Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Carter.
That’s how I think of him, because of the book by that name, where I first learned about Jimmy Carter all those years ago.
You can also watch or listen to the funeral or read a great Jimmy Carter story at this link.
h/t Raven
Jimmy Carter, Charles Kirbo and a Billy Goat named Mac
by Jeff Hullinger
…So Mr. Kirbo and then-Governor Jimmy Carter traveled to Plains because they knew Billy Carter (the governor’s brother) had a goat for sale.
The perfect Christmas gift. A Billy (Carter) goat.
“Governor Carter then drove the goat [3 and a half hours] back to Atlanta from Sumter County,” Kathy continues. “They put the goat in the offices across from the state capitol, the Trinity Washington Building, until Christmas; so I wouldn’t see it.”
Governor Carter brought the goat through the basement of the government building.
And who was this Charles Kirbo?
One of the greatest attorneys ever produced by the University of Georgia.
“He was my closest friend,” President Carter has said, “Without his wisdom, sound judgment and guidance, I never would have been a state senator, governor or president of the United States.”
Now back to the hidden Christmas goat.
Read the whole thing at the link above.
Elizabelle
Thank you.
Bupalos
Carter was a really bad president in most ways Mostly because he followed pretty cluelessly conservative economic and regulatory policy behind a kind of rhetorical moral gloss that would make you think the opposite. He did a fair amount of Reaganing before Reagan and without the rhetoric.
gatuitously terrible on labor at a critical time.
Elizabelle
@Bupalos: Why you have been pied for ages.
In the real world: Ted Mondale is speaking of JEC’s legacy on climate change, and how he helped to advance women.
rikyrah
Thanks for this.
President Carter is underrated.
Elizabelle
Now The Navy Hymn. We know Subaru is tearing up.
TBone
That neighbor’s dawg was trained by Krusty Gnome.
Elizabelle
Stuart Eizenstat up now.
C-Span originally misidentified Steve Ford as Eizenstat. Strange to see him as an older and balding man; had not seen him in decades.
MazeDancer
The Ford and Mondale eulogies were wonderful.
Wonder if Mr. Carter asked them to write the eulogies. Every detail was said o be planned by him.
ETA: Yes, that was Andrew Young who did the first reading.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bupalos:
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven.” This probably isn’t the one for that.
tobie
I didn’t know Carter started FEMA!
Bupalos
@Elizabelle: I just don’t know why “good person” can’t be enough for the epitaph, there’s so much to say there. He wasn’t a good ”climate change” president- as was the style at the time he considered energy use entirely in geopolitical terms of “independence” and sought to massively expand oil production (as any president at the time would have.)
NPR had an interesting segment about the “malaise” speech. Which was actually a kind of moral harangue that never used the term malaise and didn’t dwell on economic stagnation. And the professor said he showed it to his students and they had a shockingly positive reaction to it and wished modern politicians talked that way. Which makes me wonder if he just missed his time.
MazeDancer
This service is reminding me how much I am a Carter-Mondale-Biden-Harris Democrat.
Loved Mr. Obama. But understanding the importance of Women, the Arts, the Environment matter.
And dedication to quiet excellence.
tobie
Is it just me or does it seem like Bill and Hillary Clinton are the only two who are appreciating the eulogies?
Elizabelle
@tobie: Bill and Hillary seem the most relaxed.
I am glad to see Al Gore there.
Grandson Jason Carter up now. They called him “PawPaw” (sp?) and Rosalyn “Mom Carter.”
Laugh that the Carters spent the other 96 years not in the White House in Plains
And, the nuclear engineer struggling with his first cell phone.
Jackie
@tobie:
Also, the EPA.
Both, TCFG vows to undo.
tobie
@Elizabelle: Loved the cell phone anecdote.
p.a.
He was a great man with a great legacy. He was right about big issues but his presidency was dogged by external black swans but also by his lack of connection, and ability to connect, to congressional Dems. Compare to Clinton, a governor who also never served in Congress.
Could have had a second term if not for the second case of Republican treason in a generation; Reagan’s sotto voce outreach to Iran, similat to how Nixon scuttled the Paris Peace Talks. And a preview of 2000 Rehnquist court election overturn.
Elizabelle
@Jackie: I think the EPA might have been Nixon, actually. (It was, December 1970.)
Humorous and humanizing eulogy by Jason.
Elizabelle
@tobie: “I didn’t call you. I was taking a picture.”
