Barack Obama's retrospective job approval rating is 63%.

Courtesy of Gallup: 

Barack Obama's legacy appears to be on the right track, as 63% of Americans in hindsight say they approve of the way he handled his job. Gallup's first measure of Obama's retrospective job approval rating places him behind only John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan among the 10 most recent presidents. Richard Nixon is rated worst today for how he handled his job, with 28% approving.

Actually whoever typed this up made a mistake as George H. Bush is also rated higher than Obama by a point, which I find unacceptable.

I am also not pleased to see Jimmy Carter so far down the list, and Reagan at the top, as I do not believe this factually represents their contributions to this country.

I will say I fully expect that Obama's rating will only rise in the years to come, and that I would not be surprised if at some point he gave Ronnie a run for his money.

Well it's pretty easy to see why Trump did not join those five former presidents at that hurricane fundraiser last night.

.@realDonaldTrump-This is what a REAL president looks like—listen to the crowd roar for @BarackObama#AMJoy #Resistpic.twitter.com/b2VBRcUNDO

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 22, 2017

Listen to that crowd.

That is the sound of overwhelming support.

Here is more courtesy of Politico:  

With the American flag as a backdrop and surrounded by Texas A&M University singing cadets, all five living former presidents stood on stage together in College Station, Texas, on Saturday night to kick off a benefit concert to help raise money for hurricane victims. 

President Donald Trump was not in attendance, but a video of his remarks played.

Former presidents Clinton, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all attended. 

"All of us on this stage here tonight could not be prouder of the response of Americans," Obama said. "When they see their neighbors, and their friends, when they see strangers in need, Americans step up. And as heartbreaking as the tragedies that took place here in Texas and in Florida, in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have been, but what we've also seen is the spirit of America at its best." 

In the six weeks since the campaign began, more than $31 million has been raised from some 80,000 contributors, according to David Jones, chief executive of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

Man, this photo. pic.twitter.com/q9TQ6iIA5G

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 22, 2017

There is at least one of these men who I actively despise, and two who are very close to the end of their time on earth. And yet I would gladly chose ANY of them over the traitorous POS currently residing in the people's house.

And did you hear that applause for Barack Obama?

That is the kind of enthusiasm we need to harness for the Democrat's next presidential candidate.

While Donald Trump goes golfing for the 74th time since his inauguration, 5 former president's show up to raise money for hurricane relief.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Members of an exclusive club are making a rare joint appearance Saturday. 

All five living former US presidents will take part in a benefit concert in Texas to raise money for hurricane relief efforts, while President Donald Trump will appear in a taped video message to the concertgoers, the White House announced Saturday. 

Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter will attend Saturday night's event, named "Deep From the Heart: The One America Appeal," at Reed Arena at Texas A&M University in College Station.

Apparently Trump is going to send a video message, but that is really all he can do right now as he is dealing with more important matters.

Per pool, Trump has arrived at Trump Nat'l Golf Club in VA.

This is his 74th day at a golf club, 94th day at a Trump property as president.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 21, 2017

Priorities.

However the men who took their jobs seriously are showing up to help their fellow Americans whose lives have been devastated by these recent disasters.

The concert won't be the first time the former presidents have joined forces. 

After Hurricane Harvey struck Texas in September, all five started the "One America Appeal" charity effort and filmed a video urging citizens to help out amid the devastating flooding. 

They have since resumed the effort in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

As Americans, we lift each other up. I’m proud to be a part of this night. Hope you’ll tune in. https://t.co/FZLWfNBLw5 https://t.co/Mv6Kg2ZwMZ

— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) October 21, 2017

I am long past hoping that Trump is capable of learning on the job, but just maybe he can be shamed into actually doing his job by the example set by these men.

I mean at this point anything is worth a try. 

Five former presidents band together to help raise money for Puerto Rico. Because somebody has to do something.

Courtesy of WSVN:

All five living former presidents are joining forces on a fundraising campaign to help with hurricane recovery for the U.S., Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have launched the One America Appeal campaign, allowing donors to help with relief efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. 

Organizers say a special restricted account has been established through the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation to collect and quickly distribute donations. Officials say “100 cents out of every dollar” donated will help hurricane victims.

I can only imagine what the conversations between these former presidents must be like. 

I would think there would be a lot of shaking their heads in disbelief and real concern for the future of the country.

Donald Trump has the lowest approval ratings of any other president elected since World War 2.

