Former President Jimmy Carter (search) has made a second career monitoring elections around the world. So it wasn’t all that surprising to see him talking this week about "fraudulent and biased electoral practices" in an upcoming election. But it was surprising to discover that he was talking about the November elections here in the U.S., and not in some third world backwater.
Not that President Carter has stopped monitoring elections abroad. Last month he was in Venezuela, monitoring a recall vote against President Hugo Chavez (search), whose violent tactics against opponents were developed in consultation with his friend and adviser, Fidel Castro.
Despite cries of foul by the opposition, Jimmy Carter certified that Mr. Chavez won the recall fair and square. Since the recall, President Chavez has been on a tear, threatening his opponents and also threatening his Colombian neighbors. He’s reportedly ordering new Russian MiG fighters and radar-guided missiles, a move that is of great concern to Colombians.
But Mr. Carter's concerns apparently lie elsewhere. He is now charging that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is maintaining faulty electoral processes in Florida because he is "naturally a strong supporter of his brother."
Charging the governor of Florida of voter fraud while quickly exonerating a Latin thug who is now threatening the region? In this light, it’s a bit easier to understand why Nicaragua went to the Sandinistas and Iran went to the Ayatollahs under President Carter’s watch.
And that’s the Observer.
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