Soprano2
That story about the accidental cell phone call was so funny!
tobie
@Elizabelle: It’s a beautiful eulogy and really brings home that Carter lived his faith and that his public service was part of that faith. So impressive.
Elizabelle
All the eulogies have been good, but I am really enjoying Jason’s. And he is such a natural speaker.
Bupalos
@MazeDancer: Those are pretty odd pairings.
Seriously I know it’s a funeral and as Omnes says “not the time…”
But I have no self control on this topic. Carter has at best extremely mixed liberal credentials and is the only one in the line through Biden that doesn’t have the excuse that the really egregious anti-labor or deregulatory things he did were a compromise. Politically speaking, no one from our team ever did less with more political runway. Carter chose conservative economics. And the fact that he ran conservative policy behind liberal rhetoric wrecked us for a generation.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@tobie: maybe because Bill’s the next oldest and they’re paying attention. I haven’t watched that much but Bush seemed to be paying attention as well. Maybe because it’s not been that long since his parents had their funerals.
BTW it’s odd seeing a much older Amy Carter than the the tween Amy Carter image I have in my head.
Elizabelle
I am applauding Jason. Well said.
Jackie
@Bupalos: Can you save your for distain for Carter on a post that’s not dedicated to his memorial service?
Elizabelle
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: May The Felon be called to his maker and eternal reward before another former POTUS is taken.
I hear they have plenty of cable to watch.
MazeDancer
Jason Carter got the gift.
Probably why the South won’t elect him.
Elizabelle
Re cable: this was a gem.
From satirist Andy Borowitz, now on Substack:
Jimmy Carter Says Best Part of Heaven is He Will Never See Trump.
Soprano2
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: I was listening on NPR for a few minutes, and one of the commentators said it’s like the presidents are watching their own future funerals because much of what they do is the same at each funeral.
I would love to have “The Lord is my Shepherd” from John Rutter’s “Requiem” performed at my funeral. I’m not religious, but that’s the most beautiful rendition of Psalm 23 I’ve ever heard in musical form.
MazeDancer
@Bupalos:
Not the time, bro. Can you wait til he is buried?
tobie
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: Good point. I was struck at the Dem Convention this past summer that Bill Clinton is thinking a lot about his mortality and whether he’ll be alive in four years. Age hits us all but, boy, did Jimmy Carter live a long and eventful life.
Elizabelle
@Jackie: Probably not. Bupalos has digital Tourette’s, or whatever passes for it online.
No judgment, sadly. I hope he and his mother are relishing the upcoming Trump return to power. Surprise!!
Elizabelle
President Biden up.
Elizabelle
OT: I am loving that soulful photo of Bohdi, by raven.
MazeDancer
Phyllis Adams sang Amazing Grace. From Tamara Keith on bsky:
Soprano2
Boy, all the MAGA’s are going to be screaming about BIden’s eulogy. It’s a tribute to Carter, but also a rebuke of TCFG, and they’ll all know it.
Torrey
She is not alone.
Also, yes to Jason Carter. The cell phone incident. And the point about the Guinea worm living from before the beginnings of humanity until Jimmy Carter. [Want to use the heart emoji at this point, but one follows the rules, one does.]
ETA: also very glad that Jason Carter talked about the villagers as partners, not objects of charitable actions.
dww44
@Bupalos: You have your views with which I mostly disagree. I suggest you might benefit from revisiting some of the CSPAN archival footage to get a more balanced view. Try the 2006 call-in interview when he was 82. He answered all the call in questions with honesty and facts full detail.
Respectfully now is not the time for negativity. I came here because I wanted to avoid a repeat performance from Erik Loomis.
Elizabelle
@Soprano2: And The Felon has to sit there and take it.
Good on Biden.
Started out mentioning a “decent country” and then opened up.
Melancholy Jaques
@Jackie:
Apparently, they cannot.
Elizabelle
“To be the country we say we are. To say we are the country we want to be.”
Early November is hiding in the back.
MazeDancer
You tell that Orange racist grifter, Joe.
Elizabelle
I like Biden speaking, several times now, on purpose.
I think a lot of Americans are searching for that, now.
Bupalos
@Jackie: I don’t have disdain for Carter at all. I think he’s a great man. My version of honoring someone just doesn’t include forcing them in to a particular shape or specifically inverting their warts into beauty marks. He doesn’t have to have had a great presidency to be a great person. I think that’s kind of the implication of this particular kind of revisionism.