Courtesy of Gallup:

Donald Trump averaged 41% job approval during his first quarter as president, 14 percentage points lower than any other president in Gallup's polling history. Bill Clinton had the previous low mark of 55%. The average first-quarter rating among post-World War II presidents elected to their first term is 61%, with John Kennedy's 74% the highest.

You know I so want to celebrate this, but the fact is that this asshole represents all of us now so unfortunately this is also a reflection on the entire country. 

God I hate Vladimir Putin right now.

Hillary and Bill Clinton to attend Trump inauguration.

Courtesy of New York Magazine:  

Bill and Hillary Clinton have decided to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States, according to two sources with knowledge of their plans. The Clintons will join former Presidents George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, who have also announced that they will attend. George and Laura Bush said today that they would be present “to witness the peaceful transfer of power.”

Well at least the person who the majority of the American people chose to be their leader will be at the inauguration she was cheated out of.

I think it is very classy for Hillary and Bill to show up. And you know if the roles were reversed that Trump would not be caught dead at her inauguration. 

Still not watching though.  

Just a room full of folks voting for Hillary Clinton.

Yes I know that we do not officially know who W. is voting for, but then again I think we do.

What's more if Ronald Reagan were still alive he would be getting a ride to the polls to cast his vote for Clinton right along with them.

Good advice.

Now see I am one of those people who cannot even begin to understand how somebody comes to support Donald Trump.

I find no part of his personality to be authentic.

I find that virtually everything that he says to be untrue.

And I find that his out sized ego cries out that he is overcompensating for some deficiency or another.

Simply put he is a dangerous and unpredictable fellow, and clearly these five recognize that as well.

So the Republicans tried to delay the release of Americans held in Iran until it was in their best interests politically? Really?

Courtesy of Tasnim News Agency: 

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said a recent prisoner exchange between Iran and the US went ahead as planned despite calls by Republicans for a delay until US presidential elections. 

“In the course of the talks for exchanging prisoners, the Republican rivals of the current US administration who claim to be humanitarians and advocates of human rights sent a message telling us not to release these people (American prisoners) and continue this process (of talks) until the eve of US presidential elections,” Shamkhani said Thursday in an address to a rally held in the central city of Yazd to mark the 37th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution’s victory. 

“However” he said “we acted upon our independent resolve and moved the process forward.”

Now of course the Republicans are going to dismiss this as mere propaganda, and usually that would be a reasonable charge to make.

If in fact this was not standard operating procedure for the GOP.

Courtesy of Truthout:  

Behind Carter's back, the Reagan campaign worked out a deal with the leader of Iran's radical faction - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini - to keep the hostages in captivity until after the 1980 Presidential election. 

This was nothing short of treason. The Reagan campaign's secret negotiations with Khomeini - the so-called "October Surprise" - sabotaged Carter and Bani-Sadr's attempts to free the hostages. And as Bani-Sadr told The Christian Science Monitor in March of this year, they most certainly "tipped the results of the [1980] election in Reagan's favor." 

Not surprisingly, Iran released the hostages on January 20, 1981, at the exact moment Ronald Reagan was sworn into office.

So do I think that at the same time the Republicans were criticizing President Obama for not getting the prisoners released BEFORE he signed the nuclear deal with Iran, they were also working behind the scenes to keep those men in prison even longer until it could help them politically?

Oh hell yeah!

A little good news to start our week. This magnificent bastard is now cancer free!

Courtesy of BBC:  

"My most recent MRI brain scan did not reveal any signs of the original cancer spots nor any new ones," Mr Carter said in a statement. 

The 91-year-old first announced the news during a Sunday school class in Plains, Georgia. 

Mr Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981 and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, revealed his illness in August. 

Doctors have been treating four small melanoma lesions on his brain. 

Last month, Mr Carter said he was responding well to treatment and there were no signs of further cancer growth.

There are only a handful of people who I would get on a plane and fly just to have dinner with them. 

Th first, of course, is President Obama.

The second is Jon Stewart.

And the third is President Jimmy Carter.

And I would gladly pay for the meal and sit for hours after eating, just to listen to him talk, and pick his brain.

It would be a joy.

He is, probably not surprisingly, also one of only two Christians who I believe exemplify the very best that that religion represents.

The other is Fred Rogers, who I think may be one of the kindest, most gentle people ever to walk this earth

I am very glad that Jimmy Carter is going to remain with us a little longer. And I have little doubt that Jimmy Carter will spend the time that he has left making this world a better place to live.

