The last two years of the Carter presidency coincided with the first two years of my career in newspapers, and one of my early tasks was to help edit the vast amounts of wire copy that went into the Sunday women’s section at the Columbus Dispatch. Fashion, advice, all that stuff, but today I’m thinking about Betty Beale, who covered Washington society. Her columns about parties at the French embassy seemed a little out of touch with central Ohio readers, but like I said, we had a lot of space to fill.
Beale, like most of permanent Washington, despised the Carters, considered them cornpone country white trash and never missed a chance to sneer at them. To be sure, the Carters were a very different first couple than we’d seen in previous administrations, and certainly did things differently than the Nixons, Fords, Kennedys and even the Johnsons. Rosalynn, you might remember, recycled the gown for the presidential inaugural that she wore to her husband’s gubernatorial inaugural celebration some years before. This was before stylists had coined the term “vintage” and “shopping your closet,” and Beale echoed the opinions that the First Lady has some responsibility to wear and promote American designers, and their current collections, not the old stuff. Jimmy preferred to carry his own bags, and she didn’t like that much, either. How trifling! How low-class! Doesn’t he know the American president should not humble himself to manual labor? When they elected to walk the inaugural parade route, rather than ride in a limo, why you could hear the tut-tutting all the way to Ohio.
It went on and on like this, and not just from Beale. The Carters, who voters elected in large part because they were so different from official Washington, were expected to just figure these things out. The country was in a weird, stressed-out place, having just survived Vietnam and Watergate, and I can’t really blame them for not going whole-hog for creature comforts, not when inflation was out of control and the OPEC oil crisis was still delivering shock waves to the economy. They were Democrats, after all.
Anyway, nothing Rosalynn could do would make bitches like Betty happy, and it seemed she knew that, and didn’t try very hard to please her. After Carter’s 1980 loss and the imperial Reagans’ arrival, Betty wallowed like a pig in slop. The Return of Glamour, etc. Nancy Reagan, an average-pretty former actress with no charisma to speak of, was hailed as the second coming of Jackie Kennedy. Her bedazzled dresses hung on her skinny shoulders, but they made the editors of fashion magazines fairly orgasmic with glee, simultaneously praising her “birdlike” size-2 figure and her choice of styles that would “showcase” it — whatever that means.
I also thought a lot in the last day about the extended Carter family, which was also looked down upon by official Washington. There was Billy Carter, the president’s brother, a classic good ol’ boy and drunk. There was Ruth Carter Stapleton, his sister and an evangelist, who converted pornographer Larry Flynt (it didn’t take). There were his children, four sons and a daughter, the latter, Amy, being a little girl when the family moved into the White House. She was criticized, too, because official Washington didn’t think children belonged at adult events. (These people fell silent when the Trumps would parade a 12-year-old Barron Trump, in black tie no less, into the Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve party. That was the last time I felt sorry for the little monster; imagine sitting with your parents, in a tuxedo, at a party where most of the guests are about 90 years old and all the women have strange, ruined, plastic-surgery faces. No wonder he never spoke a word aloud.)
And there was Miss Lillian, Jimmy’s mother, who had even hard-core city folk calling her “Miz Lill-yun” about 10 minutes after meeting her. Basically, the whole clan was the Waltons, at least for a while. Then they were Ma and Pa Kettle and their hillbilly fambly.
Soon we’ll say our official farewell. I really, really, really hope you-know-who doesn’t show up. I hope he has that much decency. (Ha ha! I know he doesn’t, the cunt.)
susan said on December 31, 2024 at 1:27 am
I really, really, really hope you-know-who doesn’t show up. I hope he has that much decency. (Ha ha! I know he doesn’t, the cunt.)
Of course the orange blob doesn’t have any decency, and of course he will be there, because he can get the whole press-world to focus on him him him. The decent thing for him to do would be to drop dead during the ceremony, and then we will focus on him him him , and that would push Real President Carter off to the periphery. Actually, I could see him doing that.
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alex said on December 31, 2024 at 7:55 am
All the glowing press about Carter’s humility and selflessness is probably eating away at the Orange Turd, who springs to mind precisely for having no redeeming qualities. You can bet he’ll be there to take back his limelight.
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robert said on December 31, 2024 at 9:34 am
Jimmy Carter – great man, great president.
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Icarus said on December 31, 2024 at 9:37 am
Missed my chance to comment on some past posts because I was busy with family on extended visits. Question for the commentari: when your family visits for an extended stay, do they treat your home like theirs or do they follow your rules, or somewhere in between? what is normal/appropriate?
from the previous thread: Deborah, my mom used to make me fetch a particular brand of pickled herring because she once worked for the company…and it was a tradition to eat herring on New Years because it brought good luck?
from the previous, previous thread: I use to give blood religiously, so much that I had a 5 or maybe even a 10 gallon pin. But then it became too much with my marathon training and efforts to be un-single. The annoying calls, the finding a time that worked for me.