I think a more fitting tribute would be to cite the way he dealt with and transformed the near train wreck that came of his American political career into an ethical and moral example that transcended that. To me, that’s his real greatness. It’s not a linear story. He rose to the height of power, went to Washington… and failed pretty spectacularly disappointing friends and foes alike.
He then picked himself up in an unfathomable way and went on to do as much good as a semi-private person can ever dream of. Becoming an almost mythical figure of morality and preserverance and personal agency for the good of humankind.
Elizabelle
Biden’s eulogy was shorter than a lot of the others’, and likely quite different from the one he would have given had American voters not screwed the pooch in November.
Soprano2
TCFG and Melania hate having to do anything that isn’t about them. I just saw a glimpse of him, scowling like always. I try to think of him giving a eulogy for anyone, and I fail to imagine it.
Kay
Soprano2
Good. Carter had absolute contempt for Trump and it was obvious. An honest man deserves an honest eulogy,
Elizabelle
Meaningful reading.
rikyrah
Andrew Young, who is 92
MazeDancer
Andrew Young is 92
dww44
@Soprano2: I note that each time there was a respectful chuckle from the Presidents gallery Trump never joined in. He really does not have a sense of humor.
Elizabelle
How long has Andrew Young been Reverend Young? Was he, during his political career?
ETA: He answered it; has long been a pastor, during Civil Rights era.
Wonderful remarks.
This service is grounded in realism.
dww44
@dww44: and that does not bode well for the next 4 years.
rikyrah
@Elizabelle:
Since 1955
Elizabelle
@dww44: The Felon is lacking in so much. The MSM may try to sanewash him, but you cannot miss it.
Now that jail is not in The Felon’s immediate future, I am fine if Satan calls him home. Vance is also dreadful, but may be a slightly less gratuitous ride.
Incidentally, is Vance at the service?
rikyrah
@Elizabelle:
From his Wikipedia:
He then earned a divinity degree from Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1955.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Thank you. Pretty sure I mixed him up with someone else!
What a marvelous speaker.
Elizabelle
Andrew Young has such dignity.
Elizabelle
The National Cathedral is so beautiful.
dww44
@Elizabelle: I believe he and his wife are there. Per earlier report on CSPAN coverage.
Soprano2
The only time he thinks something is funny is when someone he doesn’t like is getting hurt. Otherwise, he doesn’t understand humor at all
Oh man, and will they be screaming that two country singers are singing “Imagine” at Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
zhena gogolia
@MazeDancer: I’m going to have to watch this later.
Elizabelle
Surprise rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine. Inspired choice.
Juju
@Elizabelle: The Naval hymn was sung at my Father’s funeral. I lost it with that as well as Subaru Dianne. That one always hits hard.
Elizabelle
@Soprano2: Trisha Yearwood, and who is the guitarist/singer?
MazeDancer
Garth Brooks been to the plump ’em up beyond recognition doc, ain’t he?
Still a fitting tribute at the end of a gorgeous service.
Elizabelle
@Juju: At my dad’s too. It is so meaningful and awesome.
Soprano2
@Elizabelle: Garth Brooks.
Elizabelle
@MazeDancer: Did not recognize him without the hat!
Another Scott
@Elizabelle: Indeed. First class.
There were stories earlier that Jimmy planned everything. I hope it was his choice.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Bupalos
@Elizabelle: Now that’s pretty interesting. I assume Carter’s own choice… kind of known for the atheistic line “imagine there’s no heaven”
Elizabelle
@Another Scott: Wonderful service.
And the Second Gentleman deserves danger pay for sitting/standing between Kamala and The Felon.
Elizabelle
A little one fussing. A great-grandchild?
Elizabelle
I hope there will be a memorial to Jimmy Carter somewhere in DC. No matter how small. A place to pay respects.
MazeDancer
Gorgeous send-off. Well-planned, Mr. Carter.
Elizabelle
Wait, is it Barack Obama who ended up sitting next to The Felon?
wenchacha
I’m fine with the felon’s funeral being held at Rudy’s Four Seasons location.
Mistah we could use a man like Jimmy Carter, again.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
They know Obama is the most disciplined :)
CliosFanBoy
@Elizabelle:
He must have drawn the short straw.
Elizabelle
Garth Brooks looks like Garth Brooks. Great choice.
CliosFanBoy
@Elizabelle:
Just pie him and move on.
