The Bee kills:

David Strom reveals something I didn't know. Iran took hostages to pressure the US into delivering over the deposed Shah of Iran, who'd fled the country as crazed jihadists sought to execute him.

I thought, wrongly, that Carter was some kind of friend to the Shah.

In fact, Carter aided the Ayatollah Khomeini in deposing him.

Carter, whose guiding principle was promoting human rights around the world, abandoned the Shah of Iran and basically cut a deal with Ayatollah Khomeini, paving the way for the zealous tyrant to ascend to power.

The BBC:

In a first-person message, Khomeini told the White House not to panic at the prospect of losing a strategic ally of 37 years and assured them that he, too, would be a friend.

"You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans," said Khomeini, pledging his Islamic Republic will be "a humanitarian one, which will benefit the cause of peace and tranquillity for all mankind".

Khomeini's message is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents - diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records - that tell the largely unknown story of America's secret engagement with Khomeini, an enigmatic cleric who would soon inspire Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism worldwide.

This story is a detailed account of how Khomeini brokered his return to Iran using a tone of deference and amenability towards the US that has never before been revealed.

The ayatollah's message was, in fact, the culmination of two weeks of direct talks between his de facto chief of staff and a representative of the US government in France - a quiet process that helped pave the way for Khomeini's safe return to Iran and rapid rise to power - and decades of high-stakes tension between Iran and America.

In the official Iranian narrative of the revolution, Khomeini bravely defied the United States and defeated "the Great Satan" in its desperate efforts to keep the Shah in power.

But the documents reveal that Khomeini was far more engaged with the US than either government has ever admitted. Far from defying America, the ayatollah courted the Carter administration, sending quiet signals that he wanted a dialogue and then portraying a potential Islamic Republic as amenable to US interests.

...

To this day, former Carter administration officials maintain that Washington - despite being sharply divided over the course of action - stood firm behind the Shah and his government.

But the documents show more nuanced US behaviour behind the scenes. Only two days after the Shah departed Tehran, the US told a Khomeini envoy that they were - in principle - open to the idea of changing the Iranian constitution, effectively abolishing the monarchy. And they gave the ayatollah a key piece of information - Iranian military leaders were flexible about their political future.

I always thought that Carter was a victim of the Iranian revolution. Nope, he did his bit to foment it. It's not just that he was feckless in allowing Iranian jihadis to hold American hostage for (IIRC) 444 days; he in fact was part of the cause of that captivity.

I promised to myself that I would not comment further on Jimmy Carter's death, but it bothers me to see so many otherwise sensible conservatives spouting the "Bad President, good man" line that the Democrat/Media Complex has been spinning for 40+ years. Thus, I feel the need to drop some truth bombs, propriety at time of death notwithstanding.

Yes, he hammered a few nails on some houses for poor people. But that alone does not make one a "good man," when the rest of the track record is so awful.

After Carter lost in spectacular fashion in 1980, he did not do what every other President before him did and retire to a quiet, private life. He could have farmed peanuts in Plains with Rosalynn. Instead, he bitterly engaged in active and public efforts to undermine the policies of the elected Republicans who came after him. He INVENTED the jealous, manipulative ex-President model that Obama put on steroids in 2016.

Jimmy Carter flew around the world for decades, un-asked by America, on self-appointed missions of national importance, almost always involving gleefully interacting with raging antisemitic terrorist and/or Communist leaders, always working against the official policies of the ACTUALLY ELECTED Presidents. Carter's hatred of Israel bordered on pathological, and reeked of a sort of cloaked antisemitism that has become quite fashionable today. Somehow Jimmy Carter convinced himself that he was such an important and historic figure that he stood outside and above the U.S. systems of election and governance, even though no one other than the Yassar Arafats and Hugo Chavezs of the world asked him to do so.

Jimmy Carter was a bitter, angry narcissist who cloaked his lifelong, seething rage at the indignity of being body-slammed by Ronald Reagan (someone he considered lesser than himself in every regard) with that genteel "Southern gentleman" accent, vague scripture references and the occasional hammered nail. He purposely and vengefully wreaked havoc on America's official foreign policy for decades and he INVENTED the concept of a meddling ex-President poisoning American political discourse. (In that regard, Obama has been Carter v.2.0--we have Carter to thank for that.)

Literally every aspect of the man's self-serving public life was harmful to America, he knew that, and he did it all anyway because narcissists always operate like that--they cannot help it, and they can never admit fault. Carter's "good man" image was a carefully constructed and nurtured illusion, one that he gladly worked with the corrupt media to maintain.

So please consider these factors before pronouncing "Bad President, good man." Sometimes truth needs to be said even when some find that truth untimely.

I'm old enough to remember Carter's gas lines, malaise, turn your thermostat down in winter, and the endless national humiliation of the Iran hostage crisis, so you'll pardon me if I'm not interested in reading any encomiums to his unappreciated greatness.

Carter was the avatar of the illogical and infuriating political myth that demands left-wingers be given endless credit for good intentions, even when their policies are horrifying disasters foisted upon us with fraudulent rhetoric.

The presidency of the United States is not some kindergarten assignment where everyone who plays gets a participation trophy and a smiley face sticker. Carter was an unholy disaster, and he stubbornly executed his stupid policies over the loud objections of better men and women.

He doesn't get a pass because he devoted himself to charitable work after he was thankfully bounced out of the White House by a vastly superior president. Carter's post-presidency included a great deal of vicious and destructive meddling in American diplomacy in the Middle East.

And even if Carter had kept quiet for the past half-century and just focused on building homes for the poor, the damage his administration did to the United States for generations to come was incalculable. Our children still suffer from what he did to education, for example.

Carter's failed presidency should have been studied in detail to avoid similar catastrophes in the future, including WHY he made some of his awful decisions - but those tales of venal backroom deals and political payoffs to special interests would clash with his St. Jimmy image.

The presidency of the United States is a job for serious people that should carry the highest levels of accountability. Jimmy Carter was never really held accountable for the damage he inflicted on this country, and that set a very unfortunate precedent. /end

Unrelated: Corrupt criminal Merchan has ignored Trump's motion to dismiss or delay his sentencing and says he'll sentence Trump on January 10th.

We'll see.