anonymous

The only Bond girl to become Mrs Bond. Briefly of course! She came to hate Lazenby after that film. Started off on good terms. Even a little flirty apparently. But he was a skirt chaser surrounded by women. And he was as some critics called "a clothes peg". Wasn't interested in the process of putting on a scene and easily annoyed at having to redo things if he got his lines right. Whereas she was a classical actress who didn't need multiple takes to meet the director's demands and I guess a lot of people grew tired of him not doing things the way a professional should. He never acted before and only really got the gig because he looked like how James Bond was perceived to look and had traits like him (girls, cars, fighter). Some extent I admire that. Lazenby was the most aggressive fighting Bond until Daniel Craig. He did all his own stunts except for skiing (because of insurance). But he did blow it. His hubris got him the job and also cost him it.

Trump bragged about walking in on underage girls changing

Biden wins. There were states Trump won in 2016 with fewer votes than Romney got when he lost in 2012. Turn-out decides the election and a combination of an urgency to get rid of Trump and that Biden is a generic old white man will flip back those states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania imo. Four years ago Trump was the insurgent candidate but now people who thought why not vote for a obnoxious businessman to run the federal government might have second thoughts.

She also wasted a debate trying to make a big song and dance about wine caves (Buttigieg's fundraisers). Voters don't care that Bloomberg (a former republican) is pumping hundreds of millions of his own money into his campaign. So they certainly didn't care a small town mayor tried to raise money by meeting with wealthy people who want a democrat to win and liked what he had to say. She's in more trouble than Biden.

Whether you like him or not it is pretty amazing a man who hasn't held any official role in the government for nearly half a century is still sought out for counsel by world leaders and diplomats today.

I think you're right that republicans are starting to socially move to the left more, but ironically because of Trump. He has no real fixed positions on certain social issues. He used to be a democrat for many years and is on tape over the years talking about being pro-choice, pro-gun control, calling for Bush to be impeached. In the 2016 republican debates his opponents like Ted Cruz kept attacking him as a phony, even bringing up he used to donate to democrats including Hillary Clinton, but the republican voters didn't care. In addition it is hard for evangelical republicans to ignore the fact of their hypocrisy of claiming to support family values while supporting Trump. A man who is twice divorced and three times married adulterer. A man who paid off a porn star while his third wife was pregnant, brags about grabbing women and has so many lawsuits against him. The evangelicals know he goes against everything they preach but he is a vehicle for their policy to get pushed through so they support him. And since they support him they have to stop being so uptight about everyone else now. Maybe if Mike Pence (who is an old school conservative republican to his bone) wasn't on the ticket they wouldn't have voted in 2016? That's apparently the reason Pence was made the VP choice. 2020 will decide whether Trumpism will take over the Republican party for good like Reaganism did or whether the voters reject Trump and therefore punish the party in effect for embracing and defending his every move. Republicans now try and pretend George W Bush never happened. They knew that presidency goes down in history as a disaster. Maybe that will happen with Trump.

I hope President Carter lives to be the first president to live to 100 although these recent health developments have me worried. I remember President Ford was pretty active and coherent in his eighties but suffered a few minor health issues that escalated and made him live his last years in decline. In the event I would be interested to know who would be speaking at Carter's funeral service. Because lets remember - he was in the world of Washington for four years almost forty years ago. The most powerful man in the world at the time but many of his contemporaries in politics are either also approaching their end (and I doubt there are more active 95 year olds out there) or they have passed on. Vice President Mondale will probably speak if he outlives him. I know for a fact he has a long friendship with Vice President Biden who spoke brilliantly at John McCain's funeral last year. But perhaps Biden's 2020 campaign will prevent him from speaking should Carter pass away before the election. because the spotlight would be on him rather than celebrating the life of Jimmy Carter.

Sounds like Agatha Christie's 10 Little Indians story Mondale to be the last cabinet member to go leaving the President all alone

Funny how one of the most powerful men in the history of America (UN ambassador, GOP Chairman, CIA director, VP, POTUS, Father of POTUS) basically lived out the last quarter of a century of his life in quiet retirement.

I agree that if Carter's mission succeeded he would have been re-elected but it didn't and it wasn't the only failure. Carter had a lot of problems and a lot of bad luck. I hated Ronald Reagan and think he was an evil sob but Reagan won in part because Carter couldn't control his party. Reagan could sit back and watch Carter struggle to get the hostages home, struggle to control inflation and struggle to stop the infighting in the democratic party. Ted Kennedy challenged him and went right to the convention floor. Ted Kennedy's liberal wing propped up the independent candidate John Anderson in the general election. I have a family member who voted for Anderson because in his mind Carter was a wimp and Reagan a warmonger. He didn't like either candidate so the third party got his vote and Anderson got almost 6 million votes.

He did a 45 minute interview with Chris Matthews the other day looking back at his career. Many people don't know before becoming a shouting tv anchor Matthews worked in the White House during the Carter years as a speechwriter. Carter looks good and still as sharp. I still find him an enigma though - he was a conservative democrat for his era yet is now heralded by the left. It's taken almost 40 years for his presidency to get praise as opposed to him just being a great ex president. But also I know two people who have worked close with him - one passed away last year and had known Carter since he was running for Governor in 1966 (he was a local news reporter), and the other is an archivist in Georgia state politics who has had the chance to sit down with Carter as well as other significant Georgian figures like Zell Miller, Carl Sanders, Bill Schupp etc. The reporter says Carter was a great campaigner and was a man of the people type candidate but behind the curtain he was actually introverted and his campaign platform wishy-washy. It's not a surprise that the one job Carter has mastered all his life is teaching at Church. So in Georgia it was not a shock to political insiders that his presidency was full of crisis and his image was very weak. Back then in Georgia the governorship was one non consecutive term - there was no re-election but if there had been it has been argued he would have lost since a large group of people who voted for him because he was seen as one of their own (white rural farmers and the deep south) felt betrayed at his social and integration policies. But in the presidential election they all came out to vote for him because the south hadn't had a president for almost 150 years. He thought if he did things a certain way as president other people would follow him but in fact his micro-management rubbed people the wrong way since it made him seem like he didn't trust them. Also it was his wife who was really the political force and the ambitious one - she was against him giving the famous "Crisis of Confidence" speech because it was pretty much admitting he was overwhelmed by the job but he did it anyway. She was suggesting to take military action against Iran although most of the country were too eventually. During the 1980 campaign she was more optimistic than her husband and the defeat hurt her more than him. The other guy says Carter is a lot more outgoing as an older ex politician than he ever was as a politician. He didn't have many friends in politics because he didn't try to make them. Maybe because he's mellowed with age but I have a feeling he's privately happy not to have had a second term since he's been able to fulfill his goals and what he likes without the responsibility/burden of politics.