It took only until four o’clock for Hamilton Jordan to issue a nervous clarification that Carter was not calling Ronald Reagan racist. It didn’t work. Jimmy Carter had crossed a line. At his next White House press conference, running live on all three networks, the media set upon him like sharks. A journalist sanctimoniously demanded: “Do you think that Governor Reagan is running a campaign of hatred and racism? And how do you answer allegations that you are running a mean campaign?”
