Carter Pipes up, calls
Bush's Way 'Worst in History'

Foreign relations at ebb, he says 

FRANK LOCKWOOD / Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 19may2007

[Read text of interview | More on Bush]

In a stinging rebuke to President Bush, former President Carter on Friday called the current administration “the worst in history” when it comes to international relations.

During a telephone interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette from the Carter Center in Atlanta, the ex-president also accused the current White House occupant of eliminating the line between church and state and of abandoning “America’s basic values.”

“I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history. The overt reversal of America’s basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including [those of] George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me,” Carter said.

The 39th president said that during Bush’s two terms in office, he has radically departed from every other U.S. president.

source: 22may2007

Carter Calls Bush Administration
Worst Ever

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 19may2007

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion editor Frank Lockwood interviewed former President Carter on Friday.

Carter called the Bush administration “the worst in history” when it comes to foreign affairs and accused the president of abandoning “America’s basic values."

The ex-president also accused Bush of erasing the line between church and state and sharply criticized Bush’s war policies, his arms-control stances and his environmental record during the interview. Carter spoke during a telephone interview from the Carter Center in Atlanta.

The former President was promoting his new audio tape series "Sunday Mornings in Plains", which the Carter said was recorded near the beginning of the Iraq war. After Carter criticized the conflict, he was asked whether Richard Nixon or George W. Bush had been worse as president.

The question and response are included in this clip.

For more from this interview, visit Lockwood's Blog at biblebeltblog.com

source: 22may2007

Bush's Global Impact
'Worst in History'
says Carter

AP 19may2007

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has called President George W. Bush's administration "the worst in history" in international relations, criticizing the White House's policy of pre-emptive war and its Middle East diplomacy.

The criticism from Carter, which a biographer says is unprecedented for the 39th president, also took aim at Bush's environmental policies and the administration's "quite disturbing" faith-based initiative funding.

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story that appeared in the newspaper's Saturday editions.

"The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."

Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo confirmed his comments to the Associated Press on Saturday and declined to elaborate. Carter spoke while promoting his new audiobook series, Sunday Mornings in Plains, a collection of weekly Bible lessons from his hometown of Plains, Ga.

"Apparently, Sunday mornings in Plains for former President Carter includes hurling reckless accusations at your fellow man," said Amber Wilkerson, Republican National Committee spokeswoman. She said it was hard to take Carter seriously because he also "challenged Ronald Reagan's strategy for the Cold War."

Carter came down hard on the Iraq war.

"We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered," he said. "But that's been a radical departure from all previous administration policies."

Comments unprecedented, says biographer Carter, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, criticized Bush for having "zero peace talks" in Israel. Carter also said the administration "abandoned or directly refuted" every negotiated nuclear arms agreement, as well as environmental efforts by other presidents.

Douglas Brinkley, a Tulane University presidential historian and Carter biographer, described Carter's comments as unprecedented.

"This is the most forceful denunciation President Carter has ever made about an American president," Brinkley said. "When you call somebody the worst president, that's volatile. Those are fighting words."

Carter also lashed out Saturday at British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Asked how he would judge Blair's support of Bush, the former president said: "Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient."

"And I think the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world," Carter told BBC radio.

source: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/05/19/carter-bush.html 22may2007