On his radio show Wednesday Rush Limbaugh called former President Jimmy Carter a national hemorrhoid and said he should be an embarrassment to the Democratic party. He also said Carter was the worst president of the 20th century.

Limbaugh lashed out over Carter's remarks last week that he believes some of the harshest criticisms of President Barack Obama are racially motivated. He did not say everyone against the president is racist, or anything like that, but some people prefer to take it that way.

I'm sure everyone reading this can think of at least one person they know who is unhappy that the president is black, so it's not that much of a stretch to reason that some people are really, really angry about it.

If I think the president — or anybody else for that matter — is an idiot, I'm going to reserve the right to say so. And whatever their race, political party affiliation, or spiritual beliefs were wouldn't make them any less of an idiot to me. But those things factor in to a lot of people's emotions. It magnifies their disappointment and they do and say things that are pretty hateful.

Hate isn't inherited. It's learned. There are still a lot of folks these days who grew up learning to hate along the boundaries of race, politics or religion, sometimes all three. I think it's less prevalent with each generation and hope that continues. Anybody who seeks to bring peace between people across those lines is OK with me. That's why I like Jimmy Carter.

I even like Rush Limbaugh. Clowns are my favorite part of the circus.



Just for fun



A survey of 65 presidential historians and scholars done earlier this year for C-SPAN ranked the former 42 presidents of the United States based on 10 points of leadership: public persuasion; crisis leadership; economic management; moral authority; international relations; administrative skills; relations with Congress; their vision and setting of an agenda; how they pursued equal justice for all; and their performance within the context of their times.

According to the presidential historians and scholars Warren Harding would be the worst president of the 20th century and George W. Bush would be the second worst president of the 20th century. The other 20th century presidents who ranked below Carter were Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Richard Nixon. Of course Rush would dismiss this since they are all Republicans.

The list is not gospel by any means, and it would never change anyone's mind about their favorite president (my No. 1 is No. 5 on the list) but it is interesting:

1. Abraham Lincoln

2. George Washington

3. Franklin D. Roosevelt

4. Theodore Roosevelt

5. Harry S. Truman

6. John F. Kennedy

7. Thomas Jefferson

8. Dwight D. Eisenhower

9. Woodrow Wilson

10. Ronald Reagan

11. Lyndon B. Johnson

12. James K. Polk

13. Andrew Jackson

14. James Monroe

15. Bill Clinton

16. William McKinley

17. John Adams

18. George H. W. Bush

19. John Quincy Adams

20. James Madison

21. Grover Cleveland

22. Gerald R. Ford

23. Ulysses S. Grant

24. William Howard Taft

25. Jimmy Carter

26. Calvin Coolidge

27. Richard M. Nixon

28. James A. Garfield

29. Zachary Taylor

30. Benjamin Harrison

31. Martin Van Buren

32. Chester A. Arthur

33. Rutherford B. Hayes

34. Herbert Hoover

35. John Tyler

36. George W. Bush

37. Millard Fillmore

38. Warren G. Harding

39. William Henry Harrison

40. Franklin D. Pierce

41. Andrew Johnson

42. James Buchanan



Steve Gillespie is managing editor of The Meridian Star. Email him at sgillespie@themeridianstar.com.