass but the guy has been nothing but a humanitarian since. Apart from building houses for the poor and trying to make the wolrd a better place what is his crime? He suggested Bush is a stupid moron and his policies are wrongheaded, poorly designed, and executed with all the skill of a 4 year old trying to build a ship in a bottle. So WHAT!? That saeems to be the common majority opinion these days.

    I say centure him. After that they can centure me. I will seek out President Carter and he and I will build a whole Habitat for Humanity subdivision where she streets spell out “GO ‘F’ YOURSELF” from the air!

    We’ll do it in Cheney’s neighbohood.

  • Good way for them to spend their campaign funds. Futile, meaningless ads that have no bearing on anything except to illustrate how low the party has sunk. They might as well go after the Maytag Repairman for all the good it will do them, but hey, it’s their money.

    Are you getting the feeling that they’ve pretty much given up and are now just in it for a few laughs before the lights go out? It’s sure starting to seem like it.

  • I notice also that there’s a picture of Carter with Castro. I also remember that when Castro went to Cuba, he lambasted Castro for human rights violations at a speech in Havana with Castro standing next to him, and Castro squirmed like a kid with a turd in his pants.

  • Next up, Pople John Paul II’s meeting with Castro will be grounds for his ex-communication

  • There’s a question I thought of after I posted:
    Can you ex-communicate a Catholic who died?
    Do they automatically go from Heaven to hell?

  • Okay, that’s it.

    First, it was those swarthy, full-of-excrement swift-boaters going after John Kerry.

    Then, it was a bunch of moronic, tail-tucking cowards flinging insults at John Murtha.

    But now—NOW—they’re gonna start picking on Jimmy?

    I hereby declare war on M.A.F. They are clearly a domestic terrorist organization. They should be driven into the sea in the most draconian fashion imaginable….

  • GREAT LEADERS OF FUTURE WON’T BE FROM AMERICA — Weak, Mediocre Men Lead the USA”
    And our mediocre dissolute leaders will act like all bankrupt aristocrats. They’ll start selling state assets for private gain.

    “A friend of mine once told a college class that nobody ever woke up in 476 A.D. (the date historians define as the fall of the Roman Empire) and said, “Gosh, I’m in the Dark Ages.” His point is plain enough. Transitions happen gradually, and the people who live through them never realize what is happening.
    So it is with Americans. We are living in the ruins of a once-great republic. Now an empire utterly devoid of moral authority, the United States has nothing left but its military power and its capacity to consume on credit.”
    Nor do I agree the people living “through them never realize what is happening.” Oswald Spengler realized what was happening. Adolf Hitler could see “what is happening” in 1919. Plenty of others in all western countries have recognized what is happening all through the 20th Century. It’s the people who don’t realize what is happening who both mock the foresighted and resist changes necessary to stop or alter “what is happening”. They serve as a ready pool of useful idiots for evil minded folks who not only realize what is happening but profit from it, assist it, and speed it along.

  • Uh, didn’t Jimmy Carter leave office in 1981? Exactly how does one
    censure someone who is not in public office (of any kind)?
    Of course, if they want to waste their time and money like this then
    why not let them? If they are stupid enough to do it, fine with me.
    And while we are on the subject, couldn’t we start a petition to
    “censure” other ex-presidents for their less than stellar accomplishments?
    Why not include Ulysses S. Grant or Franklin Pierce? Now here were
    two really underwhelming administrations. Or how about Herbert Hoover?
    The truth is that Carter’s decency and civic-mindedness offends the
    small-minded types in the Repbulican party who have no idea what
    “public service” actually refers to. The idea that a man like Jimmy Carter
    actually spends his free time HELPING people is completely beyond
    their comprehension.

  • How about Calvin Coolidge? He was not the brightest bulb in the room!

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