Jimmy Carter: I Could’ve Beaten Reagan if I Had Been ‘Manly’ and Bombed Iran

Former President Jimmy Carter believes he could have easily defeated Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election if only he had shown his “manly” side and more aggressively pursued the hostages held by Iranian militants at the time.

“I could’ve been re-elected if I’d taken military action against Iran, shown that I was strong and resolute and… manly and so forth,” Carter explained in a recent installment of CNBC’s Meets series.

Despite losing the presidency, Carter does not regret his unwavering commitment to peaceful resolution.

“I could have wiped Iran off the map with the weapons that we had,” he said, “but in the process a lot of innocent people would have been killed, probably including the hostages, and so I stood up against all that advice, and then eventually my prayers were answered and every hostage came home safe and free.”

And so, he concluded: “I think I made the right decision in retrospect, but it was not easy at the time.”

Watch below, via CNBC:

[h/t Washington Times]

— —
>> Follow Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!