The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Shameful New Right Wing Smear Campaign Against Jimmy Carter

    CNN is currently broadcasting ads for a campaign to urge Congress to censure former President and Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian Jimmy Carter. Sponsored by the right wing group, Move America Forward (MAF), which has also sponsored several other anti-liberal campaigns, the ad urges viewers to visit the website, censurejimmycarter.com, and sign the petition.

    The campaign says,

    It’s Time to Censure Former President Jimmy Carter... Since leaving office, President Jimmy Carter has repeatedly undermined U.S. foreign policy, criticized the missions of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, as well as embracing known terrorists and terrorist organizations.

    Further links on the site detail Carter's supposed offenses, such as actually talking to Hamas and Arafat, quotes from a WorldNetDaily article alleging that Carter had ties to a lobbyist linked to the Iraq Oil For Food scandal (these appear to be highly tenuous), accusing the US troops of torture at Gitmo, and speaking out against the Iraq war.

    According to SourceWatch,

    MAF identifies their domestic opponents as "self-loathing liberal journalists and 'Blame America First' politicians..."

    And this isn't the first anti-liberal campaign the group has sponsored. Earlier efforts included a campaign labeling Nancy Pelosi as a "Domestic Enemy," which attempted to force campaign contributors Gallo and Wells Fargo to withdraw their support of her; the 2004 effort to pressure theatres across the country not to show Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11; and ads during the 2004 Presidential campaign smearing MoveOn and other liberal groups, calling them the "Blame America First" crowd.

    Jimmy Carter is a national treasure and one of the few with the courage to speak out honestly on issues that many would prefer to sweep under the rug. His human rights efforts are an inspiration to people around the world, reminding them that the Bush administration does not speak for all Americans. This campaign is a disgrace.