Mister Peanut and the Klan

This excerpt from OpinionJournal's Best of the Web yesterday is so good, I'm reproducing it here in its entirety:

Fourteen members of an advisory board at the Carter Center resigned today, concluding they could 'no longer in good conscience continue to serve' following publication of former President Jimmy Carter's controversial book, 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,' " The Wall Street Journal reports (link for WSJ.com subscribers):

"It seems that you have turned to a world of advocacy, including even malicious advocacy," the board members wrote in a letter, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. "We can no longer endorse your strident and uncompromising position. This is not the Carter Center or Jimmy Carter we came to respect and support. Therefore it is with sadness and regret that we hereby tender our resignation from the Board of Councilors of the Carter Center effective immediately."

The advisory board is comprised of more than 200 members, including representatives from leading businesses and other groups in the Atlanta area.

Some of the Carter Center board members who quit in protest have known Mr. Carter for decades. William B. Schwartz Jr., whose name is on the list of those resigning today, was U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas during the Carter administration. S. Stephen Selig III, chairman and president of Atlanta real-estate developer Selig Enterprises Inc., was a top White House aide to Mr. Carter who led outreach to the business community. Mr. Selig was chairman of the host committee for the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta.

The resignation letter is scathing. After enumerating various factual errors both in Carter's book and in his subsequent comments on it, the erstwhile advisers note that he has made some new "friends":

Your use of the word "Apartheid," regardless of your disclaimers, has already energized white supremacist groups who thrive on asserting Jewish control of government and foreign policy, an insinuation you made in your OPED to the LA Times on December 8, 2006: "For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts." According to Web site monitoring by the Anti-Defamation League, U.S. white supremacists have enthusiastically embraced your suggestion that the Israel lobby stifles debate in this country, saying it confirms Jewish control of government and foreign policy as well as and the inherently "evil" nature of Jews. If you doubt the support you are giving and receiving, please refer to [this link.] From there you can get to the postings of four different White Supremacist organizations that both support and make use of the contents of your book and what you have said in public.