Jimmy Carter Remembered Fondly by Bill Gates, Environmentalists (gatesnotes.com) 68
As America begins a six-day state funeral for former president Jimmy Carter, Microsoft co-founder/philanthropist Bill Gates shared "my fondest memory" this week. "He and Rosalynn were among my first and most inspiring role models in global health."
They played a pretty profound role in the early days of the Gates Foundation. I'm especially grateful that they introduced us to Dr. Bill Foege, who once helped eradicate smallpox and was a key advisor for our global health work.
Jimmy and Rosalynn were also good friends to my dad. One of my favorite photographs of all time shows Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, and my dad in South Africa holding babies at a medical clinic. I remember my dad coming back from that trip with a whole new appreciation for Jimmy's passion for helping people with HIV. At the time, then-President Thabo Mbeki was refusing to let people with HIV get treatment, and my dad watched Jimmy almost get into a fist fight with Mbeki over the issue. As Jimmy said in a 2012 conversation at the Gates Foundation hosted by my dad, "He was claiming there was no relationship between HIV and AIDS and that the medicines that we were sending in, the antiretroviral medicines, were a white person's plot to help kill black babies." At a time when a quarter of all people in South Africa were HIV positive, Jimmy just couldn't accept Mbeki's obstructionism.
Ars Technica reported it was also Jimmy Carter who saved America's space shuttle program.
And Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House (which "were later removed by his successor, Ronald Reagan," according to Boiling Point, an environmental newsletter from the Los Angeles Times): He tried and largely failed to block construction of more than a dozen expensive, environmentally destructive water infrastructure projects such as dams, canals and reservoirs. He also tried to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, implementing the first vehicle fuel-efficiency standards and tasking researchers with bringing down the cost of solar panels — an effort he predicted could be "a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people...." And although he was largely thinking about how to free Americans from geopolitical crises that could wreak havoc on oil supplies and gasoline prices, he also had heat-trapping greenhouse gases in mind... The final report from the White House Council on Environmental Quality warned that fossil fuel combustion could cause "widespread and pervasive changes in global climatic, economic, social, and agricultural patterns." It advised that to avoid such risks, we should limit global temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels — the goal eventually agreed to by nearly 200 nations, 35 years later.
Even if Carter's actions were targeted more at reducing oil imports than at cutting planet-warming pollution — he was willing to increase domestic coal production if it meant less dependence on foreign crude — the political battles he fought, particularly those he lost, have lessons for those of us who care about the climate today. The historian Kai Bird, for instance, notes that after struggling to pass a tax on gas-guzzling cars, Carter wrote in his diary, "The influence of the oil and gas industry is unbelievable, and it's impossible to arouse the public to protect themselves." Indeed, oil and gas companies still wield huge influence. SUVs are more popular than ever.
The newsletter argues the story of Carter's life can be an inspiration, since Carter saw a lot of changes in his 100 years.
"We need to see more changes to survive. May we all be as lucky as Carter was."
Jimmy and Rosalynn were also good friends to my dad. One of my favorite photographs of all time shows Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, and my dad in South Africa holding babies at a medical clinic. I remember my dad coming back from that trip with a whole new appreciation for Jimmy's passion for helping people with HIV. At the time, then-President Thabo Mbeki was refusing to let people with HIV get treatment, and my dad watched Jimmy almost get into a fist fight with Mbeki over the issue. As Jimmy said in a 2012 conversation at the Gates Foundation hosted by my dad, "He was claiming there was no relationship between HIV and AIDS and that the medicines that we were sending in, the antiretroviral medicines, were a white person's plot to help kill black babies." At a time when a quarter of all people in South Africa were HIV positive, Jimmy just couldn't accept Mbeki's obstructionism.
Ars Technica reported it was also Jimmy Carter who saved America's space shuttle program.
And Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House (which "were later removed by his successor, Ronald Reagan," according to Boiling Point, an environmental newsletter from the Los Angeles Times): He tried and largely failed to block construction of more than a dozen expensive, environmentally destructive water infrastructure projects such as dams, canals and reservoirs. He also tried to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, implementing the first vehicle fuel-efficiency standards and tasking researchers with bringing down the cost of solar panels — an effort he predicted could be "a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people...." And although he was largely thinking about how to free Americans from geopolitical crises that could wreak havoc on oil supplies and gasoline prices, he also had heat-trapping greenhouse gases in mind... The final report from the White House Council on Environmental Quality warned that fossil fuel combustion could cause "widespread and pervasive changes in global climatic, economic, social, and agricultural patterns." It advised that to avoid such risks, we should limit global temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels — the goal eventually agreed to by nearly 200 nations, 35 years later.
