Talking Points Memo Trasncript, Wednesday, October 11, 2006:
Subject's Memo: Deceit or Delusion: What Say You, Jimmy Carter?
As we've been telling you, it's been getting harder and harder for Americans to get the truth about anything because of ideology. You can't rely on the media anymore for truthful information. And that's dangerous for the country. You can't make intelligent voting decisions without facts.
Enter Jimmy Carter. Today, he wrote an op-ed in The New York Times about North Korea. According to Carter, who helped negotiate a deal with the North Koreans in 1994, the bargain was swell. No problems.
The former president writes: "The summit talks resulted in South Korean President Kim Dae-jung earning the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his successful efforts to ease tensions on the peninsula. But beginning in 2002, the United States branded North Korea as part of an axis of evil, threatened military action, ended the shipments of fuel oil… and refused to consider further bilateral talks."
So according to Carter, the North Korean problem today is because of the Bush administration was mean to North Korea without reason.
What Carter leaves out is that the deal he made under President Clinton's banner, fell apart. Simply put, the North Koreans cheated. They took our money and food and developed nukes anyway. Carter leaves that out of his article. Incredible.
Now this isn't some little mistake. Carter knows what happened. He's either trying to deceive you or at age 81, he's completely delusional.
But what's with The New York Times? Why is that paper running articles that are well, spin? The Times knows Jimmy Carter's deal fell apart. Everybody knows.
Of course, Carter is entitled to his opinion, but he's not entitled to leave out vital facts.
Now the reason Carter and The Times did this is to fuel the blame game, which is well underway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, D-N.Y.: Some of the reason we are facing this danger is because of the failed policies of the Bush administration. And I regret deeply their failure to deal with the threat posed by North Korea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.: We had a carrots and no sticks policy that only encouraged bad behavior. When one carrot didn't work, we offered another. Now we are facing the consequences of the failed Clinton administration policies. And we must stop at long last reinforcing failure with failure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Obviously both Republicans and Democrats want to blame each other for North Korea's bellicose actions. Talking Points believes you can make up your own mind about which political party can best protect you, but only if you have honest information. Obviously, we're not getting that. Or am I wrong?
