GIP-per

[heidi]

Thanks to copperbadge for the icon; it is gackable with credit to him. It's definitely how I feel today. At some point, I need to write something long and rambly about growing up in the 80s, about having to watch all of the 84 campaign of speech and debate class, and why that's probably what pushed me about 90% into the Democratic camp.

But today is not that day, as Jon's birthday party starts in about 2 hours.

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ETA - okay, so it is that day. Party over, everyone's gone, and after a long conversation with a friend who's working on the Kerry campaign, I put a few of my thoughts in the comments section for this post.

Comments

[webbapettigrew.livejournal.com]

...ex-president whose actions, or lack thereof, hurt so many people

Could you explain what you mean by this? Do you mean our invasision of Grenada or what he did about Libya? Or freeing the hostages in Iran?

I'm just curious, because when up against Carter in '79 he got all by five states I think and in '84 he steamrolled Walter Mondale. Given that he's "hurt" so many, I'm curious as to your thoughts as to A. how he hurt people and B. Despite the hurt, how he managed to get an astounding number of electoral votes in both elections...

Re: Freeing the hostages in Iran?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Although the Carter team had pursued the release of the hostages tirelessly, an agreement for their release was not signed until January 19, 1981, after the election of Ronald Reagan. In what many observers have seen as a slight against Carter, the Iranians waited to release the captives until minutes after Reagan was sworn-in as president the next day. The hostages had been held captive for 444 days.

Since that time members of the Reagan-Bush campaign and administration (most notably Barbara Honegger, in her book October Surprise) and the president of Iran in 1980 (Abu Al-Hasan Bani-Sadr, My Turn to Speak: Iran, the Revolution and Secret Deals With the U.S.) have alleged that a secret agreement between the Reagan campaign (orchestrated by George H. W. Bush) was responsible for destroying a deal between the Carter administration and the Iranian government that would have had the hostages released in October 1980 (worriedly known as "The October Surprise" by the Reagan team). Some unnamed sources also are alleged to have claimed that it was blackmail over the deal that led to the U.S. involvement in the later Iran-Contra scandal as Iran demanded to be sold weapons to use in its war against Iraq if the Reagan administration wanted it to keep quiet.

from http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/j/ji/jimmy_carter.html

You might also want to read http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/hamiltonoctsurprise.htm and http://www.consortiumnews.com/1999/051499a.html for more on this.

Re: Freeing the hostages in Iran?

[webbapettigrew.livejournal.com]

Woah--interesting.

When I was in grade school, we were all taught about how the President had helped to free those hostages. Being that I was about eight at the time, I don't remember ever being told about the the proverbial slap to the face for President Carter, by letting those people go after 400-some odd days.

Now what worries me slightly is that how many other schoolkids were taught what I was. It makes me wonder what else we as schoolkids weren't told--I live in a VERY conservative part of the U.S--where kids carry their hunting rifles to school, you're in church on Saturday or Sunday, as one's religious preference dictates, a flag flies in every yard and everyone knows someone whose been in a war. I can also whip up a mean apple pie, just like every woman around here.

It's not considered "American" to disagree with what the Presdient is doing, whether it be Bush or Reagan, or Carter, or what have you. You can imagine what happens to those people who try and think liberally around these parts. The easy answer is that they keep it to themselves.

And I know that my area of the nation isn't the only place.

I'm going to give those links a read. Thanks muchly.