Just like he has been doing for the vast majority of his life.

I still think Jimmy Carter could kick Donald Trump's ass in a street fight.

Source

And don't forget Hillary sat through an eleven hour Benghazi hearing without breaking a sweat.

Even when her voice started to crack she refused to stop slapping the Benghazi out of Trey Gowdy, and his crew of pinheads.

Former President Jimmy Carter says that America is no longer a democracy. Is now an oligarchy.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail: 

Former president Jimmy Carter says he would not be able to run for president today because the U.S. political system has warped into an 'oligarchy' which requires huge financial wealth. 

In a new interview, the 91-year-old said the need for massive financial backing excluded candidates and warned against the 'damaged' ethical standards of American politics. 

During an interview with Oprah for her upcoming episode of SuperSoul Sunday, he was asked if could become president today. 

He replied: 'Absolutely not. There's no way now for you to get a Democratic or Republican nomination without being able to raise $200 or $300million or more. 

'I would not be inclined to do that, and I would not be capable of doing it.' 

'We've become now an oligarchy instead of a democracy, and I think that's been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I've ever seen in my life.' 

Well...I think that pretty much sums it up. 

Still one of my all time favorite Presidents and Christians.

Source

This is a man who lived his faith instead of using it as a blunt instrument to attack others.

Perhaps the only Sunday school class I would attend voluntarily.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Larger-than-usual crowds of well-wishers meant former President Jimmy Carter had to teach an extra Bible class at his rural Georgia church and a local schoolhouse on Sunday, after he announced on Thursday cancer had spread to his brain. 

Carter, 90, a lifelong Baptist and church deacon, has taught Sunday school for decades, and the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, is used to a throng. 

The church’s website asks people to line up before 9:00 a.m. and attend an orientation before the 10 a.m. class. 

The theme of the lesson was love, Carter told the 300 people who filled the church’s sanctuary, after briefly alluding to his health. 

“We are studying the most important aspect of Christianity,” he said, and read from the Sermon on the Mount in the Book of Matthew: “I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

The article goes on to say that Carter taught a second Sunday school lesson so that those who could not attend the first were not left out. And then afterward he posed for pictures with well wishers for over half an hour.

You know along with the great Fred Rogers, Jimmy Carter is one of those people who literally embodies his Christian teachings.  Mr. Rogers was also a Sunday school teacher, and by EVERY account was as wonderful in private as we was on TV.

Jimmy Carter is also a great example of Christianity done right.

It really is too bad that there are so many out there using Christianity as an excuse to hate, or as camouflage to cover for their bad intent.

If there were more Jimmy Carters (And of course Mr. Rogers) serving as examples for their faith in the world, I bet there would also be fewer Christians leaving the fold.

And remember, this is an Atheist saying that.

Ted Cruz insults Jimmy Carter the day after his candid conversation with the press announcing that his cancer has spread to his brain.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz slammed Jimmy Carter's presidency just one day after Carter announced his cancer has spread to his brain. 

Speaking at the Iowa State Fair, Cruz recited a regular part of his stump speech in which the Texas senator says that "today is very, very much like the late 1970s." 

"I think the parallels between this administration and the Carter administration are uncanny: same failed domestic policies, same misery, stagnation and malaise, same feckless and naïve foreign policy," Cruz said. "In fact, the exact same countries -- Russia and Iran -- openly laughing and mocking at the president of the United States." 

On Thursday, Carter announced he is beginning radiation treatment for melanoma that spread to four spots on his brain.

Later Cruz tried to explain that he was only criticizing the Carter administration's public policy and not the man himself.

Which might have satisfied some of his critics if he had not said this right after Joe Biden's son died of cancer: 

"Vice President Joe Biden. You know the nice thing? You don't need a punch line."

Yeah fuck you Ted Cruz you vile POS!

Jimmy Carter was the first presidential candidate I ever voted for.

He lost to Ronald Reagan but I have still never regretted that vote. I think Jimmy Carter is a great man, and was also a great President.

And Joe Biden? Well he is Joe Biden, and that is pretty impressive all on its own.

On the other hand I think Ted Cruz looks like a sleazy used car salesman who is secretly jacking off to internet porn in between talking to customers.

President to use executive action to advance solar power and energy efficiency in move that will be the "equivalent of taking about 80 million cars off the road for a year."

