As Daniel Moynihan used to say, you are entitled to you own opinions, but not to your own set of facts.  And the facts as you present them are just plain false. There are legitimate grounds upon which to criticize Israeli policy. But to try to do it by concocting a myth of a demonic Israel/USA axis combating an peace-loving Hamas goes beyond spin to outright fiction.

Besides, I want to discuss Jimmy Carter, a man who instills the kind of pride in his fellow countrymen that MvdG must feel about Ruud Lubbers.  Twenty-eight years after having been shown the door by a disgusted US electorate (for which he still cannot forgive we ignorant wretches so full of "malaise"), he still hasn’t figured out that he doesn’t know what he is doing.  In fact, I think he stated recently that he only made one mistake during his presidency.  I don’t know what that mistake was (didn’t read the article all the way through), but for my money, it was his decision to run for president. 

His only two positive contributions to mankind remain the Camp David accords (for which most credit really belongs to Sadat and Begin), and paving the way for the election of an anti-Carter: Ronald Reagan.  And his foolish and ill-timed meddling in the negotiations between the US and the Norks left us with a treaty shot so full of holes (Bill Clinton, no friend of mine, is often unfairly blamed for this - just ask J. Carville how he feels about the Georgian peanut farmer) that Dear Leader was able to drive several mack trucks carrying fissile material through them.

And now, this thoroughly discredited buffoon seeks to repeat his command performance in North Korea by pursuing a policy of personal diplomacy independent of both the current US Administration and its antagonists in the State Department; both of which have strongly criticized the decision (a very rare moment of unanimity between the two).  Not very many Democrats have been supportive of these efforts either, probably because they don’t want anyone in an election year to remember that he is one of their own.

Now that I am done venting, on to the main point: this risible action is notable not because of it sheer folly (Carter has made a lifetime of stupid statements and foolish decisions), but because is is AGAINST THE LAW.  The State Department had labeled Hamas a terrorist organization long before GWB entered the White House.  Facilitating and attending discussions with Hamas and Syria is not merely another example of Carter being stupid, it is a direct violation of the Logan Act.  It is not technically treason, as giving "aid and comfort to the enemy" cannot be proved legally - but it is deserving of an extended stay in the Greybar hotel.

Why does no one else think this is remarkable?  If Bob Dole had gone to Serbia and blamed the US for its confrontational policy vis-a-vis Bosnia or Kosovo, we would never have heard the end of it.  Of course, Dole would never have done such a thing, having too much respect for his country and its government (or to paraphrase the military dictum, "salute the Commander-in-chief, not the man").  Is that the issue - by now, having grown use to the spectacle of this witless curmudgeon following his own (and no one else’s) opinions to their disastrously logical conclusions, that the shock value is simply no longer there?

Of course, the idea that Carter has no respect for American law or institutions

If you feel this is a good time for a missile strike on Hamas, please use your most crosseyed markspeople and worst-maintained missiles, and use a lot of them.

We Americans will pay for the Chernobyl-sarcophagus you will need to build over the poisonous treasonous remains.

-Nephew Sammy