Must-read: Christopher Hitchens in yesterday's issue of Slate. What could former U.S. President Jimmy Carter have been thinking when he opened his mouth to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette?
Carter called the current Bush administration "the worst in history," adding, "The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including [those of] George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."
Well, Hitchens--who loveth not George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, or Richard Nixon--was all over that like stink on a skunk: "'Worst in history,' as the great statesman from Georgia has to know, has been the title for which he has himself been actively contending since 1976," Hitchens hisses.
He then goes on for 830 more words to explain, in excruciating, hilarious detail, why the "purse-mouthed preacher man from Plains" should keep his pie-hole shut.
It's a great read--and a great lesson: when you're speaking in public or to employees or stockholders or volunteers, try not to say stupid stuff. Be a little humble. Be a little kind. Remember that you put your overalls on one leg at a time just like everybody else.
Because the Christopher Hitchenses of the world will nail you up with every pompous piece of bullshit you utter, and the rest of us will applaud him.
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