Hitchens on Carter

Christopher Hitchens is a man of the left; I am not. The number of subjects on which we would disagree is large, and ranges from the existence of God to the proper role of the Government in education, and most things in between. That said, Hitchens, unlike so many on the left, is not a cultural relativist. And he seems to be an honest man. He recognized that East and West are in conflict, and is willing to side with the West, even when George W. Bush was President.

And he's got some comments on Jimmy Carter that are well worth reading:

I once had quite an argument with the late Sen. Eugene McCarthy, who maintained adamantly that it had been right for him to vote for Ronald Reagan in 1980 for no other reason. "Mr. Carter," he said, "quite simply abdicated the whole responsibility of the presidency while in office. He left the nation at the mercy of its enemies at home and abroad. He was the worst president we ever had."

...

The mistake of Israel, he tells us (and tells us that he told the Israeli leadership) is to have moved away from God and the prophets and toward secularism. If you ever feel like a good laugh, just tell yourself that things would improve if only the Israeli government would be more Orthodox.

...

In the Carter years, the United States was an international laughingstock...It's hardly an exaggeration to say that every administration since has had to deal with the chaotic legacy of Carter's mind-boggling cowardice and incompetence.

Is there a word there that isn't self-evidently true?