They say that as you age, you become more of who you truly are.

In that case, we're seeing the preening vacuous fool that James Earl Carter must have always been.

"I guess my biggest failure was not getting reelected," he said in an interview with Big Think, referring to the 1980 presidential election.

Carter, 86, said the loss taught him "not to ever let American hostages be held for 444 days in a foreign country without extracting them." He added, "I did the best I could, but I failed."

When his minion Warren Christopher shined his shoes and explained

Not "maybe we wouldn't be looking down the barrel of a major confrontation with state-supported Islamist radicals." Not "maybe 9/11 wouldn't have happened, and tens of thousands of people wouldn't have died." Not any number of other things involving the United States and our relations with the rest of the world. Ronald effing Reagan's election is as bad a thing as he can imagine.

I can't imagine a more insular view of things. And I'm terrified that one of the actual people who shaped events can't see past the mirrored window of his political party.

If you wonder why some people (not me) want Palin for President, think about what it means that these clowns are the height of Washington respectability.
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