Bitter Peanut

Jimmy Carter, who through his laudable efforts to build homes for the poor in recent years had done much to make America forget his wretched presidency, has finally hit rock bottom when it comes to bitter partisanship.

Carter, who for years has taken cheap shots at George W. Bush (even sitting with conspiracy theorist Michael Moore at the Democratic Convention), reached a new low at Coretta Scott King's funeral. Carter likened Bush's terror surveillance program to the illegal wiretaps ordered against Martin Luther King (somehow forgetting that Democrats authorized them) in the '60s.

Carter also decided to reopen the racialized controversy over the administration's deficient response to Hurricane Katrina. "We only have to recall the color of the faces of those in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi who are most devastated by Katrina," the former peanut farmer intoned, during what was supposed to be a eulogy for Mrs. King, "to know that there are not yet equal opportunities for all Americans."

To today's Democrats, including elder stateman James Earl Carter (unfortunately, now more elder than statesman), the transformation of the personal into the political has become complete. Too bad for Carter, whose historical stature shrinks day by day.