Last month, when Venezuelan President dictator Hugo Chavez magically “won” the recall election by the same 60-40 margin exit polls suggested he woudl lose it, the left could barely contain its glee. Hugo Schwyzer all but ignored Chavez’s abysmal human rights record, and got giddy over such irrelevancies as Chavez’s race and the fact that his first name was “Hugo.” Credible allegations of fraud were pooh-poohed with a series of credulous links to hard left sites with no credibility of their own. Meanwhile, back on DAI, a reader took me to task for even floating the possibility that electoral fraud might have taken place. The prevailing wisdom appeared to be that if Jimmy Carter didn’t find any fraud, there must not have been any.

Only there now seems to be a 99% certainty (h/t: Matthey Hoy) that there was fraud after all. Of course, the left doesn’t care. To them, “human rights” is just a smoke screen, another tool to bash America and any two-bit dicators who seem remotely friendly to it. When Batista and Somoza cracked down on dissenters in Cuba and Nicaragua, it was a “human rights” crisis. When their commie successors Castro and Ortega did so to a greater extent, it was either no big deal or, in the case of Nicaragua, it was all Reagan and the Contras’ fault. Ditto for Haiti, with and without Aristide, Chile with Allende vs. Pinochet, etc. ad nauseam.

One wonders who many other phony elections Jimmy Carter has fallen for in countries around the globe. Would Daniel Ortega have “won” the election in 1990 if Jimmy Carter had been the only international observer he had to con? How about Manuel Noriega in 1989? The possibilities are almost endless. What I would like to know is this: is there any way to fire, impeach, recall or otherwise terminate an ex-President? Next time a third-world country is scheduled to hold a dubious election, can we please send someone else instead? How about Gerald Ford? He can’t do a worse job than Carter. Hell, even Billy Carter couldn’t be that bad. Or we could send Bush the Elder, or in the “you can’t kid a kidder” spirit, Bill Clinton. Better yet, if you’re big on ex-governors from Georgia, send Zell Miller. He’ll challenge that little tin pot despot Chavez to a duel, and win. Send anybody, please, just not Jimmy Carter. He’s already done far more damage than any one President should be allowed in a lifetime.

UPDATE: Today’s WSJ Opinion Page has more.