Jimmy the Wombat: Git Out of Gitmo

Well, it's time to pack up our marbles and our Kew-ran desecration kits and hit the road.  Jimmy Carter, whom you will recall was last seen not going to Pope John Paul II's funeral, and before that was last seen not going as an election observer to Iraq, says that Guantanamo should be closed to demonstrate America's commitment to human rights.

We the editors of Quid Nimis would like to go one step further.  We urge US-Cuba cooperation in forming a new human rights vanguard for the 21st century by releasing all 11,346,670 plus 540 political detainees held on the island of Cuba.  And then close the whole #%$&*ing thing. 

We also think that there's a reason Americans only gave this sanctimonious Schlappschwanz one term. 

Update:  Since no one is linking to the other post reference (Pope's funeral),  we are taking it upon ourselves to show why we call Sweater Boy "Jimmy the Wombat."  You have to admit, the little teeth ...

Would you rather be stuck on Airforce One with this...

...or this?

Comments

[Juan Paxety]

I'm very proud of the fact that I had 8 opportunities to vote against Jimmy Carter and took advantage of each.

[P. McGrath]

What's a schlappschwanz? Sounds like a useful word. Could have many other applications if it can be applied to The Man From Plains.

[bbmoe]

Schlappschwanz is a wonderful word. We had reason to write to someone today and tell him that if he were to remain on the cutting edge of language expansion, he had to start using the S-word, though sparingly. This particular word is the contribution of Quid 3, our copy editor and bona fide linguist (German, Russian, French, Latin- you name it). She originally explained, "Wellll, it means limp-wrist, but not the wrist. Don't ever ever use it..it's considered very crude and insulting in German." So of course, we use it alllllll the time. Really, 48% of the country voted for John Kerry and think that the Military should be dismantled and John Bolton is mean. About half of those are men who are gonad-challenged, so Schlappschwanz could easily fall into over-use. We are very judicious in our use of this term, out of respect for the sensibilities of Quid 3, but she knows who the go-to gal is for really crude English idioms when she's translating Krushchev.

BTW, Schlappschwanz has the added advantage of being utterly lethal when spoken by Daniel Schorr. See
http://quidnimis.squarespace.com/journal/2005/5/31/its-like-a-woody-allen-movie.html
and
http://quidnimis.squarespace.com/journal/2004/12/27/blog-year-in-review-contd.html

[J Rob]

Need I remind people that Grinnin' Jimmy refused to recognize any Iranian government not headed by the Ayatollah Rhudollah Khomeni and the 444 day reward he got for that? Not to mention his refusal to recognize any government in Zimbabwe not headed by Robert Mugabe. All in the name of "our commitment to human rights"

[The Redhunter]

And don't forget about Nicaragua, J Rob! 'ol Jimmy did us a number there, too. His human rights campaign there gave us the Sandinistas instead of Somoze. From the frying pan into the fire....

[bbmoe]

Quid seems to have tapped into unresolved Jimmy anxiety. Now how does this manifest itself with you guys? Inexplicable fondness for rabbits? Aversion to sweaters? Spontaneous peanut allergies? We know Billy's answer was beer and regressisve bathroom habits.

[Another Steve]

So why do you bother with that looong S word when we all know what it means now? In this part of the world we call them Soft ****s. We also had a Prime Minister who referred to Carter at the time of his election as "that peanut farmer from Georgia" and that if his Administration a adopted Foreign Policy based on morality, "The world would be at war within a year." Maybe someone should give young Jimmy a new dictionary and highlight the word "moral."

[Nathaniel DesH. Petrikov]

I agree completely with Schlappschwanz and all the rest of it, but I would urge a little charity on the subject of Mr. Carter's attending papal funerals and Iraqi elections. After all, the man is 81 years old, and may find travel taxing.

[bbmoe]

We like the S-word because it rolls so trippingly off the tongue.

Charity where charity is due. He was set to jet to Rome and was told that the official party could only have five people in it. It caused quite a stir at the time.

The Carter Center for Democracy, which made a great show of going everywhere to give their imprimatur on elections from Venezuela to Upper Iguana, very ostentatiously declared that they could not go to Iraq because of the security situation. It was never a question of Sweater Boy going personally but his displeasure with the whole Iraq issue was the driving force behind the Center's decision.

No one has commented about the pictures on the Funeral Fashion Notes link. The colored type denotes an on-site link- go there!

[Thom]

Each year, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter give a week of their time -- along with their building skills -- to build homes and raise awareness of the critical need for affordable housing. The JCWP is held at a different location each year, and attracts volunteers from around the world. The Carters and more than 4,000 volunteers built 92 houses in Anniston, Ala., and LaGrange and Valdosta, Ga., during JCWP 2003.

What have YOU done to help anyone?

[bbmoe]

One week, huh? Jimmy Carter has done more to damage this country in terms of security, status, and positive influence than any president in modern history. He is deeply hypocritical about his human rights agenda- read the above comments. He has broken with tradition and common sense by bad-mouthing this President's policies abroad. Read the above comments and get a feel for JC's legacy. It gives one malaise just to think about it.

He should be building houses 52 weeks a year.

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