Hardly a topic of legal interest, I nevertheless find it amusing enough to note that Jimmy Carter has reached a compromise with himself on exactly how critical he should be of the Bush administration.

On Saturday a story was published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in which Carter was quoted as saying, “I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.” Today, the former president backed off statement and made it clear that he had simply been comparing the Bush administration’s foreign policy to the Nixon administration’s.

The White House on Sunday dismissed Carter as “increasingly irrelevant” after his harsh criticism. In response, Carter said: “Well, I don’t claim to have any relevancy. I have a completely unofficial capacity. The only thing I lead is the Carter Center.”

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette quoted Carter as saying: “The overt reversal of America’s basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me.”

Boarder