Comments on: Hamas, the ex-president, and the blindness

By: Sabba Hillel

Sabba Hillel — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:29:17 +0000

Actually, we should express sympathy for Mr. Carter as his Alzheimer’s (or some other form of senile dementia) continues to get worse.While it appears that he has been getting worse for some time, we should send him sympathy and get well cards.

Imagine his reaction to email and letters expresing sympathy for he Alzheimer’s disease.

By: Derick Schilling

Derick Schilling — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:58:43 +0000

I agree with Alex Bensky, though one could argue that Carter’s considerable capacity for self-righteousness blinds him to his own narcissism, and the extent to which the narcissistic injury he suffered in 1980 drives him to act as if he’s still President and not an ex-president who might be expected to defer to the foreign policies of the administration actually in power.

I also think Carter has a “Jewish problem,” one he shares with an unfortunately significant number of liberal/”progressive” Christians, in which a secular-political supersessionism is laid over the template of theological supersessionism. Traditional Christian anti-Semitism saw Israel’s “sin” as the rejection of the New Covenant of Christ; contemporary Christian anti-Zionism attacks Israel for its alleged colonialism, violations of human rights, supposed defiance of the UN, and other offenses against the “New Dispensation” of post-national politics.

I fully expect Carter will give Mashaal a pious sermon about not targetting civilians, Mashaal will respond by playing the victim (“The occupation! The settlements! The Nakhba! They have F16s! They martyred Farfoul!”), and Carter will then fall over himself to express his sympathy for Palestinian suffering and never get around to asking Mashaal if he really believes the Rotarians are part of the global Zionist conspiracy.

By: Alex Bensky

Alex Bensky — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:59:17 +0000

Despite the headline to the post, Meryl, I don’t think Carter’s problem on this issue is blindness. I wish it were.

By: Sabba Hillel

Sabba Hillel — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:58:07 +0000

Both Efraim Halevy, a former head of the Mossad spy agency, and Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former foreign minister, say Hamas can no longer be ignored.

Yes, that is true that they can no longer be ignored. However, that does not. mean that we should have a dialogue with the murderers. It means that we should no longer allow them to freely and without punishment carry out their murderous activities. Not ignoring them means that we should wipe them out before they kill us.

By: John Rich

John Rich — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:56:04 +0000

I’m clean. Never voted for Carter, thought he was too sanctimonious in ’76; too much an idiot by ’80.

That said, I also used to think that he was not a hater of Jews. But, since his (thankfully) early retirement he seems to have embraced virtually every dictator and terror group sworn to kill Jews and destroy Israel. It becomes harder and harder, nay, impossible, not to see Carter as an anti-Semite.

I’m also a Baptist, as is Carter, but he’s played out the rope on my Christian charity. He is an embarrassment to all Christians who should love Israel and the Jewish people. Those of us who read Scripture, that is, and know that God does not break his promises.

To be fair, Carter has done some good since leaving office (e.g. Habitat for Humanity). But he has also become a caricature of the Stupid American, bumbling about in world affairs. And, like it or not, an ex-president may be presumed to represent America.

He’s earned the title: Worst Ex-President Ever.