If journalism were a game of how many distortions you can pack into a single paragraph, Amy Wilentz’s profile of Jimmy Carter in New York Magazine would win a Pulitzer.
Despite Wilentz’s curious assertion to the contrary, Jimmy Carter’s conduct in the last 8 years has been more directed at entering “the political fray” than any former president in history. Never has a former president criticized a sitting president and vice president with such frequency and such vitriol. While most former presidents refrain from such judgments, Carter has shared his observations about the Bush administration as a matter of routine. He even threw a temper tantrum after Pope John Paul II died, claiming he wasn’t invited to participate in the U.S. delegation — despite the fact Andy Card twice invited him and he twice declined. And what to make also of Wilentz’s characterization of Carter’s meeting with Hamas? Since when did meeting with a ringleader of suicide bombers constitute the “high road”?
