Written by: Beck

It occurs to me that when Carter dies, he'll receive the sort of attention from the left which Reagan received from the right. That's going to be exceptionally unpleasant for me to watch. Hopefully I'll have the good taste to behave better than the far left did, not that the likes of Ted Rall set the bar too high. I think I'll just be silent.

Carter's harping his military service. Of all things, why open with that? Could it be that John Kerry's entire political platform seems to revolve around the fact that he served in Vietnam?

"Our dominant international challenge today is to restore the dominance of America." Evidently Mr. Carter hasn't heard of terrorism. I guess he has more in common with Yasser Arafat than just a Nobel Peace Prize.

"Let us not forget that the Soviet Union lost the Cold War because of American adherence to values and bipartisan support." I'm paraphrasing again. Looks like the Dems are trying to coopt Reagan's legacy. They seem to have forgotten how viciously they opposed everything Reagan did. Bipartisan my ass.

"...Israel withholding justice from the Palestinians..." WOW.

"In the world at large, we cannot lead if our leaders mislead." That's the final item on his list of values (I'm not sure how that constitutes a value, just try to keep up) which America must remember if it's going to be successful in fighting the war on terror. Is that really the best line you could come up with Jimmy? I mean... that quote would have gotten me a 'C' in high school English.

Conclusion: they started strong with a strong speech from Al Gore and have been heading steadily down hill. Now I see why this is the first DNC Carter has been allowed to speak at in over a decade. At times his speech sounded like he was making it up as he went along. Much of it didn't make any sense beyond empty rhetorical flourishes.

Update: Carter being interviewed after his speech on PBS:

Carter says he wasn't irritated to not speak at any convention since 1992. Evidently it hasn't exactly been a burning desire for him (he sounds quite sincere when he says that, which I can respect).

Carter has been to over 120 countries. Impressive tally.

Carter clarrifying his message: Bush is an extremist. No one in the world trusts Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld (Rice and Powell get a pass). Saddam has been proven to not have a connection with Al Qaeda.

Now a third mention of Cheney. Carter has it in for him. Big time. Carter refuses to say what we should have done in response to 9/11 beyond, "We should have stayed in Afghanistan." Ummm... we're still there dude.

The decision to invade Iraq was made before Bush took office. And yes, he made that accusation with a straight face. Now he's reiterated it.

Finally, the Democratic strategy for comatting Islamic extremism should be to combine anti-terror efforts with France, Germany, and Russia. Really. Carter just said that.

Update: Protein Wisdom has some invaluable insights into Carter's nefarious strategy.

Update: Kevin of Wizbang doesn't think too much of Democrats' wisdom choosing Jimmy Carter to speak on foreign policy blunders.