Even if Carter's actions were targeted more at reducing oil imports than at cutting planet-warming pollution — he was willing to increase domestic coal production if it meant less dependence on foreign crude — the political battles he fought, particularly those he lost, have lessons for those of us who care about the climate today. The historian Kai Bird, for instance, notes that after struggling to pass a tax on gas-guzzling cars, Carter wrote in his diary, "The influence of the oil and gas industry is unbelievable, and it's impossible to arouse the public to protect themselves." Indeed, oil and gas companies still wield huge influence. SUVs are more popular than ever.
The newsletter argues the story of Carter's life can be an inspiration, since Carter saw a lot of changes in his 100 years.
"We need to see more changes to survive. May we all be as lucky as Carter was."
That was Gates' fondest memory? (Score:1, Flamebait)
Huh, I'd have put money on it being something from Epstein's island.
Re: (Score:1)
I know another famous person who keeps turning up in photos with Epstein and even said that releasing the files could be problematic for people.
Immoral (Score:1)
Bill Gates also supported right wing hate groups in Europe through the journolobbying site TechCentralStation.
Not to mention the OpenXML standardisation corruption.
He also caused Joi Ito to lose his MIT Media Lab job for the reasons of Epstein money Bill Gates tunneled to MIT.
" President Carter’s example of moral leadership will inspire me for as long as I’m able to pursue philanthropy"
Bitt Gates is free to clean up his own immoral actions. I don't forget what he has done to us in Brussels.
Funny how nostalgia works (Score:2, Interesting)
Incumbents usually have a big advantage, but Carter was slaughtered by Reagan in 1980, getting only 10% of the electoral college, so failing to win a second term.
People loathed him for some reason, but he became a saint in later years. A bit like Bill Gates.
Re:Funny how nostalgia works (Score:4, Insightful)
It appears to me that Carter was "loathed" in part because he was telling people to lower the thermostat on their furnace and wear sweaters indoors. Carter was mocked for this.
Carter was following Democrat party policies of no coal and no nuclear, and that left people with rising energy costs. When pushed on this Democrats, including Carter, gave in halfway and allowed for more coal. That helped on lowering energy costs, but it also meant more air pollution.
After his time as POTUS Carter did a lot of charity work. This did plenty to improve his public image but did little to put his time in office in better light.
Re:Funny how nostalgia works (Score:5, Insightful)
It appears to me that Carter was "loathed" in part because he was telling people to lower the thermostat on their furnace and wear sweaters indoors.
The American embassy in Tehran being overrun and hostages taken didn't help things either.
Re: Funny how nostalgia works (Score:3)
Fair enough, but lay that at the feet of Eisenhower and the CIA who created the fertile ground for it by overgrowing Iran's government and installing Mohammed Reza Palavi.
Carter just happened to be president when the music stopped.
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Fair enough, but lay that at the feet of Eisenhower and the CIA who created the fertile ground for it by overgrowing Iran's government and installing Mohammed Reza Palavi.
Carter just happened to be president when the music stopped.
It was a bit more than that. The Soviets were on the move in the 70's, and when they invaded Afghanistan, there was a feeling that the Soviets were pushing America around on the global stage. Combined with the gas crisis (I'm old enough to remember the lines and gas rationing of 1978-79), the Soviet victories around the world only added pressure when it became apparent that America of 1979 couldn't protect its own embassy or free its own hostages from a bunch of men in robes straight out of 13th century vil
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Yes, but... We're talking about the American People, and you're trying to be logical. The two don't easily mix! What the public saw was "Americans taken hostage, the president must solve this, fast!" and "Some people hate America, the president should solve this, fast!", and "We were all ready to buy their oil cheap then somebody screwed up, the president better fix this, fast!"
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Reagan did a number on Carter by negotiating behind his back for the hostages to remain in custody until he was inaugurated.
No, it wasn't the nukes [Re:Funny how nostalgi...] (Score:2)
Carter was following Democrat party policies of no coal and no nuclear, and that left people with rising energy costs.
Since power plants take years to build, power-plant construction policies really would have had no effect on energy cost during his administration. Nuclear plants built in the 1970s typically took ten years from start of construction to producing power. Even coal power plants have construction times ranging from 4 to 7 years.
