Today's quote released from AP gives some real hope that moderate voices are starting to be raised in Islam. I have been guilty of getting frustrated with the silence of those who believe Islam is not all about killing. Maybe those who oppose terror and hatred are finding a voice.

Here's the quote which seems, in part, aimed directly at the current leadership of Iran, the country he recently led.

"The Islamic world is fed up with violence and extremism in the name of religion and is ready for an era of progressive, democratic Muslim governments, former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said Friday."

Maybe there is hope. Maybe there is a peaceful Islam. Maybe all this killing and all this war can stop.

sharptalk

Or do they think she can't win the general campaign?

A committed liberal I work with says they'd love to like Hillary, but they just can't.

She looks like a lock to win the nomination, but recent polls show that anywhere from 44 to 51% of people say they will never vote for her for President. She's extremely smart, with strong political minds around her and will surely erode that number, but can she move enough people to have a chance to win?

I think the "Hillary is too angry to be President" claim is certainly a political play, but is it close enough to the truth to resonate?

Thoughts?

I saw Jimmy Carters graceless speech at Coretta Scott King's funeral and I became angry. I was angry because he brought bitterness and strife into a memorial service for all of us. It was our opportunity to remember the fully gracious and powerful life of Coretta Scott King and the connection to the greatest civil rights leader of all time. Leaders who saved us from ourselves. It was our chance to honor their memories.

I don't mean to be selfish. I was born in 1962 into a white family in a white town with a white future. And my only real exposure to the struggles of minorities when I was young was my TV set and my encyclopedia. I mention my encyclopedia because it brought me my harshest lesson in civil rights. And it was a powerful one.

We had just received them and so they were a full set of dust-free, sticky paged wonders of words and pictures. I picked one out randomly - no doubt the book "R". As I thumbed through the pages I saw a picture that made me sick.

There was a crowd of white people - young and old - dancing and smiling and celebrating. In the center of their celebration was a young black boy - probably no more than 14 (I have a 14-year old son). He was hanging, dead, from a tree. I was horrified. The caption, as best I can now remember it, said it was a lynching in either Mississippi or Alabama in the 1st half of the 20th century.

And I remember thanking God that I didn't grow up that world. Wondering what his family, his friends, his church wanted to do to white people for revenge. Wondering what I would want to do.

Then I considered how recent it really was. Those heinous acts of desperate hatred weren't ancient history. The leaders and participants were still running a local grocery store; still singing in church choirs; still trimming their bushes in the suburbs. And I was thankful, and shocked to awareness, that my parents raised us in a house without a hint of racism.

Still, it was into that world that Martin Luther King came and managed to change the world without burning down buildings and without building a bigger wall of hatred. He changed the world by changing hearts. He was a far, far greater man than me. And I know enough to know how critical a man's wife is to his mission, his reason and his fortitude, his spirit.

And so I was angry. And I still am. What a pathetic, empty, disgraceful man Jimmy Carter has proven himself. And to waste the favor of that moment as he did was unforgivable. But it's moments just like those that you see the true heart of a man.

The President was just feet away and a target of his assault. Not George Bush. Not Bill Clinton or Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson or anyone else. No, the President of the United States. It was a great honor to have the highest official in the land come and sit and listen. And to honor this great woman.

So how was I over the top? Well, Peggy Noonan chides the screamers (me included) in another of her beautiful and piercing articles. She brings to my attention the beauty of the Democracy on display. The wonder of free speech. And I might add that it's a free speech that would certainly not have been so for every one of us had it not been, in part, for the very lady being honored. But this was a moment where America's greatness stood in stark contrast to Islam's intolerance as building were burned by rioters angry over a Danish cartoon in the next news segment. While the Chinese government blocks the hyperspaced truth from it's people, our people can insult the President only a few feet away, receive a standing ovation and head home for some good winter clam chowder without a care in the world.

So maybe I was over the top. And maybe I can forgive Jimmy Carter (I know I can - though he will never know who I am or much care).

This is a great country. A country without a monarch, but with so much owed to the Kings.

sharptalk

...that said that the President had a 37% approval rating. That was CNN.

Saw another one on Rasmussen that has it at 48. But that's from the "likely voter" group.

Wonder why CNN chose the low one?

sharptalk

It was unbearable to watch the funeral of former Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone as it was turned into a political rally full of bitterness and insults - culminating in the booing of the Senate Majority leader who had come to pay his respects. The result was the gutting of the Democratic party in Minnesota.

Now Jimmy Carter has used the funeral of Coretta Scott King as a political forum.

She, like Paul Wellstone, certainly was in direct opposition to many Republican stands, but both lived their lives with tremendous class and dignity. And gained influence by that dignity.

It's a shame that Jimmy Carter is swimming in the sewer of bitter politics. He was an historic failure as President, but had rebuilt an image of being a statesman under President Clinton. He's replacing a "failed President, but successful ex-President" with simply "failed".

Certainly, the Democrats have no lock on classless politics. But they've been outstanding in demonstrating it lately.

I think of Don Henley's words in "End of the Innocence" which say "We all need a little tenderness. How can love survive in such a graceless age."

How prophetic.

sharptalk