I decided that if they needed blood so badly, and they test for HIV, why not lift the restriction on gay men donating? That was my weak sauce excuse for opting out.
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Bitter Scribe said on December 31, 2024 at 10:17 am
Even Garry Trudeau, the creator of Doonesbury, had it in for the Carters. Shortly after Jimmy Carter was elected, the Doonesbury Sunday cartoon depicted Amy as a little brat forcing Washingtonians to buy lemonade for access to daddy. I remember reading this and thinking, Seriously, Trudeau? I know you don’t like Carter, but picking on an 8-year-old?
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Jeff Gill said on December 31, 2024 at 10:59 am
Gift link, a story about Amy’s journey:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/us/politics/amy-carter-jimmy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lk4.nILZ.x83T2we96X0X&smid=url-share
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Mark P said on December 31, 2024 at 12:17 pm
If the disgusting pervert in chief shows up at any memorial service for Carter, I think he will be welcomed. Carter was probably the only President, and one of the few Americans who actually practiced his religion according to the words attributed to Jesus; you know, love your enemies and don’t judge others, unlike most modern American evangelical fundamentalists. I think his family would honor that.
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Jeff Borden said on December 31, 2024 at 1:03 pm
Yes, the Carters were pilloried while in D.C. and humiliated further by “Just Say No” Nancy Reagan. When she entered the White House, Nancy acted like she’d just entered a shotgun shack in the boonies. With the nation mired in a horrible recession, I recall her replacing the White House China to the tune of $400 or $500 per setting. Everything about her reeked of disdain for the Georgians. Yet this “classy, elegant” first lady consulted horoscopes and psychic s to advise St. Ronald on the most celestial beneficial time to do something.
But let’s not forget the garbage directed at the Clintons, led by Sally Quinn and David Broder of the Washington Post. They didn’t belong in “our town,” sneered Quinn. Personally, I never did like either Clinton –especially Bill– but they were highly educated, intelligent people, not the bumpkins Quinn described.
This last one may be apocryphal, but supposedly, the tRumps demanded new toilets be installed in the presidential living space before they moved in. It seems on brand to me…can’t sit on the same commode as those Negroes.
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Schtreaky said on December 31, 2024 at 1:18 pm
Thanks Jeff Gill and Bitter Scribe for noting the mocking and contempt that was directed at Amy Carter; all for just being a kid. The Betty Beales of the world will always hate those who don’t meet their expectations of American Royalty. But what “polite” DC society (especially out-of-power Conservatives) did to Amy Carter revealed them to be the monsters we always knew they were, and who we are still fighting today.
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David C said on December 31, 2024 at 1:24 pm
Icarus, we’ve never had visitors who had house rules different enough from ours that it’s ever made any difference. I’m sure there would be a line where I would tell a guest that we don’t do that here. I certainly wouldn’t allow anyone to be abusive to another guest or our pets. There was a time, after my wife had foot surgery, that she had to wear her shoes even to go to the bathroom at night. Her sister-in-law forbid her to come into their house with her shoes on. In that case, if your house rules are so rigid that you expect someone to injure themselves to save your floors, your rules are pretty twisted.
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Jakash said on December 31, 2024 at 2:28 pm
There have often been references to “dog whistles” by those on the right appealing to the worst instincts of the gullible in this benighted nation. (Of course, dog whistles seem almost quaint, given what they’re proud to openly state these days.)
After delivering his brief remarks about Carter in the press room, I thought Biden offered a not-very-subtle dog whistle of his own to those of us who admired the 39th president. Somebody asked for a one-word summation, or something (I couldn’t hear the question), of what Carter represented. Biden promptly replied “Decency. Decency. Decency.” before continuing a bit.
Hard not to feel that it was partly intended to contrast the life of a great man with that of the pathetic orange one who’s about to replace Biden. Whatever else one may say about him, the next president (shudder) is about the most indecent carnival barker, er… “politician” … one can think of.
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Brandon said on December 31, 2024 at 3:14 pm
The Vogue slideshow should have had captions. Anyway, photo 12 is from Nancy Reagan’s appearance on Diff’rent Strokes in March 1983 to promote the Just Say No anti-drug campaign. She wore a red Adolfo suit.