The actual reason for rising energy costs during the 1970s was political turmoil in the middle east, starting with the 1973 oil embargo, but continuing through the Iranian hostage cri
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People only want to hear stuff that makes them feel good. They don't want to hear stuff that might make them feel bad. So, "conserve energy by using less" is something they don't want to hear. Phrasing it as "conserve energy so that the terrists don't win!" wouldn't work as it was too soon for terrorist fear based thinking. More like "conserve energy and we can defeat this oil embargo!" might have helped (though he sort of implied that).
Essentially, nobody likes to be told to take their medicine, they'd
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I recall I saw in a TED Talk where someone discussed some experiment on what would motivate people to lower their energy consumption. It turns out that the best motivator was showing someone how their neighbors used less energy. It's a kind of "keeping up with the Jones" mentality only the competition is framed as that of conserving energy. I see this tactic in my utility bills but it fails on me since I know they rigged the game.
I live alone. Most of my lights are LED, the exceptions being outdoor ligh
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I'm not sure which are the "similar homes" but I suspect they're not actually my neighbors.
Lame (Duck) Nostalgia, is lame. (Score:1)
Incumbents usually have a big advantage, but Carter was slaughtered by Reagan in 1980, getting only 10% of the electoral college, so failing to win a second term. People loathed him for some reason, but he became a saint in later years. A bit like Bill Gates.
The main takeaway from this, is realizing the concept of a “lame duck” President, is and always has been a fucking stupid metric championed by media for shits, clicks, and profits sake. Calling a one-term President of the United States lame is akin to chastising the Olympic gold medal recipient for not breaking the world record when winning. Every time.
A peanut farmer was beaten by an actor. That was hardly a shocking win given what a Hollywood spotlight can do for someone. Taylor Swift cou
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the concept of a “lame duck” President, is and always has been a fucking stupid metric
Thats odd. Round here, lame duck refers just to the period between losing the election, and the handover of power. Which is very brief.
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A peanut farmer was beaten by an actor. That was hardly a shocking win given what a Hollywood spotlight can do for someone.
Carter wasn't just a peanut farmer, and Reagan wasn't just an actor.
I'm going on mostly memory here so forgive me if I make some error. Both served as officers in WW2. Both served as governors. Carter attended a military academy during war so it is likely his education was a bit "truncated" as the military needed a lot of officers quickly. He earned his degree, I'm not doubting that, but the education was likely a "general studies" degree or something than the usual degree in some specific discipline.
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I'm going on mostly memory here so forgive me if I make some error. Both served as officers in WW2.
Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946, so, no, he did not serve in WW2.
Both served as governors. Carter attended a military academy during war so it is likely his education was a bit "truncated" as the military needed a lot of officers quickly. He earned his degree, I'm not doubting that, but the education was likely a "general studies" degree or something than the usual degree in some specific discipline.
Carter had a four-year degree from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. The Naval Academy is generally a well-regarded school. If you are going to claim that the Naval Academy is some sort of inferior school that gives "truncated" education, I'd like to see some support for this assertion.
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Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946, so, no, he did not serve in WW2.
Carter entered the academy in 1943, which was considered military service during WW2 as the war did not end until 1945. He received the WW2 Victory medal so as far as the US federal government is concerned Carter served in WW2.
Carter had a four-year degree from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. The Naval Academy is generally a well-regarded school. If you are going to claim that the Naval Academy is some sort of inferior school that gives "truncated" education, I'd like to see some support for this assertion.
Carter graduated in 1946 as the "class of 1947" because during WW2 all the US military academies packed a four year degree into three years. I don't know all the details on how they did this, only that during this period no students declared a major. They had no options to choose a
Re:Funny how nostalgia works (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, and prolly the biggest reason for the said "slaughter" was the perceived "failure" of Carter to free the US hostages held by Iran.
