Jimmy Carter backpedals, says Bush not the worst president in history after all

This article from Bloomberg shows what a wimp Jimmy Carter is. A lot of our problems today come from public figures on the left or in the Democratic Party simply lacking the courage to say the emperor has no clothes on.

Carter Calls Remarks About Bush `Careless or Misinterpreted'
By Nadine Elsibai
Bloomberg
May 21, 2007

Former President Jimmy Carter said remarks he made about Republican President George W. Bush's foreign policy were ``careless or misinterpreted.''

Carter, a Georgia Democrat, had previously called Bush's record on international relations ``the worst in history'' in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published May 19.

``My remarks were maybe careless or misinterpreted, but I wasn't comparing the overall administration and I was certainly not talking personally about any president,'' the 39th president said in an interview on NBC's ``Today Show'' this morning.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said today that Carter's explanation ``highlights the importance of being careful in choosing your words.'' Fratto spoke at a briefing in Crawford, Texas, where Bush stayed through the weekend.

Bush's policies represent an ``overt reversal of America's basic values'' as established by previous administrations, including those of his father, George H.W. Bush, and other Republican presidents, Carter had told the newspaper.

Carter, 82, said today his characterization of Bush's policies came in response to a question about former President Richard Nixon. ``This administration's foreign policy, compared to President Nixon's, was much worse,'' Carter said on NBC. ``I wasn't comparing this administration with other administrations back through history but just with President Nixon's.''

Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, also said he's ``been very careful, and still am, not to criticize any president personally.''

Fratto, after declining to comment on Carter's original comments yesterday, later in the day told reporters that the former president is ``proving to be increasingly irrelevant'' and called his criticism ``reckless'' and ``personal.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Nadine Elsibai in Washington at nelsibai@bloomberg.net