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Dave said on December 31, 2024 at 4:28 pm
I remember Betty Beale’s column appearing in the Dispatch society pages and always thought, why does the Dispatch have a social correspondent in Washington? Ah, today, looking it up, I learned she was syndicated, she was a native of D. C., so says her obituary. Also, she had an affair with Adlai Stevenson? I don’t know if this link will work or not if anyone has any interest.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2006/06/08/washington-star-society-columnist-betty-beale-94/76966c15-ff8c-47d6-8d40-496de46064e9/
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Suzanne said on December 31, 2024 at 4:51 pm
Alex, I have to thank you for your lentil soup recipe. My Hungarian friend came through with his recipe so I used parts from both recipes. I sampled it and it tastes really good. I can’t wait until tomorrow to eat it!
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jcburns said on December 31, 2024 at 4:56 pm
He was a big part of why ABC’s World News Now was as compelling as it was, especially at 3 am: Aaron Brown dies (gift link)
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alex said on December 31, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Thanks Suzanne. I’m about to embark on making it myself. I’ve been soaking the beans already and can’t decide whether to plunge in this evening or wait until tomorrow. By coincidence, my brother recently asked me if I knew how to make it and I promised I’d do it soon.
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Deborah said on December 31, 2024 at 5:26 pm
No special foods for us tomorrow as much as I would have tried pickled herring again, but I bought a can of brut for us to split tonight as late as we can stay up, which will probably be around 8 or 8:30. Will the fireworks wake us up? Probably but at least our well loved cat has passed on years ago and we don’t have to worry about pets freaking out. Sorta sad that it’s a can of cheap brut, but who cares it’s only symbolic.
Latest about our car after my husband spent $55 today to take an Uber out there and back to get some info since none is forthcoming by phone or text from them. They said the “service adviser” he met with initially promptly went on vacation and no one else knew what was going on so they lied to us all along about various dates we could expect our car. So now we’re looking at Jan 6, if then. We have no idea if any of this is true, my guess is that the “service adviser” quit or was fired or who knows what. My husband leaves for Chicago on Saturday for a week of meetings, I’m expecting no car until he gets back if even then. Bummer.
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Dexter Friend said on December 31, 2024 at 6:24 pm
Happy New Year to all in this diverse community of nallers.
The last time we faced a Trump inauguration, I dropped away from the political blogs I patronize for 2.5 years. I ain’t a-gonna do that this time, dammitt. I’ll keep the fire in the horn, as did Ed Tom’s daddy in the last scene of “No Country for Old Men”.
And if Musk + Ramaswamy get their way, this shall be “No Country for Anybody Without a Few Million Bucks.”
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Julie Robinson said on December 31, 2024 at 6:56 pm
Aaron Brown always struck me as a reporter’s reporter, just there to tell the story and not for his own glory.
Deborah, that’s ridiculous. Time to find another shop.
Somehow my family has no food traditions for holidays, except turkey for Thanksgiving and cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. For Christmas this year we baked brie in puff pastry, served it with crackers, grapes, and a veggie tray. We had been invited for an early dinner, like 4:30, so we didn’t want anything heavy. It was perfection.
Elon Musk is not only currently living at Mar-a-Lago, he has changed his name on X to Kekius Maximus, a cryptocurrency, and his profile picture to Pepe the Frog. You can’t make this stuff up.
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susan said on December 31, 2024 at 7:14 pm
Musk should have changed his name to Kaka Maximus.
Those assholes are all 14 year-old boys, with balls for brains.
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David C said on December 31, 2024 at 7:32 pm
Sounds like the ketamine is getting out of hand.
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Deborah said on December 31, 2024 at 8:11 pm
Man boys. Nothing but man boys. These guys are not even boys, they’re toddlers. Disgusting.
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Deborah said on December 31, 2024 at 9:58 pm
I can not for the life of me remember my resolution for 2024. I think I may have commented about it last year? What in the world was it? I have no idea. I tried doing those one word resolutions, maybe it was one of those? I don’t yet have a resolution for 2025. I have a little bit of time to think of one.
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Alan Stamm said on January 1, 2025 at 8:05 am
Easy to imagine Betty being among toffs who sneered at Jimmy for wearing denim in public back when “jeans weren’t considered presidential,” as the NYT puts it.
“Carter could be credited with shepherding jeans to the political stage as a uniform — or, possibly, a costume — of all-American, hardworking humility. . . . Jeans never stopped being part of Mr. Carter’s character. Up to the end of his life, work shirts and bluejeans were staples of Mr. Carter’s uniform.”
And no one called his dad jeans, unlike Obama’s.
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Deborah said on January 1, 2025 at 8:36 am
Happy New Year!