The reason for the hostages being kept was Reagan's team, which negotiated with Iran to keep the hostages until the election was over.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com... [smithsonianmag.com]
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For the allegations that the Reagan-Bush team negotiated with the Iranian hostage-takers not release the hostages until after the election, see: https://irp.fas.org/congress/1... [fas.org]
(For what it's worth, Reagan himself was not accused of this. It was members of his campaign team that were said to have set up the negotiations to transfer weapons to Iran when the hostages were released after he was elected, not Reagan personally. They continued to set up the "trade arms for return of hostages" deals with Iran a
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Also, Iran was very pissed at Carter due to the attempted military action (invasion) to free the hostages. That essentially meant that the Carter administration couldn't have negotiated their way out of it. Had the military action worked, Carter would have been seen as a hero and been extremely popular. But the failure gets assigned to the man at the top, even if that man was not involved in the planning. There are probably still people today who see the botched rescue as being due to personal failures b
Re: Funny how nostalgia works (Score:2)
They claimed this about Nixon too - which also (at least based on the reasonably objective reasoning of the professional modern historian Dominic Sandbrook) is likely bullshit.
It's a very easy way of explaining "your guy's" dithering incompetence "the other guy was messing with our subtle diplomacy!"
It's pretty usual that an incoming president is going to be engaging on foreign policy issues. And there is no way to soft-pedal the gross weakness of the Carter administration that got them taken, nor the trag
Re: Funny how nostalgia works (Score:2)
Maybe now one of the Carter family can say what âoereallyâ happened.
It wasnâ(TM)t just Iran/Contra. George Bush actively sabotaged the rescue efforts of Delta Force.
Of course that will be written off as a conspiracy theory. But letâ(TM)s run down all the proven evil deeds;
Ollie North helped run cocaine drops to fund corporate slaughters by mercenaries in Latin America. These operations also helped pay for weapons to be shipped to anti US religious extremists in Iran. Meanwhile, this same
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Yep. Also, Cheney, Rumsfield, and I forgot who else of the Gerald Ford "team A" fame, the folks who actually propelled Nixon and Ronnie.
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Incumbents usually have a big advantage, but Carter was slaughtered by Reagan in 1980, getting only 10% of the electoral college, so failing to win a second term. People loathed him for some reason,
It's pretty clear that Carter lost the election because of the 53 American hostages held by Iran. The hostages were released less than an hour after Reagan was sworn in.
The role played by Iran in getting Reagan elected was probably the worst move that Iran could have made, but it looks like they really didn't have any sort of strategy or plan. They wanted to disrupt American elections, without thinking that the right-wing wouldn't be sympathetic.
Re: Funny how nostalgia works (Score:2)
Reagan sold out to big oil, big banking and big war, and I suppose to Wall Street as well. So of course all of them would pressure their media outlets to sing Reaganâ(TM)s praises.
Other than that, Carter was introducing a bit of neoliberalism, but on balance, a far better President than anything weâ(TM)ve had since. Although Biden wasnâ(TM)t as bad as I thought he was going to be but the bar is low.
The usual Hagiographical denial (Score:1)
Some facts:
Was Carter a nice guy and did good charity work? Yes.
What he presidential material? No, not really (from my outsiders POV)
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For the people that voted for him he falls somewhere between Jesus and God.
Incorrect. I'm guessing you don't actually know any one who did vote for him. Not very well, at least.
I have many friends and acquaintances who did vote for him, and for them he falls somewhere between Hoover and Reagan.
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Grief. If CARTER didn't rank on your presidentio-meter then where the heck does Cheeto Man fall... somewhere south of shiat-covered-stick?
Dafark is [presidential material] anyway? Sounds like personal opnion masquerading as something factual as opposed to what it really is - a senior moment
For the people that voted for him he falls somewhere between Jesus and God.
For those that voted against him, you fail to realize the fact that President Trump is a symptom. The previous decades of corrupt shit leadership that created a Swamp NO political party can deny, is the cause.
Dumb and Dumber currently serving themselves in office, tends to solidify this fact. We have never had more incompetent or incapable leadershit. That’s not going to go down in history as mere opinion either. It will become proven fact.
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The second term will likely not be as serendipitous, but Trump cut through some huge Gordian knots for Biden. The deadline for Afghanistan retreat (so Biden could force it through), killing the WTO (so Biden could create massive stimulus programs), butchering Obamacare (so Biden could make it better). Trump was a form of shock therapy, with little lasting harm.
Meanwhile with best intentions, Carter's biggest legacy is making China far more dangerous rather than less so.
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The second [Trump] term will likely not be as serendipitous
So you imply the first one was serendipitous? As in, making unplanned positive discoveries? Lots of unplanned discoveries, yes. Not sure I'd say they were "positive."
Trump was a form of shock therapy, with little lasting harm.
If you truly believe that, then I must conclude you are delusional. The record speaks for itself.
