There's A Sucker Born Every Minute... But President Jimmy...

Power Line: There's A Sucker Born Every Minute...: THERE'S A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE... ... but a sucker like Jimmy Carter comes along only once or twice in a century.

BLITZER: Let's talk about foreign policy, a very sensitive issue: Your recent trip to the Middle East, your decision to meet with Hamas, a group the U.S. government brands a terrorist organization. President Bush was asked about it at his news conference. And here's what he said. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Foreign policy and peace is undermined by Hamas in the Middle East. They're the ones who are undermining peace. They're the ones whose foreign policy objective is the destruction of Israel. They're the ones who are, you know, trying to create enough violence to stop the advance of the two-party state solution. They are a significant problem to world peace, or Middle Eastern peace. And that's the reason I'm not talking to them. (END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: He was specifically asked about your decision to talk to them. Do you want to respond to what you just heard? CARTER: Well, he's completely mistaken. It's obvious that he doesn't know the policy of Hamas. And I think that, since I met with them, I can very well say that -- and I've talked to Hamas a number of times...

This is truly breathtaking. President Bush "doesn't know the policy of Hamas," apparently with regard to the destruction of Israel and the desirability of peace in the region. Let's not take President Bush's word for it; let's go straight to the source: the Covenant of Hamas. From the Preamble:

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it. Article 11: The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [Holy Possession] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. No one can renounce it or any part, or abandon it or any part of it. Article 13: Palestine is an Islamic land... Since this is the case, the Liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Moslem wherever he may be. Article 15: The day the enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In the face of the Jews' usurpation, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.

The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.'

You get the picture. Yet Jimmy Carter thinks that President Bush is "completely mistaken" in calling Hamas a terrorist organization that tries to subvert peace. The dialogue continues:

BLITZER: Well, he says they're committed to the destruction of Israel. CARTER: Well, I asked them about this. And that was one of the major requests or suggestions that I made to Hamas -- I made five or six of them. They brought all of their leadership together, from Gaza and also from within Damascus. And they spent all night Saturday and all Sunday considering the proposals that I made to them. And they gave me a response to all my proposals Sunday night by telephone. One of the things I asked them to do was to agree to accept any peace contract between Israel and the Palestinians with Mahmoud Abbas being the representative of the Palestinians, provided it was approved by the Palestinians in a referendum, even if Hamas agreed with it... BLITZER: Did they say they would accept... CARTER: Absolutely. BLITZER: ... Israel living alongside Palestine... CARTER: Absolutely, they said they would accept that. BLITZER: ... a Jewish state of Israel? CARTER: That's correct. Absolutely...

And he is doing this damage in our names. He is not authorized to represent the US, but he claims to and people accept him at his word.