“The first time I came here to Cape Town I almost got in a fight with the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, because he was refusing to let Aids be treated,” Carter told the Sunday Times newspaper.
He said at the time, then-health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was standing with Mbeki.
“That’s the closest I’ve come to getting into a fist fight with a head of state”.
Carter said he and Bill Gates senior were trying to convince Mbeki to at least provide antiretroviral treatment to pregnant women with Aids, “but Mbeki was against that”.
Well over eighty years old and still willing to knock a mofo out if he does not help prevent AIDS.
I will ALWAYS be a fan of Jimmy Carter's.
He was the first presidential candidate for whom voted. Sadly he lost to Ronald Reagan, a loss that still pisses me off to this day.
2012 was close to a replay of 1980.
ReplyDeleteUes, he lost to Reagan, the first election rigged by the GOP (I'm betting Rove was involved.) That was my first election as well, and Carter impressed me as a humble, caring man back then, and still is the most honest politician ever. The way they used the hostage situation to embarrass and humiliate him turned me against the GOP then, and the way they try to eviscerate the competition now has kept me away from that sad excuse for a party. But Jimmy Carter make sme proud of my country...Habitat for Humanity, the Carter Foundation, and the Clinton Initiative..these men think bigger than what's between their legs, and they realize that we are not an island of 'exceptionalism,' but merely a very wealthy segment of this Earth, and we have a repsonsibility to the rest of humanity not to kill them, but to bring them up if we can. Democrtas get it. Republicans take it away.
ReplyDeleteMe too. Carter stood for something. I think we would have been years ahead on alternate energy. I come from a GOP family, but that loss to RR pulled the veil from my eyes about what republicans were really about. I have not trusted since, and when the wailing from Wasilla started with its deification of RR, my bowels jolted.
ReplyDeletePresident Carter always had my admiration, and it continues to grow.
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't my first time voting but I share the admiration for Carter. It's my belief that the man was our last president who actually did what he thought was right for the country at each turn rather than giving in. And I share the feeling that Reagan was a giant step down; he set the stage for the pretty boys who live in others' pockets. As leaders they not only stank but left a rotten smell behind, some more than others but none holding a candle to Carter. The man is one of the very few actual Christians.
ReplyDeleteHe is a great man. I did vote for him both times. He should have won reelection but we all know how that went down.
ReplyDelete55 mph! An understanding of the connections among complex problems! A determination to bring peace and justice to the world! I love President Carter!
ReplyDeletePlus, the subject of one of the greatest SNL skits EVER.
Totally with you on that one Gryphen!! About being peeved he lost to R.R. I "voted" in that election in our 4th grade class at school. I still remember the disappointment. And I wonder to this day how our world would have been different if we could have avoided the Ronald Reagan years.
ReplyDeleteI, of course, don't say that too loudly to the maniaclly conservative bunch around here. (First, is that a word and second, would there be one 'l' or two, as my spell checker doesn't like it either way.)
Regardless, I think Jimmy Carter has taken a bunch of flak and handled it with grace. What a human for our children to emulate. Too bad the politicians today are light years away from the caliber of President Carter.
maniacally.
DeleteYes. It's a word.
Our last great former president! Jimmy also tried to stop our energy dependence. If he had today's technologies of solar and wind, etc., he would have succeeded.
ReplyDeleteThere were megawatt windmills in the late forties.
DeleteHe was my first presidential vote as well, one I've always been proud of. He took the blame for a lot of crap that came down during his time in office that he had nothing to do with.
ReplyDeleteAnd the damage Reagan did to the country is huge. The decline of the middle class can be traced directly to his policies.
The only reason for me to pimp Oliver Stone's "Untold History of the U.S" book, is that it freaking blew me AWAY!
ReplyDeleteOne of the big surprises was the criticism of Carter...nowhere NEAR as biting as all the other Presidents to follow FDR (even Obama got zapped for his hawkish military stance)--but documented history shows Carter too often yielded to the bad guys in government.
In his defense, I will say that it was usually an act of OMISSION rather than such evil acts like Johnson's lies about the Vietnamese "Navy" (a broken down fishing boat) overwhelming U.S. battleships in the Gulf of Tonkin...
...or Bush's malarkey about "WMD's" in Saddam's hands.
It's usually what a President accomplishes AFTER office that shows their true character. The Carter Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and The Clinton Foundation.
ReplyDeleteHow does one "Top" that? President GWBush paints selfies of his legs and feet in a bathtub.
See what I meant?
Yes, he lost because he was too nakedly Christian. Didn't stoop to politicking, so he was metaphorically crucified.
ReplyDelete