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Killing the WTO also removed China's main weapon of lawfare. Something Biden also gladly made use of, but something the Democrats would unlikely have been able to accomplish themselves.
What got permanently broken? Federal abortion law? Was traded for everyone learning that letting some geriatrics, with a weak democratic mandate, create constitutional law by simple majority was not such a good idea ... not a total loss.
Re:The usual Hagiographical denial (Score:4, Insightful)
Some facts:
Was Carter a nice guy and did good charity work? Yes.
What he presidential material? No, not really (from my outsiders POV)
From my point of view that agrees with what I've heard from others about Carter.
I'm too young to know anything firsthand of Carter as POTUS but I've heard stories from people that lived through this time, and seen some of the popular TV shows and such of the era, that tell me Carter was not a good POTUS.
When it comes to environmental policy Carter was pretty "mid", not great but not all that bad. It sounds like he did plenty to clean up chemical waste sites, create natural parks and such, implemented policies to clean up the air, and more. Where he failed on environmental policy was not standing up for the nuclear power industry. At the time Democrats had opposition to nuclear power as a plank in the party platform, a policy that has remained until only a few years ago. https://politics.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
Carter had some nuclear engineering training while he was in the US Navy. He toured Three Mile Island after the reactor meltdown there. He knew that this was a relative non-event but he didn't want to publicly oppose the party platform. Rather than defend civil and military use of nuclear power to reduce fossil fuel consumption he stood by while members of his own political party nearly destroyed the industry.
Once Carter was out of office Reagan could do only so much to control the damage done. There were no new permits issued for civil nuclear power plants from 1980 to 2012. (Or 2016? Something like that.) This meant people in the nuclear power industry scattered to find work elsewhere or decided to retire. Once those people are gone its real difficult to bring them back. This was nearly the end of any nuclear powered vessels in the Navy. The nuclear powered destroyers and frigates already in operation or under construction did serve in the Navy, and the last was operating up until 1999, but by being so few in number operating costs were high which meant many had their service times cut short.
It was during the Carter administration that nuclear powered aircraft carriers and submarines nearly saw their end as well. The undeniably huge advantage these naval vessels provided to the Navy in the Cold War meant they survived.
When pushed on energy policy Carter could have chosen to defend nuclear power as safe and low pollution source of energy, but instead he opted to allow for more coal mining. He did this because he was following the Democrat party platform, and Democrats have chose coal over nuclear fission all the way up until 2020. If he'd said something nice about nuclear power while still POTUS then maybe things would be very different today.
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Democrats have chose coal over nuclear fission all the way up until 2020.
Revisionist garbage of the weakest sort. By inference, Republicans are the heroes of all green policies everywhere and have NEVER pushed local coal jobs in order to up those there vote talleys!
Fie and shame on you.
Re:The usual Hagiographical denial (Score:4, Interesting)
Revisionist garbage of the weakest sort. By inference, Republicans are the heroes of all green policies everywhere and have NEVER pushed local coal jobs in order to up those there vote talleys!
Wow, that's quite a leap in logic.
Of course Republicans pushed coal, they are kind of (in)famous for it. Republicans also pushed nuclear fission. Republicans wanted low cost energy wherever they could find it. Republicans denied or downplayed global warming so at least they were consistent in not having much concern on burning coal.
Did either party want to see more air and water pollution? I don't believe so. Republicans were willing to build more nuclear power plants to reduce pollution but Democrats were not. So, where does that leave both parties to agree on where to get the energy needed to keep Americans from freezing to death? Coal.
Republican support for nuclear energy had little to do with being "green", the lowered CO2 emissions and air pollution was mostly a beneficial side effect of supporting a source of energy that was safe, abundant, domestically sourced, reliable, and low cost. Democrats decided to not compromise on their opposition to nuclear fission for energy, instead they chose to compromise on their desire for cleaner air and water. Republicans didn't much care either way, they just wanted to keep Americans from freezing. Republicans weren't doing much of anything to oppose Democrats on clean air and water, there's no political benefits to that.
Democrats have been denying reality for decades and it has finally caught up with them. They want energy that is low cost, low in CO2 emissions, and not be nuclear fission. Well, you can't always get what you want. Democrats have been living in a kind of fantasy for decades and it looks like their denial of reality finally caught up with them. Their fantasy over energy is just one of many fantasies that Democrats created for themselves. Carter believed some of these fantasies and paid for it by losing big against Reagan. In the last election a lot of Democrats lost to Republicans because of their belief in fantasies. Reagan had his own fantasies but these were largely kept to himself or didn't impact government policy. I'll emphasize this was "largely" the case.
