The American right has a long history of advocating coups-d'etat

[smoogatz]

when popular Democrats hold the presidency. They actually tried to organize a coup against FDR in 1933; they succeeded (in my view) when they assassinated JFK thirty years later; they nearly evicted Clinton from office in what was clearly a concerted effort to overthrow the will of the voters; and now they're whipping up their mouthbreathing, knuckle-dragging, racist base in the hope that someone will take a shot at Obama. History shows us that the rightwing has no interest in democracy--all they care about is power and the money that accrues with power.

As for the current state of things--where's the media outrage? Where are all the interviews of high-profile right-wingers, asking them if they agree with NewsMax, and whether they, too, would call for a coup d'etat?

[DBoon]

1. Jimmy Carter too

He was done in by a right wing Ayn-Rand worshiping head of the Federal Reserve, who choked off the economy in time for his re-election, and by the hostage deal I believe the Reagan campaign worked out with Iran

[smoogatz]

2. Carter was a victim of circumstance--but a lot of it was his own doing.

There was the energy crisis, the recession, a succession of much harsher than normal winters, and a kind of post-Vietnam hangover he mis-identified as a national malaise. Then along came the hostage crisis, and Carter really had no answer for it--the rescue debacle was the last straw for an awful lot of voters. We'll put up with a lot, but military incompetence is an unforgivable sin (see LBJ). I'm not a hawk by any means--much closer to the opposite, in fact--but Carter should have called for a declaration of war against Iran; he'd have been fully justified in doing so, and the declaration alone might have been sufficient to free the hostages.

[Greyhound]

3. He had too many of the wrong people around him and never seemed comfortable in the job. n/t

[smoogatz]

5. Too principled, I think.

And probably too honest. A bit of megalomania is an asset in a President, it turns out. I also think Carter was not very good at reading and responding to the national mood, and much too cautious with Iran, as I said. It was not the time to display weakness--but he was determined to get them back alive, under under my plan they might well have been killed.

[paulsby]

4. bingo on the malaise

that speech was just TERRIBLE.

at least he presented it well, unlike a word mangler like bush, but whomever wrote that piece of crap was an idiot.

[Warpy]

6. The gravest danger to any democracy is from the far right

All democracies that have been toppled by coups have had those coups originate in the far right.

There are no exceptions.

[troubledamerican]

7. It can't happen here. America is special and unique.

Ahem.