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

President Obama is expected to announce a series of executive actions and agreements on Friday morning that will advance solar power and energy efficiency in the United States, part of his pledge to tackle climate change without having to go through a gridlocked Congress. 

According to a statement from the White House, the initiatives will represent an 850-megawatt increase in solar power deployed, or enough to power 130,000 homes. They will also lead to more $2 billion in energy efficiency investments in Federal buildings, $26 billion in savings for businesses on energy bills, and a 380 million metric ton decrease in carbon pollution — the equivalent of taking about 80 million cars off the road for a year, the statement said.

You see while the Republicans are spending all of their time, and our tax dollars, attacking this man on a never ending basis, HE is doing what he can every day to make our lives, and the health of our planet, better. 

In fact, along those lines, the President is also having those solar panels that Ronald Reagan had removed put back onto the roof of the White House:  

Technicians have finished installing solar panels on the White House roof, capping a project that President Barack Obama hopes will send a signal that renewable energy is feasible and environmentally shrewd.

You may remember that President Carter originally put the solar panels up in the 70's. However that oil company whore Ronald Reagan had them removed when he started his disastrous presidency.

Imagine if he had continued to promote renewable energy policies, and how much better off the country, and even the world, would be today.

What am I saying? Ronald Reagan could never have had that kind of foresight.

Obamacare is here to stay and it is winning over converts everyday. Oh look, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.

Courtesy of The National Memo:  

In mid-March, House Republicans took their 52nd vote in 38 months to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While a majority of the House voted in favor of the bill, however, public support for these continued efforts to repeal the health care law is progressively shrinking. 

According to a Kaiser Foundation poll released on Wednesday, only 18 percent of Americans still wish to see the law repealed and not replaced — 11 percent want to repeal the law and replace it with a Republican alternative, 10 percent want it to remain as is, and a 49 percent majority want to keep it and improve it. 

It seems repeated GOP efforts to defund the law have hit a standstill, representing a possible warning to Republicans who exclusively focus on the ACA in the upcoming midterm elections. According to the poll, a growing number of Americans have accepted the ACA as the law of the land. Some 53 percent of those polled now say they are tired of debating the already implemented law, and would prefer to move on to other important issues.

This is great news moving forward. In fact there are more stories rolling in about how many of those once opposed to he law are now seeing the benefits.

One was so good it was even used by the White House Blog:  

I am a staunch Republican, a self-proclaimed Fox News addict, and I didn't vote for the President. And I'm here to tell you that Obamacare works. I'm living proof. 

I'm a chemotherapy patient, and was previously paying $428 a month for my health coverage. I was not thrilled when it was cancelled. 

Then I submitted an application at HealthCare.gov. I looked at my options. And I signed up for a plan for $62 a month. 

It's the best health care I have ever had.

I wrote a letter to President Obama this past February to tell him about my experience with the Health Insurance Marketplace. I hoped he'd read it, and he did. 

I may not be a supporter of the President. But now, I get mad when I see Obamacare dragged through the mud on television. 

And even though I regularly tune in to conservative pundits, I'd like to tell them they're getting it wrong. Obamacare works.

It's signed Mark D. Bearden, Ph.D. and the White House is now using it to help sign people up for Obamacare. Which is what I have been suggesting for months.

And of course the enrollment is now over six million. 

However before we all start high-fiving each other we need a reality check.

While it is true that the Republicans cannot do anything in the short term to derail the Affordable Care Act, their is a scenario that would give them the power to do just that.

Last night on Real Time Bill Maher interviewed Jimmy Carter. When asked if he thought that winning the presidency, the Senate, and the House would mean that the Republicans would feel empowered to repeal the ACA, Carter said yes it would.

No doubt about it.

So while we may not be able to imagine a scenario where the GOP wins the White House, I am not willing to leave it up to that election to protect our progress, and we need to make damn sure that EVERY Democrat, Liberal, and liberal leaning Independent gets out to vote in 2014.

We have come too far to allow all of this to go up in smoke.

Nate Silver was on the Daily Show the other day and he kind of dared the Democrats to prove him wrong about his predictions concerning 2014. I haven't played truth or dare for many, many years, but that is one dare I am more than willing to take.

Rachel Maddow discusses in depth the influence of ALEC in this country and how they are trying to recreate themselves in response to blowback after the Trayvon Martin case.

Click image to play video

Does anybody doubt that much of the criticism aimed at Jimmy Carter was the result, not of his problems with the hostages in Iran, but instead due to his attempt to take the country away from fossil fuels, and toward renewable energy sources?