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Republicans also pushed nuclear fission.
Doubling down on the revisionist garbage, I see.
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Democrats have been denying reality for decades and it has finally caught up with them. They want energy that is low cost, low in CO2 emissions, and not be nuclear fission.
I'm pertty pro nuclear, as my posting history will show, but nuclear isn't really low cost.
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Democrats have been denying reality for decades and it has finally caught up with them. They want energy that is low cost, low in CO2 emissions, and not be nuclear fission.
And now, after those decades have passed, that reality is here, in the form of viable sources of renewable energy. A market that is growing. [iea.org]
On the other hand, the coal market is shrinking. [eia.gov]
Now, you tell me: who saw the future, the Rs or the Ds?
Yes, I know your main point was about nuclear, and it was well-made. But now there are alternatives to coal and nuclear.
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I lived through Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, etc. In my opinion, Carter was a decent man and a good president. The American people were still suffering from the Vietnam War and Nixon while he was President. It took a good effort to realign American foreign policy to human rights rather than kinetic energy weapons policy. He couldn't succeed in total because the Red States were just starting to switch from Democrat to Republican so they could continue hating the minority groups; it made them feel good.
Re
Re: The usual Hagiographical denial (Score:4, Informative)
He was hammered by inflation/stagflation, the oil crisis, the Iranian revolution, the end of the US steel monopoly: Voters wanted a John Wayne mentality that did something and promised everything is fixed. Remind you of anyone? They didn't want to invest in the future. It's one of the reasons the US prefers privatization.
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Another fact: "Carter was a nice guy but wasn't presidential material." has been a GOP talking point for decades to distract from the fact that he accomplished more for the general population than any of their own candidates.
Re:The usual Hagiographical denial (Score:4, Insightful)
Was Carter a nice guy and did good charity work? Yes.
What he presidential material? No, not really (from my outsiders POV)
He was also the last honest and ethical person to hold the office of President.
That we have gone from Carter to the end of a democratic United States in my lifetime is truly sad.
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That we have gone from Carter to the end of a democratic United States in my lifetime is truly sad.
Woodrow Wilson laughs in your fucking face as he throws you into prison for speaking out against "militarism" in 1917.
There probably never was a golden era in America of unblemished Democracy. John Adams, the second president, was a strong supporter of the Alien and Sedition acts. Abraham Lincoln arrested Congressmen, judges, and journalists, even exiling one political opponent to Canada. Woodrow Wilson's second administration was a chamber of horrors, where the teaching of German was banned in schools, ma
Inverse Gates (Score:1)
he was a shit president (Score:4, Interesting)
... But I understand why he's being lionized by the cadre of Americans who believe the president should be the apologizer-in-chief because all modern sins from slavery to pollution to war begin and end with the US.
He was an environmentalist, no doubt, but it's amusing watching the retcon into "global warming anticipator". The space shuttle was a stupid, shitty program that probably set back NASA more than pushed it forward.
Probably the best thing he did was be so awful that he guaranteed the quick triumphant recovery of a Republican party gutted by the Nixon debacle.
Accomplishments (Score:2)
Probably the best thing he did was be so awful that he guaranteed the quick triumphant recovery of a Republican party gutted by the Nixon debacle.
No, the best thing he did was liberalize the liquor laws so microbreweries were possible.
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OK you absolutely have me there.
Superlative point absolutely conceded in agreement.
Knowledge (Score:2)
The only reason I know about it is reading peripheral facts about this :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Oh yeah, here was the NYT at that moment:
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/0... [nytimes.com]
"International Team of Specialists Finds No End in Sight to 30âYear Cooling Trend in Northern Hemisphere" ...but but that ice age fear was just pop science! No authority thought that.
Sure. Gas light harder.
Carter was the most liberal US president (Score:3)
Which is why democrats and republicans didn't like him.
In retrospect, his policy contributions to sanity were foundational.
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Which is why democrats and republicans didn't like him.
In retrospect, his policy contributions to sanity were foundational.
Carter was not the most liberal President. That'd be LBJ or FDR. Carter was one of the weakest, though. And that's what did him in.
The most Bill Gates thing I've ever heard (Score:3)
Well, that's the most Bill Gates thing I've heard today. Overlook everything including job qualification, results, work quality, all because he agreed with me on THE MESSAGE!