RIP, President Gerald R. Ford

[j2k4]

He was most emphatically not a Lincoln.

He was a nice guy (ask Jimmy Carter) with a really tough job.

He deserves a ton of credit for the job he did, after Nixon, Viet Nam and Watergate.

Hell, he even survived a couple of assassination attempts.

The best president of the 70s, by far (really, really far).

I know that's not the most ringing epitaph, but it's more than I can say about any Democrat in memory.

[Chewie]

Hell, he even survived a couple of assassination attempts.
One of which was botched by one of the Manson family, I believe.

[100%]

Cheers for the explanation for his credits.

[vidcc]

I know that's not the most ringing epitaph, but it's more than I can say about any Democrat in memory.

Wow......you use an epitaph to make a partisan jab at the democratic party....
RIP Mr. president

[Ava Estelle]

The only unelected president in US history, he wasn't even elected as vice-president. He only came to office because of that other well known crook, Spiro Agnew.

When in office he committed the ultimate sin, costing him the next term in office, he pardoned Nixon to 'save the country'. Others have suggested it was to make sure his name didn't pop up.

Two years in office and did nothing but finally admit the US lost the war in Vietnam. The real 'healer' of the US, and the one who cleaned up the mess of Vietnam, internationally, was Jimmy Carter.

[j2k4]

The only unelected president in US history, he wasn't even elected as vice-president. He only came to office because of that other well known crook, Spiro Agnew.

When in office he committed the ultimate sin, costing him the next term in office, he pardoned Nixon to 'save the country'. Others have suggested it was to make sure his name didn't pop up.

Two years in office and did nothing but finally admit the US lost the war in Vietnam. The real 'healer' of the US, and the one who cleaned up the mess of Vietnam, internationally, was Jimmy Carter.

The only thing Carter had to do with the Viet Nam war was amending John Kerry's discharge papers to include the word "honorable", which proves for once and all he never knew the meaning of the word.

[Ava Estelle]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former President Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified, the Washington Post reported Wednesday night.

Ford ``very strongly'' disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously, the Post's Bob Woodward wrote. The story initially was posted on the newspaper's Internet site.

``I don't think I would have gone to war,'' Ford told Woodward a little more than a year after President Bush launched the invasion.

In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney - Ford's White House chief of staff - and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his secretary of defense.

``Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction,'' Ford said. ``And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do.''

Woodward wrote that the interview took place for a future book project, though the former president said his comments could be published at any time after his death.

In another interview released after his death, Ford told CBS News in 1984 that he initially was against using the phrase ``long national nightmare'' in his first speech as president following Richard Nixon's resignation, concerned that it was too harsh.

Ford said he reconsidered and sought his wife's advice. ``After thinking about it and talking to Betty about it, we decided to leave it in and, boy, in retrospect, I'm awfully glad we did,'' he said.

Source. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6306787,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704)


BTW: It was Carter who established full diplomatic relations with China, and completed the Salt 2 treaty with the USSR, calming the storm over Vietnam.

And talking of Ford, he pardoned Tokyo Rose!

[j2k4]

BTW: It was Carter who established full diplomatic relations with China, and completed the Salt 2 treaty with the USSR, calming the storm over Vietnam.

Carter would have made no headway in China whatsoever had Nixon not visited and given them reason to think it could happen to begin with.

Normalizing relations with China was as easy as saying that it was so, for which Carter deserves scant credit.

I think you'll find the post-war body-count in S.E. Asia was what constituted any "storm over Viet Nam", and USSR/SALT 2 had precious little to do with that...it does, however, set the tone and precedent for Carter's later efforts in North Korea on behalf of Clinton.

In summary, the SALT treaties, as well as the North Korean debacle, are a signal package demonstrating nothing but the fecklessness of the Democrats' efforts on the international front.

All were violated almost literally before the ink was dry, and with no repercussion.

The really funny part is that to this day the Dems are still patting themselves on the back over their "ground-breaking foreign policy".

And talking of Ford, he pardoned Tokyo Rose!

So what?

[Ava Estelle]

So what?
So what? If you posted to that criteria we'd all be asking where you were!

[j2k4]

So what?
So what? If you posted to that criteria we'd all be asking where you were!

He pardoned an old woman 30 years after her sins?

I'd think that to do so would have great appeal to someone like yourself, given how you scream bloody murder about things like Abu Ghraib and Gitmo.

Or is it your view that American mercy can only be effectively dispensed by Democrats.

[Ava Estelle]

He pardoned an old woman 30 years after her sins?
He pardoned a traitor to her country, why pick on her? Are there no worthier criminals in the US?

[Agrajag]

Nice RIP thread guys.

It makes one fill up.

Didn't your Mam tell you that, on some occassions, if you don't have something nice to say then just keep quiet.

[j2k4]

Nice RIP thread guys.

It makes one fill up.

Didn't your Mam tell you that, on some occassions, if you don't have something nice to say then just keep quiet.

Ava started it. :whistling

[B.Helto]

Ford was alright. I wish all politicians had his integrity.

[j2k4]

Ford was alright. I wish all politicians had his integrity.

True enough. ;)