Jimmy Carter is my favorite rock and roll star!

If you didn't hear their speeches last night,NPR has Gore/Carter/Clintons rocking out and you should go listen.

Now that you have listened to them, can we take a minute to say how cool Jimmy Carter is? Yeah, Clinton showed his political brilliance like never before and he delivered the best speech of his career and reminded everyone that presidents are not supposed to sound like your brother-in-law's idiot cousin who you are forced to tolerate during the holidays... they are supposed to sound like a president!!! How long has it been since you felt better after hearing a president speak publicly? Oh yeah, almost 4 years.

But back to Jimmy Carter. Maybe I am biased because I kind of look forward to being a cranky old man, but I can't help but appreciate it when a elderly former president gets cranky and take-no-prisoner (perhaps not the best figure of speech for describing a Nobel Peace prize winner) on the current idiot in office. He wasn't just a little bit pissed off and he wasn't subtle. He didn't say bush's name, but he didn't need to. He basically called bush a spoiled child of privilege who didn't understand the realities of war because he had skipped out on his service who has misled us into a horrible war of choice. I think that is kind of going easy on the jerk myself, but when said to a national audience by an elderly ex-prez who won the Nobel Peace prize and is known for being an easy-going, friendly fellow, I think it hits about the right chord.

Where are all the cranky old men with character and a sense of duty? I know some of them are still out there, but can they please help kill off this stupid cult of youth before I am an old man? Just please note that I am asking for the cranky old men to come back to the forefront, not the creepy old men as they seem more prevalent than ever (Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld...).

Anyway, hooray for the Dems getting some spine and suave back. Even Hillary and Al pulled off good speeches, and the two of them normally come off sounding like either an android or a snotty teacher's pet who has taken a speech class, or both at the same time. Both actually sounded human and like cool normal humans you would want to hang out with. This was the first time I didn't think people who said Hillary should run for president are crazy.

But really, I just want Jimmy Carter back.