How Communist Did You Have to Be to Be, You Know, COMMUNIST?
You didn't have to be a communist, you didn't have to have friends who were communists. All you had to have was the whiff of possibility—you said something to someone, you complained about your job, you cheated on the wrong girlfriend—if the Committee decided you were a communist, the power of public opinion and the scrutiny of those self-righteous fear mongers using hyperbolic language to paint you as a communist, you were guilty of being a communist.
Jimmy Carter was kind, soft spoken, came from humble beginnings. He was religious and considerate of those who were in need—the American people. Carter won the presidency over Ford because we wanted an outsider. We wanted someone who was good. And so we elected a peanut farmer to be our leader. And his presidency was the second coming.