I always thought the shame of slavery would forever be our low point. That was right up until Jimmy Carter took office in 1977 and again last week when he spewed his hate-filled venom against his country and its president in Der Spiegel magazine. Jimmy, you are a disgrace to our nation.

The byline of the article read: ''Former U.S. president speaks with Der Spiegel about the danger posed to American values by George W. Bush, the difficult situation in the Middle East and Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro.'' Carter should have been front and center condemning such a headline. In any other time, with any other president, this would have been unheard of, but not from the new voices coming from the Bush-haters in the Democratic Party. Al Gore does it. Howard Dean does it. Maxine Waters does it. But that doesn't make it right. Jimmy Carter has allowed partisan attacks to escalate to dangerous levels.

So, I thought a stroll down memory lane would be appropriate. In the mid-1970s, Jimmy Carter, a fine peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, ran for the highest office in the land and won. Congratulations Jimmy. Jimmy Carter appeared not to be your garden-variety politician and the country welcomed his down-home country approach. Within a year however, the welcome wore off. Carter's legacy is now inextricably linked to the ''Misery Index.'' No president in the history of the country had a Misery Index as high as Jimmy Carter's. Carter had an average Index of 16.27 percent during his term (1977-80). When he finally left Washington in 1980 is was at an all-time high of 21.98 percent. Not a record I would be proud of if I were you Jimmy.

Of course, who could forget the 444 days America was held hostage by Iran? The now-famous program, ABC's Nightline, was birthed to cover the day-to-day events. Each night we would watch the news, counting the days our captured Americans were being held by radical Islamic terrorists while President Jimmy Carter sat by powerless and did nothing. The appeaser didn't want to upset the Ayatollah Khomeini. The leader of the free world had been reduced to a thumb-sucking peacenik by a gang of 7th-century hoodlums.

Suffice it to say, the Carter years were very bad for our nation. 16 percent inflation, 22 percent interest rates, and 70 percent marginal tax rates did little to endear Jimmy to the hard working people he claims to now protect against George W. Bush. Today, under Bush, we have 2.7 percent core inflation rates, historically low interest rates and 35 percent marginal tax rates. Looks like Jimmy is jealous.

I have to stop myself from going any further, for if Carter's own words are not enough to show his stupidity and hatred for our country and the president then nothing will. Jimmy Carter has done more than any single president to hurt this nation, not only while in office, but even more so since he was booted from office in complete humiliation. The American people rejected him and his insane policies. We in America couldn't get rid of this guy quick enough. His anger toward the country and its current leader is no surprise given how soundly he was rejected. He needs therapy to heal, not worldwide attention.

Carter is the first former president I can think of who has openly attacked a sitting president. Carter should thank his lucky stars Nixon, Ford and Reagan were men of character, for if they operated like Carter and Gore he would have been under an attack that would have made his head spin. And he would have actually deserved it.

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