or ages there has been something of an unwritten code of the fraternity of former presidents. Generally they don't criticize each other. That has changed; Jimmy Carter has taken on the President from Crawford, Texas in unequivocally critical terms. Not since Herbert Hoover slammed FDR has there been such vitriolic criticism as when Hoover heaped a lot of criticism on Franklin Roosevelt, blaming him for the Great Depression.

In the current exchange President Carter fired the first salvo by declaring that Bush's tenure in the White House was "the worst in history" in terms of international relations.

President Carter, speaking on BBC Radio added that "the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world." Then in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette President Carter was quoted a saying, "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history." How tough are his statements? Well, a Professor Lloyd Garner, and American history professor at Rutgers said "Hoover had some pretty harsh things to say about his successor, but Carter has gone beyond anything that Hoover ever said." The Bush administration's spokesman's response to the Carter criticism included the following, "It's unfortunate. He has proven to be increasingly irrelevant with these sorts of comments." They referred to the former president as "reckless" and "out there". I would simply ask the question ... but is he accurate?