MartyB
2005-08-11 19:37:56 UTC
Interesting column from Will on Carter's continued reporting that Will stole
a debate breifing book for Reagan. I didn't know anything about this issue
before but I again find it sad that my respect for Carter continues to
diminish.
MartyB
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001
796.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
Briefing Book Baloney
By George F. Will
Thursday, August 11, 2005; Page A23
A quarter of a century has passed since 44 states said "No, thanks" to Jimmy
Carter's offer to serve a second term, yet he still evidently thinks his
loss is explained not by foreign policy debacles, such as invading Iran with
eight helicopters, and a misery index -- inflation plus unemployment -- of
22, almost triple today's index. Rather, he seems to think approximately
this:
Ronald Reagan won because he won the only debate. He won it not because of
Carter's debate performance ("I had a discussion with my daughter, Amy, the
other day, before I came here, to ask her what the most important issue was.
She said she thought nuclear weaponry . . .") but only because Reagan had
Carter's briefing book. And Reagan had it because this columnist gave it to
him.
That last accusation, for which there is no evidence, is, as he has been
told, false. But he is a recidivist fibber. Last Oct. 21, on National Public
Radio, he said: "We found out later that one of Ronald Reagan's supporters
inside the White House had stolen my briefing book, my top-secret briefing
book that prepared me for the debate. And a very prominent news reporter was
the one who took the briefing book to Ronald Reagan and helped drill him on
the things that I might say if he said certain things." Asked who that
reporter was, Carter replied, "It was George Will, and it was later known
that he did that."
But one cannot know what isn't so, and "top secret" is a government
classification inapplicable to campaign fodder. Still, Carter continues to
retail -- and to embroider -- his fable. Recently in a Plains, Ga., church,
he illustrated his aptitude for the virtue of forgiveness by saying that
once, after columnist Will read a report of his telling his briefing book
tale, Will wrote to him "asking for forgiveness."
Well. The only letter I ever wrote to Carter was in response to one he wrote
to me on Oct. 29, 1993. His letter began: "For a number of years I have felt
some resentment toward you because of the reports that you either knew about
or actually used my personal briefing book in preparing Reagan for our
campaign debates [sic]." He added:
"Because of this feeling, and despite my lifetime interest in baseball, I
even refrained from reading your 'Men at Work.' Recently, in order to learn
how to be a better Braves fan next year, I spent $1 in a used bookstore for
the book, and really enjoyed it.
"Even if the news stories about the debate incident are true, I feel that we
are even now.
"Best wishes,
"Jimmy Carter"
My Nov. 10 reply was untainted by any request for forgiveness:
"Dear President Carter:
"I am delighted that you have at long last overcome your repugnance and
given yourself the pleasure of 'Men at Work.' I am distressed, as I suspect
you naughtily knew I would be, to learn that this masterwork was found in a
used bookstore. That is more evidence of the decline of Western
civilization."
Then, to the point:
"Regarding your briefing book, I will tell you what I have told many others.
When I got to David Stockman's house on the day he was preparing to play the
role of you in the debate preparations, he had on his kitchen table what I
gather was the briefing book. I do not know how he got it; more to the
point, I do not know who thought having it would be helpful. Frankly, you
deserved better. My cursory glance at it convinced me that it was a crashing
bore and next to useless -- for you, or for anyone else."
Even though, as a columnist, my support for Reagan was well-known, my
participation in his debate preparation was as inappropriate as it was
superfluous -- after three decades of public advocacy, Reagan was ready .
And speaking of the inappropriate:
The role of ex-president requires a grace and restraint notably absent from
Carter. See, for example, his criticism of the United States when he is
abroad, as in England two weeks ago. Having made such disappointing history
as president, Carter as ex-president should at least refrain from
disseminating a historical falsehood.
So strong, however, is the human impulse to believe comforting myths that
Carter probably will continue to promulgate the fiction that I gave Reagan
the utterly unimportant briefing book, thereby catalyzing the 1980
landslide. But to be fair: As a candidate, Carter promised only that as
president he would never tell a lie, thereby leaving himself a loophole for
his post-presidential career as a fabulist.
a debate breifing book for Reagan. I didn't know anything about this issue
before but I again find it sad that my respect for Carter continues to
diminish.