I woke up at midnight to the sound of fireworks. No window alarms went off in our place, this time. Fireworks in NM scare me, it’s too dry for that. I didn’t hear fire truck or ambulance alarms so I guess it was alright.
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David C said on January 1, 2025 at 9:06 am
Our neighbors set off fireworks right outside our bedroom window. I’ll be so happy to move away from those assholes.
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Mark P said on January 1, 2025 at 11:01 am
Apropos of nothing, but it is kind of interesting. I found a link to “52 things I learned this year”:
https://fritinancy.substack.com/p/52-interesting-things-i-learned-this
For example, ‘The Aztec word for “gold,” teocuitlatl, literally means “god excrement.”’
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alex said on January 1, 2025 at 12:22 pm
Well Hell’s bells, God can take a crap on me any time. He pisses on me enough, like all day yesterday, and now he’s sloughing off his dandruff.
Totally uneventful NYE here. Fireworks went off around 7 PM and then went silent for the rest of the evening. I watched reruns of Desperate Housewives and Ghosts on Prime TV until way after midnight.
Today making Hungarian lentil soup and having family over later.
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Jason T. said on January 1, 2025 at 1:14 pm
I didn’t notice until today that NN.c had called El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago the c-word.
“So much for the tolerant left!” I said, pouring myself another glass of Trump Winery Cabernet and turning up the volume on NewsMax.
I may never be able to unclutch my pearls. PJ probably swallowed his Jeppesen charts.
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Dorothy said on January 1, 2025 at 2:39 pm
I’ve got some hand sewing to do, so I put on the news conference about the news out of New Orleans that started at 2 PM EST. WHY do so many people need to get up and speak at the microphone? Most of them are just parroting what was said by the persons before them. The chief of police is necessary, the FBI is necessary, and that’s about it – maybe the governor. Senator Kennedy should have stayed home and kept his stupid mouth shut. Too many people feel it necessary to yap and yap and use up the oxygen in the room. Tragedy really brings out the worst in people. It should bring out the best. But the best are the people who are out working the crime scene. The others are so full of sh** and I can’t hardly stand listening to them.
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Joe Kobiela said on January 1, 2025 at 4:02 pm
jason t,
I prefer government charts over Jepps, easier to digest.
Happy new years to all.
Pilot Joe
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SusanG said on January 1, 2025 at 7:06 pm
Happy New Year everyone.
January is soup month. I started today by making mushroom soup. Not Campbell’s gelatinous goop, but a smooth, umami powerhouse. Soy sauce, miso, garlic, chicken stock and a smidge of sour cream, it’s heaven.
Next is Dill Pickle Soup, I found a dupe for the Polish Village (Hamtramick). I’ve never made it before, so if you have and have a secret hack (or if you’ve had the real deal at Polish Village) let me know.
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nancy said on January 1, 2025 at 8:05 pm
Ham and bean soup here. Used the last of the Christmas ham, and by including Great Northern beans, satisfied the spirit of the black-eyed peas rule.
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Jeff Gill said on January 1, 2025 at 10:15 pm
May I say to my friends here: today was a very good day. A glimpse of why I think that can be seen here…
https://resolved.shorthandstories.com/to-care-for-preserve-and-honor-it/
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Sherri said on January 1, 2025 at 10:23 pm
I made a soup with chicken sausage, cannellini beans, and lots of veggies. I love soup month, and I love my Dutch oven.
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basset said on January 1, 2025 at 10:31 pm
Alcohol here. Food, fixed some but who cares?
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Julie Robinson said on January 1, 2025 at 10:52 pm
Congratulations, Jeff. Sometimes the good guys do eventually win.
We had a chicken casserole that was the hit of the last potluck I attended. It was full-on comfort food. Not cooked by me, since the holiday cold has steamrolled me. Bed and audiobooks have been it for me. What a party animal.
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susan said on January 1, 2025 at 11:13 pm
Very cool, Jeff. What a long, ultimately rewarding and righteous journey. The good people won out.
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Dexter Friend said on January 2, 2025 at 9:49 am
Second Gentleman-Elect Trump took to S.M. to post a rant about Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, who served in the Army on active duty from 2006 to 2015 and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, three U.S. defense officials said.
Born in the USA, businessman who favored sport coats, as American as Luigi Mangione or Timothy McVeigh, in fact, a domestic terrorist, not an immigrant, but if Second Gentleman-Elect Trump calls him an immigrant, he becomes an immigrant to MAGA sycophants.
On January 6, President Elmo Mollusk and Second Gentleman Trump shall be certified. It makes me wanna puke.
Deborah, aren’t any car rental places near you? I would be in trouble here in a place with no transpo but personal wheels.
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