A Four-Decade Secret: One Man's Story of Sabotaging Carter's Re-election

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Iran and the Reagan campaign conspired to cheat win the 1980 election. The hostages held by Iran was a major issue in that election and the failed attempt by President Carter to negotiate a release or rescue of these hostages was a major deal. Reagan promised the Iranian clergy to not make a deal with President Carter and that Reagan would give the Iranians a better deal. This is the same treasonous act that Nixon did in the 1968 with the Vietcong

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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html?unlocked_article_code=nVdsauiZTNp0fERHxsRn1JxxzIvw8LUvmmRHo2xwblDcu9TMpfdBOo1GncZsyN-8SwbCHlH6VdclbLcHL9eN4_6jynS7RRs-shtOrQu2TzIUe4Zt6GsuCYzwAh1sWWpFRLeE5JvCfdWIhi0Doph22mrZvRMaxQkGbVkFBE9oIz1DnR5ltnmjMpmW8v64YsJK9sSWBWtpG1wigJ3PtfHzxwLNheRnt5vXoB-z7kxwnY8-DuwSN0I5H7IiVVeC-8Oa_Sf-t92Ea6K_gjo0GkJjnLM15Vc4k_DvCGbCPbs7UlVki8VdppOlIFjOEKJEE-LxNpJL2bDXwHEfVESdr_xkmUZImRzAaeS_5ng_zts4f9RQAdf4nfLWJMs&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

It has been more than four decades, but Ben Barnes said he remembers it vividly. His longtime political mentor invited him on a mission to the Middle East. What Mr. Barnes said he did not realize until later was the real purpose of the mission: to sabotage the re-election campaign of the president of the United States.

It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter was in the White House, bedeviled by a hostage crisis in Iran that had paralyzed his presidency and hampered his effort to win a second term. Mr. Carter’s best chance for victory was to free the 52 Americans held captive before Election Day. That was something that Mr. Barnes said his mentor was determined to prevent.

His mentor was John B. Connally Jr., a titan of American politics and former Texas governor who had served three presidents and just lost his own bid for the White House. A former Democrat, Mr. Connally had sought the Republican nomination in 1980 only to be swamped by former Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. Now Mr. Connally resolved to help Mr. Reagan beat Mr. Carter and in the process, Mr. Barnes said, make his own case for becoming secretary of state or defense in a new administration.

What happened next Mr. Barnes has largely kept secret for nearly 43 years. Mr. Connally, he said, took him to one Middle Eastern capital after another that summer, meeting with a host of regional leaders to deliver a blunt message to be passed to Iran: Don’t release the hostages before the election. Mr. Reagan will win and give you a better deal.....

News of Mr. Barnes’s account came as validation to some of Mr. Carter’s remaining advisers. Gerald Rafshoon, who was his White House communications director, said any interference may have changed history. “If we had gotten the hostages home, we’d have won, I really believe that,” he said. “It’s pretty damn outrageous.”

[Skittles]

1. fuck ANYONE who voted for Reagan

what a piece of utter fucking SHIT he was

[PCIntern]

2. Saint Ronnie....

In many ways he made Nixon look positive by comparison. His presidency was worse than anyone will ever know. Even the Democrats these days are complicit in allowing the myth of Reagan to persist. I would posit that most if not all the political, lying and phony patriotism, and absolutely fake religiosity can be traced to that Reagan administration. It should’ve been exposed for what it was at the time and maybe we would not have suffered as we have.

[BadgerMom]

16. I think many were impressed by his Hollywood star power,

such as it was. As a Californian, it never affected me in the least. He was so phony.

I was thrilled because that ass left office just in time NOT to sign my diploma from UC. I couldn’t have been happier to have Jerry Brown’s name on my diploma.

But Tip O’Neill, an otherwise terrific Democrat, played right along with Reagan. I always had to pick up my jaw from the ground listening to how the Speaker and the President got along. I prefer Speaker Pelosi’s attitude toward Republican presidents.

[mountain grammy]

3. "Validation to some of Mr Carter's remaining advisors"

and to me as well. The right is ruthless and there truely is a vast right wing conspiracy.

They're nazi's you know.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. America would be a different country today if Jimmy Carter had been re-elected and not Ronald Reagan

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[Ilsa]

5. It's certainly good to document this now, but who kept

this under wraps back then, besides the guilty party? If Ds had any proof then, I would have liked to have read about then.

[ificandream]

10. Agreed. I don't understand why this wasn't investigated by someone.

On Capitol Hill. In the media. This shouldn't have been under wraps until now.

[PSPS]

6. LOL. Give me a break. This is hardly a "secret." This has been known for decades.

The last legitimately-elected republican president was Eisenhower.

[Deuxcents]

8. Agree. This info is not new..what's new is the "confession"

[Rhiannon12866]

12. +100

[dflprincess]

7. Let's not forget that former CIA director, George H.W. Bush was up to his eyes in this

Ronnie wasn't smart enough to pull something like this off.

[NullTuples]

14. HW also cozied up to Saddam to create pretense for the first Gulf War

Plus, you know...whatever illegal shenanigans anyone wants to list when he was head of the CIA.

[ificandream]

9. The timing of the release of the hostages should have gotten someone's attention back then.

From Wikipedia:

After the release of the hostages on January 20, 1981, mere minutes after Republican challenger Ronald Reagan's inauguration, some charged that the Reagan campaign had made a secret deal with the Iranian government whereby the Iranians would hold the hostages until after Reagan was elected and inaugurated.

I mean for fuck's sake, why didn't anyone take this up back then? Wasn't it all too fucking obvious what Reagan did here?

[NullTuples]

11. Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Bush, Trump...did *any* of them not cozy up to our enemies?

I don't seem to recall Carter, Clinton, Obama or Biden making deals with foreign nations that were not our friends so that the President and his friends could benefit.

[Rhiannon12866]

13. Exactly!

[Deuxcents]

15. That's because Clinton, Carter, Obama n Biden didn't ... seems to be a pattern 🧐

[LetMyPeopleVote]

17. TFG is just following in the footsteps of their repugs

[LetMyPeopleVote]

18. One man's story of sabotaging Carter's re-election

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

19. K&R