Carter backs off 'worst in history' remarks
ATLANTA -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday his remarks were ''careless or misinterpreted'' when he said the Bush administration has been the ''worst in history'' for its impact around the world.
Speaking on NBC's ''Today,'' Carter appeared to retreat from a statement he made to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for a Saturday story in which he said: ''I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.''
Carter said Monday that when he made the comment, he was responding to a question comparing the Bush administration's foreign policy to that of Richard Nixon.
''And I think Richard Nixon had a very good and productive foreign policy and my remarks were maybe careless or misinterpreted. But I wasn't comparing the overall administration, and I was certainly not talking personally about any president,'' Carter said.
''I think this administration's foreign policy compared to president Nixon's was much worse,'' he said, but he said he did not mean to call it the worst in history.
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Speaking on NBC's ''Today,'' Carter appeared to retreat from a statement he made to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for a Saturday story in which he said: ''I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.''
Carter said Monday that when he made the comment, he was responding to a question comparing the Bush administration's foreign policy to that of Richard Nixon.
''And I think Richard Nixon had a very good and productive foreign policy and my remarks were maybe careless or misinterpreted. But I wasn't comparing the overall administration, and I was certainly not talking personally about any president,'' Carter said.
''I think this administration's foreign policy compared to president Nixon's was much worse,'' he said, but he said he did not mean to call it the worst in history.