Jimmy Carter Master Meddler

Why would anyone be surprised by the recent actions of former President Jimmy Carter? The Father of the Islamic Revolution, spawned during his tenure in the White House that we still must deal with today, Carter has made a career out of empowering despots and terrorists and his latest actions meeting with the leadership of Hamas is no different.

Tick off the foreign policy blunders that Carter is responsible for both in and out of office starting with the toppling of the Shah of Iran, the botched Iranian Hostage Crisis, his dealings with North Korean President Kim Jong Il that led the Clinton administration to give the diminutive dictator a nuclear store house, and his failure to deal with the Palestinian question when negotiating the Camp David Peace Accord contributed to the wretched state the Palestinian people continued to be mired in.

These are not actions of dimwitted, screw up, but a bought and paid for handmaiden for Israel-hating Middle Eastern types. All you have to do run your finger down the list of contributors to the $200 million endowment that underwrites the $30 million annual budget of the Emory University-based Carter Center and you can read the Who’s Who Of Israel bashers.

According to the Investor’s Business Daily, “Fat cats who've given $1 million since the center's founding in 1982 (and in the hazy disclosures we don't know how much more) include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman, the Saudi Fund for Development and the Government of the United Arab Emirates.

Among individuals who donated more than $100,000 in 2004-05, there is His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman, in addition to bin Talal. Among listed "founders" of the center are the king of Saudi Arabia, BCCI scandal banker Agha Hasan Abedi and Arafat pal Hasib J. Sabbagh.

All of these contributors have virulently anti-Israel elements, and most have medieval records of opposing and obstructing democracy in their own countries.”

The former President’s latest actions have led Michigan Congressman Joe Knollenberg to introduce The CARTER Act, which would prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from being used to finance discussions and negotiations with terrorist groups.

The Coordinated American Response To Extreme Radicals Act, estimates taxpayers already have given the Carter think-tank foundation some $19 million.

Congressman Knollenberg said in a release, "America must speak with one voice against our terrorist enemies. It sends a fundamentally troubling message when an American dignitary is engaged in dialogue with terrorists. My legislation will make sure that taxpayer dollars are not being used to support discussions or negotiations with terrorist groups."

Knollenberg’s bill is a good first step, but Congress needs to take action to eliminate the ridiculous, and very costly Former Presidents Act, which traces it’s roots to 1958 and was passed when former President Truman ended up flat broke and busted when he left office.
Since that point American taxpayers have shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars for the offices, libraries, travel, phones, security, office supplies and equipment, and the postage of former Presidents and their wives. Given the recent headlines proclaiming President Clinton’s and his wife’s earnings in excess of $100 million since he cleaned out he White House, does anyone think it’s necessary for the American public to pick up Bubba’s cell phone bill which runs into the tens of thousands of dollars?

A 2001 General Accounting Office study estimated that the total costs for former Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush (41) from 1977 to 2000 ran upwards of $370 million.
That number didn’t include the cost of the Secret Service security detail for former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson! Lifetime security for former Presidents and their wives became a reality following the assassination of President Kennedy; I have my doubts that Mrs. Johnson was a target for assassins or terrorists. I have equal doubts that most Americans would have been able to pick Mrs. Johnson out of a crowd, let alone a terrorist.

I’m fine with paying former Presidents their pensions, and for some limited security, but I think they can afford their own office rent, plane tickets, and phone bills. Let Bubba hit on the babes on his own dime and let Jimmy Carter foot the bill to play footsie with terrorists!