'Carter is irrelevant,' Bush administration shoots back

POSTED: 3:53 p.m. EDT, May 20, 2007

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- The nasty words between President Bush and former President Jimmy Carter continued Sunday.

In a biting rebuke to Carter calling the Bush administration the "worst in history," the White House on Sunday dismissed Carter as "increasingly irrelevant."

Carter was quoted Saturday in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as saying "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history." (Read full story)

The Georgia Democrat said Bush had overseen an "overt reversal of America's basic values" as expressed by previous administrations, including that of his own father, former President George H.W. Bush.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto shot back Sunday from Crawford, Texas, where Bush spent the weekend.

"I think it's sad that President Carter's reckless personal criticism is out there," said Fratto. "I think it's unfortunate. And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments."

Carter was in Arkansas promoting "Sunday Mornings in Plains," a collection of weekly Bible lessons from his hometown of Plains, Georgia.

"Apparently, Sunday mornings in Plains for former President Carter includes hurling reckless accusations at your fellow man," said Amber Wilkerson, Republican National Committee spokeswoman.

She said it was hard to take Carter seriously because he also "challenged Ronald Reagan's strategy for the Cold War."

Carter: Blair is 'blind, subservient'

Carter's comments, which were published Saturday, were confirmed by his spokeswoman Deanna Congileo to The Associated Press on Saturday. She declined to elaborate.

Carter also said Saturday that Britain's support for the war in Iraq was a "major tragedy" for the world, as he criticized Tony Blair's unwavering support for President Bush.

Asked how he would judge Blair's support of Bush, Carter said: "Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient."

"And I think the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world," Carter told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Blair was in Baghdad Saturday morning for what will be his last trip to Iraq as British prime minister. Last week, Blair announced that he would step down June 27, making way for treasury chief Gordon Brown.

The war in Iraq has been the defining foreign policy issue of Blair's premiership, and the decision to join the U.S.-led invasion was an unpopular one at home. So far, nearly 150 British service personnel have died in Iraq.

Carter told the BBC that Britain's support made it more difficult for critics of the war, and that things could have been different if Britain spoke out against the 2003 invasion.

"I can't say it would have made a definitive difference, but it would certainly have assuaged the problems that arose lately," said Carter, who was U.S. president from 1977 to 1981 and has been a critic of the war.

"One of the defenses of the Bush administration, in the American public and on a worldwide basis -- and it's not been successful in my opinion -- has been that, OK, we must be more correct in our actions than the world thinks because Great Britain is backing us.

"And so I think the combination of Bush and Blair giving their support to this tragedy in Iraq has strengthened the effort, and has made opposition less effective and has prolonged the war and increased the tragedy that has resulted."

Unprecedented criticism

It's not the first time Carter has criticized Britain. Last year, he said he was disappointed with "the apparent subservience" of the British government to Washington on issues such as Iraq and last summer's Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

The criticism of Bush from Carter, which a biographer says is unprecedented for the 39th president, also took aim at Bush's environmental policies and the administration's "quite disturbing" faith-based initiative funding.

Carter came down hard on the Iraq war.

"We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered," he said. "But that's been a radical departure from all previous administration policies."

Carter, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, criticized Bush for having "zero peace talks" in Israel. Carter also said the administration "abandoned or directly refuted" every negotiated nuclear arms agreement, as well as environmental efforts by other presidents.

Carter also offered a harsh assessment for the White House's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which helped religious charities receive $2.15 billion in federal grants in fiscal year 2005 alone.

"The policy from the White House has been to allocate funds to religious institutions, even those that channel those funds exclusively to their own particular group of believers in a particular religion," Carter said.

"As a traditional Baptist, I've always believed in separation of church and state and honored that premise when I was president, and so have all other presidents, I might say, except this one."

Douglas Brinkley, a Tulane University presidential historian and Carter biographer, described Carter's comments as unprecedented.

"This is the most forceful denunciation President Carter has ever made about an American president," Brinkley said. "When you call somebody the worst president, that's volatile. Those are fighting words."