As I’m sure everyone has heard, Jimmy Carter has responded to the nutjob Zell Miller in
an open letter. You can read it at that link, or hit “More” below this little rant.
I have a problem with the letter though. What? Me, have a problem with something that Mr. Americorps himself said? Bizarre. The problem is that what the goober is telling Mr. Miller in his letter is that he shouldn’t have done what he did, solely because he is a Democrat. Maybe it’s because I shun dogmatism and hardline affiliation with anything, let alone political parties, but this rubs me the wrong way.
Not that I disagree that the senator’s appearance at the RNC was disgraceful, to himself, the democrats, the republicans and the American public in general, but I don’t think he should have stayed away just because he’s a Democrat. Carter talks about supporting Presidents that he doesn’t agree with, again, just because they were Democrats. It’s this type of “follow the party” politics that rubs me wrong, and leads to the problems that we see in our government.
Carter does say that Zell-dawg could have just switched parties, but what if he still believe in the tenants of the Democrats? What if it was just the current Dems that he didn’t agree with, or just that this time he agreed with the Republican candidate more? Granted, his speech went a little beyond this, into ridiculousness, but I think that the basic point is that someone should follow their belief structure, not their arbitrary party affiliation when it comes to voting for, or endorsing candidates.
To Sen. Zell Miller:
You seem to have forgotten that loyal Democrats elected you as mayor [of Young Harris] and as state senator. Loyal Democrats, including members of my family and me, elected you as state senator, lieutenant governor and governor. It was a loyal Democrat, Lester Maddox, who assigned you to high positions in the state government when you were out of office. It was a loyal Democrat, Roy Barnes, who appointed you as U.S. senator when you were out of office. By your historically unprecedented disloyalty, you have betrayed our trust.
Great Georgia Democrats who served in the past, including Walter George, Richard Russell, Herman Talmadge and Sam Nunn, disagreed strongly with the policies of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and me, but they remained loyal to the party in which they gained their public office. Other Democrats, because of philosophical differences or the race issue, like Bo Callaway and Strom Thurmond, at least had the decency to become Republicans.
Everyone knows that you were chosen to speak at the Republican National Convention because of your being a “Democrat,” and it’s quite possible that your rabid speech damaged our party and paid the GOP some transient dividends.
Perhaps more troublesome of all is seeing you adopt an established and very effective Republican campaign technique of destroying the character of opponents by wild and false allegations. The Bush campaign’s personal attacks on the character of John McCain in South Carolina in 2000 was a vivid example. The claim that war hero Max Cleland was a disloyal American and an ally of Osama bin Laden should have given you pause, but you have joined in this ploy by your bizarre claims that another war hero, John Kerry, would not defend the security of our nation except with spitballs. (This is the same man whom you described previously as “one of this nation’s authentic heroes, one of this party’s best-known and greatest leaders — and a good friend.”)
I, myself, served in the Navy from 1942 to 1953, and, as president, greatly strengthened our military forces and protected our nation and its interests in every way. I don’t believe this warrants your referring to me as a pacifist.
Zell, I have known you for 42 years and have, in the past, respected you as a trustworthy political leader and a personal friend. But now, there are many of us loyal Democrats who feel uncomfortable in seeing that you have chosen the rich over the poor, unilateral pre-emptive war over a strong nation united with others for peace, lies and obfuscation over the truth, and the political technique of personal character assassination as a way to win elections or to garner a few moments of applause. These are not the characteristics of great Democrats whose legacy you and I have inherited.
Sincerely, and with deepest regrets,
Jimmy Carter
justinª