David Broder on Sunday's "Meet the Press" - was Jimmy Carter

[coalition_unwilling]

'almost a segregationist' as governor of Georgia?

While watching this past Sunday's panel discussion on "Meet the Press," the panelists were discussing the flip-flop issue. David Broker made the point that flip-flopping from the primary to the general election is not new and not confined to the current crop of Repukes (Romney and Giuliani on abortion rights). Broder went on to cite the example of Jimmy Carter whom, Broder claimed, was 'almost a segregationist' as Governor of Georgia.

Now, I was knee-high to a grasshopper when Carter was governor of Georgia, but I came of age in the 70's and was 17 when Carter became president. Until this past Sunday, I had never heard Carter referred to as a 'segregationist'. Before I write NBC to tell them I will never watch MTP again until Broder is fired, I wanted to check with some of the history buffs (Carter buffs) here to see whether Broder's slur had any merit.

I was hopping mad at Broder's comment and screamed at the TV. I thought before I chanelled my rage at Russert and the network honchos who sanctioned Broder's slander, I should double-check.

Was Jimmy Carter associated with segregation as Governor of Georgia?

[sallyseven]

1. I doubt he was a segregationist but complain anyway.

MTP and Russett deserve to be fired. Just for all the bs he pushes on dems and all the a..kissing he does for the repuks.

[rodeodance]

2. some clickables from Wikipedia

Civil rights politics
Carter declared in his inaugural speech that the time of racial segregation was over, and that racial discrimination had no place in the future of the state. He was the first statewide office holder in the Deep South to say this in public. Afterwards, Carter appointed many African Americans to statewide boards and offices. He was often called one of the "New Southern Governors" — much more moderate than their predecessors and supportive of racial desegregation and expanding African-Americans' rights.

[BrklynLib at work]

3. I don' think so.....

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jc39.html

After seven years' service as a naval officer, Carter returned to Plains. In 1962 he entered state politics, and eight years later he was elected Governor of Georgia. Among the new young southern governors, he attracted attention by emphasizing ecology, efficiency in government, and the removal of racial barriers.



http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-676
After easily defeating his Republican opponent, Carter surprised most of his Georgia supporters and attracted national attention during a short, twelve-minute inaugural address when he proclaimed that the time for segregation had ended. "No poor, rural, weak, or black person," he declared, "should ever have to bear the additional burden of being deprived of the opportunity of an education, a job, or simple justice." He soon revealed himself as a moderate business progressive with an extensive reform agenda designed to make state government operate more efficiently and to be more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

<snip>

In addition to reorganization, Carter continued his earlier efforts to upgrade the state's notoriously weak educational system. The "Adequate Program for Education in Georgia," the governor's educational reform package, provided funds to support vocational education, reduce class size, and equalize funding among districts. At the same time, Carter increased the state's commitment to preschool education and launched a campaign that eventually led to the adoption of a statewide kindergarten program.

Substantial reform in the operation of the state's criminal justice system also occurred during Carter's governorship. These revisions included significant movement toward the creation of a unified court system, the systematic use of a merit system in the selection of judges, a constitutional method of regulating judicial conduct, and much needed penal reform.

Carter also initiated significant new mental health programs and took a variety of actions, both substantive and symbolic, to promote civil rights and equal opportunity for women and minorities. The governor reflected his commitment to fairness and justice most obviously in his appointment policy. He appointed more women and minorities to his own staff, to major state policy boards and agencies, and to the judiciary than all of his predecessors combined.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Yeah, but did he take down the...

Confederate flag over the state house?

How the hell is one "amost a segregationist" anyway?

[flordehinojos]

4. i don't know either.

1) you could write the CARTER CENTER down in Georgia ... I think, "MR. JIMMY" might himself answer the question for you... and then you could really hit NBC, TIM RUSSERT AND MTP with an answer that has come directly from him.

2) for what this is worth, I recall that Carter's mother, Ms. Lillian, was the most pro-human beings woman in the world... and if it is true that WE are the history of our parents, and their parents before them ... you might have an answer right there.

3) I even wonder sometimes if David Broder is able to pass gas or it is all stuffed up in there?

[ramapo]

5. And this is important?

Sounds like a load of diversionary crap. All the important problems in the world and they talk about this?

I don't think there's a bit of truth in it but even if it was true...so what?

[coalition_unwilling]

9. When the corporate whore media is used to disseminate

bald-faced lies and slander disguised as fact (to wit, Broder passed his comment off as historical fact and not his own opinion), I would say we have a responsibility to hold the corporate whore media's feet to the fire.

Specifically, why is Broder allowed to comment on current politics if he gets his history (Carter as a 'segregationist') so emphatically wrong? Shouldn't that mis-statement of historical fact disqualify Broder from passing himself off as an august media spokesperson cum Cronkite? Cronkite he ain't!

Broder used the 'public figure' exception to libel and slander laws essentially to throw a slander at Jimmy Carter and one that seems incredibly mean-spirited. This was Broder's attempt to offer an example that flip-flooping from primary to general election campaign occurs on both sides of the aisle. But the example Broder cited was a LIE. And while the general point he was making may have validity, Broder's use of a LIE as evidence for his point brings his judgment and suitability into question, imho.

[ramapo]

14. Broder is a jerk

My point was why would Broder get into this? As a "journalist", he can't find something a bit more relevant to talk about??

[Beaverhausen]

7. Broder also said Huckabee is "his candidate"

I thought his Carter comment was odd, too. I'm glad you brought this up.

[David Zephyr]

8. Yeah, first he falsely impugns Carter with a broad brush and then swoons over Huckabee.

Broder made a fool of himself yesterday.

[trof]

10. Naw, Broder has him confused with Lester Maddox.

I think Broder has Alzheimers.
The guy is just goofy now.

[CreekDog]

11. Broder's "confusion" has tilted Republican in recent years

If only it was genuine confusion rather than simple duplicity.

[coalition_unwilling]

13. I just sent an email to "MTP" telling them they had better

apologize for that slander or I would stop watching and would contact all advertisers to inform of my decision. Not that "MTP" would care. But, as Arlo Guthrie might say, if two people did it, they would think it was a movement . . . and if three people did it, they would think it was a revolution :)

[book_worm]

12. Of course not. In fact Time put him on the cover in '71 as a representative of the "new south"

and he proclaimed segregation over in his inaugural address and forged a close alliance with Daddy King. If he had been the African American support he got in '76 including the King Family wouldn't have been there. Broder is off his pills again.

[Elidor]

15. David Broder is a fucking idiot

No one should waste a second of their lives listening to anything that fuckwit has to say. He's utterly worthless.

[coalition_unwilling]

16. I wonder why he continues to make regular appearances on "MTP" -- he

definitely seems to me to be teetering on the axis of senility\imbecility and clearly going over to the imbecilic side.

[Elidor]

18. He's one of the celebrated members of The Village

That insular community of Washington Insiders. In a different era, the WaPo would have been ashamed by his columns in recent years, but the current crew running it is just as idiotic as he is. Fred Hiatt is a war cheerleader.

[karynnj]

17. No

He was very conservative for a Democrat. (One thing I learned later was that he actually had a day to honor lt Calley when he returned to GA when his prison term was over. I would not have voted for him in 1976 or 1980 if I knew. (It's one thing that some say he was a scapegoat, another to make him a hero.)

[coalition_unwilling]

19. Granted Carter was 'conservative' albeit less so than Bill Clinton,

I would argue. But was he 'almost a segregationist' (Broder's words)?