Its hard to think of a situation harder to defend than Hama's breaking of the ceasefire and the renewal of rocket attacks on Israeli territory.

The corner they painted themselves into was so clenched, that the best its apologists in the western media could do was complain about the proportionality of the response. No one of course will really say how many Jews must die before a response is justified.

Then Jimmy Carter opened his big mouth.

...this fragile truce was partially broken on Nov. 4, when Israel launched an attack in Gaza to destroy a defensive tunnel being dug by Hamas inside the wall that encloses Gaza.

Got that? Israel broke the truce, not Hamas. Tunnels are "defensive".

Its interesting that liberals always appeal to conservatives to "be reasonable"--Joe Conason tells those who dare suggest that Franken is stealing the Minnesota Senate election to "prove it or shut up".

I don't know if Jimmy Carter actually believes this stuff or not, but I'm guessing he doesn't, which means that there is method to his madness--help to create an atmosphere where the unreasonable appears to be reasonable. Hamas can't possibly justify their actions on the basis or reason, but they can and are making rhetorical arguments based on an appeal to authority--they can say they are backed by the U.N. and Jimmy Carter. For people with neither the brains or the patience to examine the facts, this is often enough. The Democrats reclaimed political power on this basis, so why not the land from the river to the sea?

The real question then becomes why is Jimmy lying? Why is he taking the side of genocidal maniacs?

I can't think of a good reason, and maybe I'm giving the ex-president too much credit for rational thought. This may simply be an ego-thing; a way to keep himself relevant.

The irony is that Carter, as an ex-President traveling in liberal circles, is completely insulated from the normal reactions that would make an ordinary person think twice about saying such incredibly stupid things. He is in effect, the Emperor whose nakedness no one dares remark--at least not to his face.