MartyB
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001
796.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
Briefing Book Baloney
By George F. Will
Thursday, August 11, 2005; Page A23
A quarter of a century has passed since 44 states said "No, thanks" to Jimmy
Carter's offer to serve a second term, yet he still evidently thinks his
loss is explained not by foreign policy debacles, such as invading Iran with
eight helicopters, and a misery index -- inflation plus unemployment -- of
22, almost triple today's index. Rather, he seems to think approximately
this:
Ronald Reagan won because he won the only debate. He won it not because of
Carter's debate performance ("I had a discussion with my daughter, Amy, the
other day, before I came here, to ask her what the most important issue was.
She said she thought nuclear weaponry . . .") but only because Reagan had
Carter's briefing book. And Reagan had it because this columnist gave it to
him.
That last accusation, for which there is no evidence, is, as he has been
told, false. But he is a recidivist fibber. Last Oct. 21, on National Public
Radio, he said: "We found out later that one of Ronald Reagan's supporters
inside the White House had stolen my briefing book, my top-secret briefing
book that prepared me for the debate. And a very prominent news reporter was
the one who took the briefing book to Ronald Reagan and helped drill him on
the things that I might say if he said certain things." Asked who that
reporter was, Carter replied, "It was George Will, and it was later known
that he did that."
But one cannot know what isn't so, and "top secret" is a government
classification inapplicable to campaign fodder. Still, Carter continues to
retail -- and to embroider -- his fable. Recently in a Plains, Ga., church,
he illustrated his aptitude for the virtue of forgiveness by saying that
once, after columnist Will read a report of his telling his briefing book
tale, Will wrote to him "asking for forgiveness."
Well. The only letter I ever wrote to Carter was in response to one he wrote
to me on Oct. 29, 1993. His letter began: "For a number of years I have felt
some resentment toward you because of the reports that you either knew about
or actually used my personal briefing book in preparing Reagan for our
campaign debates [sic]." He added:
"Because of this feeling, and despite my lifetime interest in baseball, I
even refrained from reading your 'Men at Work.' Recently, in order to learn
how to be a better Braves fan next year, I spent $1 in a used bookstore for
the book, and really enjoyed it.
"Even if the news stories about the debate incident are true, I feel that we
are even now.
"Best wishes,
"Jimmy Carter"
My Nov. 10 reply was untainted by any request for forgiveness:
"Dear President Carter:
"I am delighted that you have at long last overcome your repugnance and
given yourself the pleasure of 'Men at Work.' I am distressed, as I suspect
you naughtily knew I would be, to learn that this masterwork was found in a
used bookstore. That is more evidence of the decline of Western
civilization."
Then, to the point:
"Regarding your briefing book, I will tell you what I have told many others.
When I got to David Stockman's house on the day he was preparing to play the
role of you in the debate preparations, he had on his kitchen table what I
gather was the briefing book. I do not know how he got it; more to the
point, I do not know who thought having it would be helpful. Frankly, you
deserved better. My cursory glance at it convinced me that it was a crashing
bore and next to useless -- for you, or for anyone else."
Even though, as a columnist, my support for Reagan was well-known, my
participation in his debate preparation was as inappropriate as it was
superfluous -- after three decades of public advocacy, Reagan was ready .
And speaking of the inappropriate:
The role of ex-president requires a grace and restraint notably absent from
Carter. See, for example, his criticism of the United States when he is
abroad, as in England two weeks ago. Having made such disappointing history
as president, Carter as ex-president should at least refrain from
disseminating a historical falsehood.
So strong, however, is the human impulse to believe comforting myths that
Carter probably will continue to promulgate the fiction that I gave Reagan
the utterly unimportant briefing book, thereby catalyzing the 1980
landslide. But to be fair: As a candidate, Carter promised only that as
president he would never tell a lie, thereby leaving himself a loophole for
his post-presidential career as a fabulist.
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