MazeDancer
@Elizabelle: Yes. Apparently, they shared something amusing.
Elizabelle
@Kay: @CliosFanBoy:
True, both.
Obama is too classy to have been conducting a White House Correspondent’s Dinner comedy routine by whisper.
Elizabelle
@MazeDancer: Well done.
Torrey
@CliosFanBoy:
Probably the order of protocol: the Clintons, then the Bushes, then Obama, then the Trumps. I was wondering where Michelle was.
Elizabelle
DC has better weather for pandas than for mourners.
Another small thing to look forward to: the pandas go on display at month’s end.
Elizabelle
Hail to the Chief.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
The MAGAs on TikTok are freaking out because Karen Pence “snubbed” Trump. Did that actually happen? They’re often delusional. Bravo if so. I didn’t know she had it in her.
CliosFanBoy
@Elizabelle:
My favorite comic strip, Arlo & Janis, did a week’s series on that when Janis’s Dad accidentally sends Janis a phone photo he took of Janis’s Mom in her underwear. :)
https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2008/10/08
https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2008/10/10
karen gail
Jimmy Carter set an excellent example for men; he gave up future in Navy to rescue family business; he supported Civil Rights when it wasn’t popular but above all he lived his Christian beliefs and to the best of his ability was a honest, trustworthy man.
I was once told that a honest man was a terrible politician; so whatever failings he might have had as a politician he more than balanced the scales by his works.
Kay
But I guess he did try to kill her husband.
Juju
@Torrey: Her mother died recently. My guess is it was too much for her to attend a funeral right now.
Kay
Ok there’s video. Its a definite snub. To both Trumps. Proud of you, Karen!
JML
I’m glad Carter is getting a more nuanced perspective on his presidency (not nearly as bad as the Reagan acolytes would have you believe, not as good as it could have been) and it’s also clear that the totality of his life is an incredible one and he’ll be remembered historically for that totality rather than just for 4 years, which is pretty remarkable for anyone who served as president. So few Americans who reach the presidency are abled to be remembered for anything else; it does cast a long shadow and Carter grew beyond that. That’s pretty amazing.
Elizabelle
It looks freezing and windy now.
@CliosFanBoy: LOL. Some Zoom misfires for the next generation of tech adopters too.
Elizabelle
@JML: I loved the grandson mentioning the 96 years NOT spent in the White House.
Juju
@Kay: In Mrs. Pence’s place, I would snub Trump as well.
Soprano2
@Kay: According to the people who came on after the funeral was over, Karen Pence refused to shake TCGF’s hand. Funny how they’re offended by that but not by the senator’s husband refusing to shake Harris’ hand.
Soprano2
@Kay: Yeah, funny how she might still be upset about that.
Kay
@Soprano2:
Yup. Its a snub. She won’t even look at either of them. I knew Melania was as much a mean spirited jerk as he is.
Soprano2
@Juju: I had to go to my grandmother’s funeral three weeks almost to the day after my father’s funeral – at the same funeral home! Do.not.recommend.
Baud
@Soprano2:
Mother don’t play.
HeleninEire
@Kay: Bush snubbed him too. Walked right past Trump and Melania and tapped Obama on the tummy! A very Bush move.
Kay
@Soprano2:
The MAGAs ” why is she so ANGRY?”
In the angry women category now, Karen. May as well become a Democrat.
Another Scott
It was a great service.
It would have been wonderful if the whole country watched it, to get us all to slow down a little and think about the good things that unite us as humans.
It might have only lasted about, oh, 10-15 minutes, but it would have been nice.
;-)
Hang in there, everyone. Peace and strength to the good people of Los Angeles.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Kay
@HeleninEire:
I’m very glad – thanks – but the MAGAs hate Bush. They’re more conflicted on the Pences because the Pences are actual evangelicals.
They feel “judged”! Uh oh. They’re probably going to destroy something now. Karen Pence made them.
KatKapCC
@Bupalos:
Yes, you do. You are a human being with the ability to make choices, not a shitposting robot accidentally set to chaos mode. You are perfectly capable of shutting the fuck up, and I suggest you try it out. Besides, don’t you need to book a flight to wherever Carter’s grave will be so you can prepare to take a dump on it?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
There’s a good reason The Slovenian Manikin is called Melanoma.
raven
@Elizabelle: Thanks, he was a good pup!