The fact that this group has had such a significant, and negative impact on our politics, is deeply troubling, and should inspire us to keep an eye on them moving forward. 

The treasonous actions of the Right Wing's hero Ronald Reagan, and how it made Iran the "dangerous threat" the Republicans still use to frighten Americans today.

Courtesy of Truthout:  In 1980 Carter thought he had reached a deal with newly-elected Iranian President Abdolhassan Bani-Sadr over the release of the fifty-two hostages held by radical students at the American Embassy in Tehran. 

Bani-Sadr was a moderate and, as he explained in an editorial for The Christian Science Monitor earlier this year, had successfully run for President on the popular position of releasing the hostages: 

"I openly opposed the hostage-taking throughout the election campaign.... I won the election with over 76 percent of the vote.... Other candidates also were openly against hostage-taking, and overall, 96 percent of votes in that election were given to candidates who were against it [hostage-taking]." 

Carter was confident that with Bani-Sadr's help, he could end the embarrassing hostage crisis that had been a thorn in his political side ever since it began in November of 1979. 

But Carter underestimated the lengths his opponent in the 1980 Presidential election, California Governor Ronald Reagan, would go to screw him over. 

Behind Carter's back, the Reagan campaign worked out a deal with the leader of Iran's radical faction - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini - to keep the hostages in captivity until after the 1980 Presidential election. 

This was nothing short of treason. The Reagan campaign's secret negotiations with Khomeini - the so-called "October Surprise" - sabotaged Carter and Bani-Sadr's attempts to free the hostages. And as Bani-Sadr told The Christian Science Monitor in March of this year, they most certainly "tipped the results of the [1980] election in Reagan's favor." 

Not surprisingly, Iran released the hostages on January 20, 1981, at the exact moment Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. 

The "October Surprise" emboldened the radical forces inside Iran. A politically weakened Bani-Sadr was overthrown in June of 1981 and replaced with Mohammed Ali Rajai - a favorite of Khomeini's. These radical forces today are represented by people like former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hard-liners who oppose any deal with the United States and, like Khomeini in the 1980s, will jump at any chance to discredit the current moderate presidency of Hassan Rouhani. 

The October Surprise also led to the deaths of thousands of innocent people around the world, and in Central America in particular. Reagan took money from the Iranians and used that money to kill nuns in Nicaragua. 

But those are just the most obvious results of the October Surprise. Again, if Carter were able to free the hostages like he and Bani-Sadr had planned, Carter would have won re-election. After all, he was leading in most polls in the months leading up to the election. And if Reagan were never elected, America would be a much more progressive nation.

I am sure that many of you are old enough to remember when all of this went down, however with the President's new deal with Iran on their nuclear program taking such heat from the Right Wing it is important to remember that they have a history of sabotaging deals with Iran, and that we should keep a wary on them at all times.

Could you just imagine how different the world would have been if Carter's deal had been implemented? How much better our relationship would have been with Iran, as well as Iraq and Pakistan?

How many American lives could have been saved if Iran had not been manipulated by the Republicans into becoming the bogeyman to replace the newly democratized Russia?

And while we are on the topic it should be remembered that not only were the Republicans instrumental in getting the Shah of Iran into power in the first place, their were also instrumental in laying the groundwork for his overthrow and the eventual fundamentalist Islamic uprising that saw those American hostages taken in 1979.

Remember "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." We are close to creating a new deal with Iran which might go a long way toward quelling violence in the Middle East, and laying the groundwork for a future where terrorism is a thing of the past, and none of that works in the Republican's favor.  

“That’s the closest I’ve come to getting into a fist fight with a head of state”. Yet another reason to love Jimmy Carter.

Courtesy of Times Live:  

“The first time I came here to Cape Town I almost got in a fight with the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, because he was refusing to let Aids be treated,” Carter told the Sunday Times newspaper. 

He said at the time, then-health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was standing with Mbeki. 

“That’s the closest I’ve come to getting into a fist fight with a head of state”. 

Carter said he and Bill Gates senior were trying to convince Mbeki to at least provide antiretroviral treatment to pregnant women with Aids, “but Mbeki was against that”.

Well over eighty years old and still willing to knock a mofo out if he does not help prevent AIDS.

I will ALWAYS be a fan of Jimmy Carter's.

He was the first presidential candidate for whom voted. Sadly he lost to Ronald Reagan, a loss that still pisses me off to this day.