Carter Sends 'Limited Mission' to Observe Venezuela Elections

Six years after declaring the Venezuelan election process "flawed," former President Jimmy Carter's Carter Center will monitor only one aspect of the country's Dec. 3 elections, despite claims of abuses during the campaign designed to favor the incumbent, left-wing populist President Hugo Chavez.

The center announced Nov. 20 that it would organize a "specialized, limited technical mission" to "observe the use of the automated voting technology."

The effort is in collaboration with Carter's group and the Venezuelan National Electoral Council, a body which Chavez critics say is controlled by the president.

The group will also not monitor the election broadly for inconsistencies, disenfranchisement or fraud and will not produce a comprehensive report evaluating the election, according to the announcement.

So Smilin' Jimmy still desperately tries to make the world believe he is relevant and only succeeds in demonstrating that he is a walking caricature. The more things change, the more they stay the same.