Juju
@Soprano2: I understand that completely. I had to attend the funeral of a dear family friend three months after my father died, also at the same funeral home that took care of my father, though my father had a funeral mass. It was difficult for me.
rikyrah
@Kay:
The MAGAs on TikTok are freaking out because Karen Pence “snubbed” Trump. Did that actually happen?
https://youtu.be/WjiZK-CMXAA?si=BPNavJTA6wY60-Wx
zhena gogolia
@Kay: There is that!
Elizabelle
@Soprano2: Especially since we all remember how Kamala tried to have Senator Deb Fischer’s husband killed … oh, wait.
rikyrah
@Kay:
People forget..Karen Pence AND THEIR DAUGHTER were with Mike Pence on January 6th.
I dunno…I would hold a grudge if someone put me, my husband AND MY CHILD’S LIFE AT RISK
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Trust the MAGAs to glomm onto any disrespect shown so as to ignore the whole of the Christian service for Jimmy Carter, which took place in a house of worship.
With lots of easily understandable words.
But, can they talk about that?
Kay
@rikyrah:
Snubbing is probably not easy for her. She was trained in that Right wing religious baby voice “niceness”. They’re not allowed to ignore men.
Elizabelle
@raven: Bohdi was a beautiful pup. As was Lil Bit.
And now, Artie is lucky to have you.
raven
@Elizabelle: I just came from a meeting with an Occupational Therapist and she has a “facility dog” named Eroll! Big goofy lab who does a great job!
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah: I just wish Gore and Pence had followed her lead.
Elizabelle
@raven: Labs get it done!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@zhena gogolia:
Maybe but the sharp poke it represents from Karen pisses off the reich-wing crowd far more I’m guessing.
HOW DARE SHE?!!!!!!!
MazeDancer
@Juju: In Karen Pence’s place I might consider the warm handshake of peace the Russians gave Navalny.
Another Scott
Zooks. Biden was in Santa Monica yesterday. And gave a eulogy for Carter today, ~ 2500 miles away.
WhiteHouse.gov:
Indeed – a hellofa day to become a great grandpa! And that’s a big baby!
Best wishes,
Scott.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@HeleninEire:
Just saw that clip, it’s already gif-ed, and gotta admit, I smiled and LOLed.
As somebody said on Twitter, would have been better if Dubya had also tousled Hair Furor’s hair. Now I can’t get that imaginary scene outta my head.
Soprano2
@Kay: They get exceptions if they are defending their children.
zhena gogolia
@Another Scott: Pretty good for a doddering old man.
Elizabelle
Incidentally, the Google doodle was interesting today.
Just grey — no colors — and white. And President Jimmy Carter – 1924 – 2024
Very simple.
wenchacha
@Soprano2: Same, with mom, then dad. I was numb for quote a while.
minachica
@Kay: “Stay sweet!”
::vomit:
ETA: That was the common phrase of “encouragement” to girls in the corner of religious fundamentalism that indoctrinated me as a child.
artem1s
I heard about this book a decade or more ago.
The Unfinished Presidency
I never got a chance to read it but am planning on seeing if I can get it from my public library and download it to Libby.
Kay
@minachica:
We had a big case with a Right wing religious sect where some of the girls broke ranks. I get a little…worked up and I learned to control my voice and leave loooong spaces so they would talk to me. They have to know you’re finished before they will speak. I thought they were brave. The sect were like bad, half ass farmers and the men didn’t do any work. They grew strawberries. They had the women and girls planting and picking by hand.
minachica
@Kay: Yeah, thankfully my sect didn’t try to make us live entirely in a fantasy time/place, and I was able to go to public school and make an escape. My heart just breaks for pretty much every human trapped in those systems, and (having been one myself) especially for the girls. I’m glad that you have been able to help, like some teachers did for me.
billcinsd
@Bupalos: The malaise speech was very well received at the time. Carter’s approval ratings went up 11%. Then Carter fired his cabinet and lost all that good will
Gretchen
So Carter started FEMA, and tried to do something about climate change, health care, and women’s rights in the 1970s, and people still want to insist that he was a bad president because traitors delayed the Iran hostage release until after the election. Then we got Reagan, and nobody wants to talk about what a terrible president Reagan was. Weird.
Raven
@billcinsd: Why engage with this jackass?
Raven
@Gretchen: He fell prey to the stupid “combined ops” notion that said all the services had to be involved. No fucking body knew that sand being sucked into aircraft engines would make them fail.
Gretchen
@Raven: today am grateful for thé pie filter.