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The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

washingtonpost.com

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Re: The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

#91

Post by tptacek »

pmiller2 wrote: post #61
tptacek wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article discusses his pension and, if you reread it, points out that he does not in fact get medical benefits from his tenure in government.

Yes, he gets medical benefits from Emory University. It’s irrelevant. Who cares where he gets them from? The point still stands that he has unimaginable riches compared to the vast majority of Americans.

If you're not talking about the rewards from his government service, then it's hard to figure out what your point would be, because the vast majority of Americans do in fact have health coverage.

Re: The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

#92

Post by danso »

pmiller2 wrote: post #79
danso wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what does that point have to do with this article, which details how differently Carter lives compared to other former presidents? I think it’s self-evident that Carter, being one of the fewer than 50 men in the history of the U.S. to be elected president, has an existence generally unimaginable the the vast majority of Americans.

That’s precisely what’s wrong. How can people who have “unimaginable existences” represent me?

The article does not purport to represent you or the general readership of the Washington Post. It says right in the title that it is about former President Jimmy Carter, and presumably, people are interested in reading about other people's lives, even ones that are profoundly different from their own.

Re: The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

#94

Post by RickJWagner »

pmyteh wrote: post #3

Jimmy Carter is without question one of the all-time great ex-presidents. Whatever the successes or failings of his administration, he's used his time since to improve the world, and is honest, uncorrupt, and suitably (ex-)presidential.

Yes, I agree.

Re: The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

#95

Post by humanrebar »

icebraining wrote: post #83
humanrebar wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, he's a nice man but a poor leader. He had lots of really nice things to say about Chavez and Castro when they died, for instance. Even if you're left wing, you need to acknowledge they did some pretty awful things to their people as leaders.

He had lots of really nice things to say about Chavez and Castro when they died, for instance. Lots of really nice things? What he said about Castro: "We remember fondly our visits with him in Cuba and his love of his country."

It's an odd thing to be fond of visiting with a man with the justified infamy of Castro. He is responsible for human rights violations, escalation of the cold war in the Western Hemisphere, crippling the Cuban economy and any number of other things. But I guess he loved his country. Except for the people he exiled to the U.S. I guess.

Re: The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

#96

Post by humanrebar »

freddie_mercury wrote: post #41
DanielGee wrote: post #24

The most "un-celebrity"? I'd say carter is the most "celebrity" ex-president we've had in a long time. He has used his celebrity to advocate for his charities ( habitat for humanity for example ) and for human rights ( same sex marriage, race equality, etc ) and political issues ( north korea, iran, etc ). If you equate celebrity with making it rain in clubs, then I guess carter is "un-celebrity". But the guy has bee…

I just read a story about Obama and Arethra Franklin yet you think Carter is the most visible ex-president?

OK. Second most celebrity is fair. Why downvote a valid opinion, folks?

Re: The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

#97

Post by humanrebar »

wildmusings wrote: post #73

He has yet to apologize for going to Venezuela and legitimizing the re-election of Hugo Chavez, who was violently repressing independent media and rounding up dissidents, by calling the Venezuelan election process "the best in the world".

The downvote brigade in this thread belies the appreciation of a kinder, more civil approach to public life.

Re: The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

#98

Post by r00fus »

ethbro wrote: post #42
iambateman wrote: post #29

I loved the quip about the presidential cooler that they use to store leftovers. President Carter is the kind of down-to-earth person I would want to hang out with, while at the same time using his position to build thousands of homes and fight river blindness and give vaccines to millions of people. I wonder if another person like him will ever ascend to lead the United States.

I generally try to vote for the presidential candidate who grew up with greater economic hardship. It tends to be a pretty decent predictor of character. (Admittedly, a pool selected for those who did and who rose to become candidates) No comment on the opposite...

Regressing one step further you could also vote in the primary for the same criteria (within reason).

Re: The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

#99

Post by icebraining »

humanrebar wrote: post #95
icebraining wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He had lots of really nice things to say about Chavez and Castro when they died, for instance. Lots of really nice things? What he said about Castro: "We remember fondly our visits with him in Cuba and his love of his country."

It's an odd thing to be fond of visiting with a man with the justified infamy of Castro. He is responsible for human rights violations, escalation of the cold war in the Western Hemisphere, crippling the Cuban economy and any number of other things. But I guess he loved his country. Except for the people he exiled to the U.S. I guess.

"He is responsible for human rights violations, escalation of the cold war in the Western Hemisphere, crippling the Cuban economy"

Those would indeed be funny accusations for an ex-POTUS to make.

Re: The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly

#100

Post by leereeves »

hfdgiutdryg wrote: post #75
BrainInAJar wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://articles.latimes.com/1996-10-07/local/me-51336_1_sout...

Your claim that, "Jimmy Carter sent the military to go massacre students" is not supported by that article. It was an interesting read, though.

> According to declassified U.S. documents I obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the Carter administration gave prior approval to Chun to use the army to quell the wave of unrest that shook South Korea in the spring of 1980. The hundreds of State Department and Pentagon cables contradict the official U.S. claims that the Carter administration was surprised by Chun's resort to force and had no advance knowledge he was deploying paratroopers trained to fight in North Korea against his own citizens.
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