Hat Tip & Quotes: David Limbaugh at Townhall.com

President Bush should…

“… apologize to Tony Blair and the British people for the uncharitable, unfair and reprehensible remarks of former president Jimmy Carter, who has dishonored the sacrifices of America, Britain and their respective armed forces.”

And former president Jimmy Carter should apologize to President George W. Bush for continuing to foster the Great American Malaise 30 years after his (thankfully only) one term of executive dis-orders. I believe Carter’s uncertain leadership and skewed isolationism of the ’70s has precipitated a movement today which holds that by attacking Iraq (or by taking any initiative against terrorism), President Bush…

“… has made peaceful Muslims the world over — who are otherwise inclined to love us dearly, of course — hate us and become homicidal suicide bombers.”

Limbaugh wonders:

“Why then, does Carter get a pass for constantly contributing to America’s negative image by telling the world how bad we are?”

He gets a pass because he is the ideological head of this malaise movement, articulating what roughly 50% of Americans have been hoodwinked into believing - that we are bad. And when people endorse a leader of a movement that expresses their thoughts and feelings they tend to ignore those attributes that reveal the true character of the person. Witness Bill Clinton.

And yes, conservatives are guilty of this as well. We can not blindly ditto everything any leader or pundit might say. Yet, it seems to me that there is a fundamental difference of perspective between - let’s let history instruct us - Carter and Reagan. One was defeated by circumstances and was clueless as to America’s role in the world (you can guess which one I’m referring to) and the other communicated greatness, optimism, hope and the way of democracy.

Of course, Bush (in my opinion) is no Ronald Reagan. Nevertheless, our President represents a movement that is fighting tooth and nail against the malaise of our own citizens as well as the terrorism of those from the outside that would seek to destroy the way of democracy. Can we shake off our stupor and once again advance the greatness, optimism, and hope of our American legacy?

It’s really a choice, isn’t it? We Americans act angry at ourselves because we view ourselves negatively. We view ourselves negatively because we keep saying we are bad, bad, bad. We say these negative statements because we think we aren’t worthy of greatness. We think negatively because of a false beliefs about ourselves. And we believe false things about ourselves because we’ve chosen to believe what is false.

Reminds me of the story about a new family driving into town. They stop at the gas station and ask the owner, “What type of people live in this town?” “What type of people were in the town you just left?” asked the owner. “Oh, they were horrible, negative, back-biting gossips,” came the reply. “Well, you’ll find more of the same here.”

Another new family drives up an hour later and asks the same question, “What type of people live in this town?” “What type of people were in the town you just left?” asked the owner. “Oh, they were just great - some of the most friendly, positive, helpful people in the whole world,” came the reply. “Well, you’ll find more of the same here.”

The choice is ours.  Let’s continue to believe that democracy is more virtuous than terror; that America advances what is good, right, and moral; that since much had been given to us much is demanded; and that if a person really doesn’t like America they can move to Iraq.  Which reminds me of another history lesson from the ’70s - “America: Love It or Leave It.”

Said Lyn @ 12:37 pm | Permalink   

1. There’s a bit of a flaw in Limbaugh’s thinking (natch). True, US approval ratings in place like Egypt and Jordan are horrible. Thing is, Bush and Blair have horrible approval ratings at home The President’s approval ratings have been below 40% for over a year, and Blair’s ratings are even worse. It’s a bit hard to argue that everyone in the Muslim world hates us because they’re all bloodthirsty terrorist sympathizers, when the majority of American and Britons think their leadership stinks too. The idea of Bush apologizing to the British people for Carter’s comments–comments the majority of Britons would agree with–is hilarious.

   So either the majority of Americans have been “hoodwinked”, as you say, into thinking that we are “bad”, or maybe the majority of Americans have come to realize that the policies of the Bush Administration have been catastrophic failures that have cost thousands of our soldiers’ lives, tens of thousands of casualities, and hundreds of billions of dollars. With the end result being an Iraq teetering on the brink of civil war, Iran the biggest beneficiary of our policies, bin Laden still on the loose, and pretty much everyone in the Middle East hating our guts.

   I think the majority of Americans are proud to be Americans. I think most of us believe our country is pretty great. Unfortunately, we do have something to be ashamed of. We failed in our duty as citizens and elected a man like George W. Bush as our President. Twice. History will not be kind to Mr. Bush, as he will certainly go down as one of the worst (if not the worst) President in US history, and his decision to go to war with Iraq one of the great foreign policy blunders of all-time. Still, We the People must accept some of the blame as well. We put him into office. Including a mind-boggling second term. We should be ashamed of ourselves, and hopefully the electorate will partially atone in November by turing the House and/or the Senate over to the Democrats and hopefully freeze the last two years of his term in amber.

   Comment by Mean Gene — 8/29/2006 @ 1:48 pm

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2. “[They say that by attacking Iraq he] has made peaceful Muslims the world over — who are otherwise inclined to love us dearly, of course — hate us and become homicidal suicide bombers.” Who the heck are “they”? Carter didn’t say that. He expressed his dismay that Blair has not acted as more of a constraining influence on Bush. What exactly is Carter suppose to apologize for? When did you guys get to be so PC?

   Comment by Carol — 8/29/2006 @ 3:05 pm

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3. How many times have we heard Democrats bleat about how we need allies to help us in the war on terror?

   And then, idiots like the Peanut President turn around and trash the best ally this country has had since the end of the war of 1812.

   And have we revised the rules for behavior that used to govern the conduct of ex-presidents? Have we also trashed the idea that “politics stops at the water’s edge?”

   Or, like so many other rules of conduct or ethics do those standards continue to apply ONLY to Republicans?

   Comment by Mike's America — 8/29/2006 @ 9:49 pm

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4. Jimmy Carter didn’t trash the people or the armed forces of Great Britain. He trashed the government of Tony Blair. A government that is hugely unpopular in Britain. So I fail to see how Carter (or anyone) else owes the people of Great Britain an apology, since they agree that Blair’s Iraq policy (and his inexplicable backing of Bush) have been disasters.

   I certainly don’t think that there should be a rule that retired Presidents or other government officials should comment on current government policy, especially when the policies are almost inevitably disasters. As virtually everything the Bush Administration has become. Hopefully there are still people in the world who believe the United States is still capable of electing a government of intelligent, competent, and honorable people. This Administration has none of those qualities, and it’s good for the rest of the world to hear from time to time that there are people who realize that our current policies are disasters. It gives the world (and us, of course) hope that things will change for the better in the future.

   Comment by Mean Gene — 8/29/2006 @ 11:07 pm

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