White House fires back:
Jimmy Carter 'irrelevant'

Jimmy Carter at 2004 Democratic convention

The White House is firing back at former President Jimmy Carter, calling the Georgia Democrat "increasingly irrelevant" in the wake of his remarks labeling the Bush administration the "worst in history."

In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette yesterday, Carter was quoted as saying, "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto refused to respond yesterday, but launched a counterattack today from Crawford, Texas, explaining, "I think it's sad that President Carter's reckless personal criticism is out there."

"I think it's unfortunate," he added. "And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments."

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In the interview with the Arkansas paper, Carter said Bush had taken a "radical departure from all previous administration policies" with the Iraq war.

"We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered," Carter said.

In another interview with the BBC, Carter also ripped the close relationship between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, calling it "Abominable. Loyal, blind, apparently subservient."

"I think that the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world," Carter said.

As WND previously reported, five years after the controversial 2000 presidential election, ex-President Jimmy Carter announced he was certain Al Gore actually defeated George W. Bush.

"Well I would say that in the year 2000, the country failed abysmally in the presidential election process," Carter told a panel at American University in Washington, D.C. "There's no doubt in my mind that Al Gore was elected president."

"[Gore] received the most votes nationwide, and in my opinion, he also received the most votes in Florida," Carter continued. "And the decision was made as you know by a 5-4 vote on a highly partisan basis by the U.S. Supreme Court, so I would say in 2000, there was a failure."

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