"When President Nixon needed to replace a vice president who had resigned in scandal, he naturally turned to a man whose name was a synonym for integrity," President Bush said at President Gerald Ford’s state funderal today at Washington National Cathedral. "And eight months later, when he was elevated to the presidency, it was because America needed him, not because he needed the office."
Bob Dole, Ford’s running mate in 1976, also had high praise in an op-ed piece last week. "He was never a person to nurse a grudge," Dole wrote. "He was willing to admit mistakes. Generally, he had a smile on his face, but he was determined and competitive, though realistic about what he could achieve."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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27 Comments
Ford was one of the true gentlemen to be president. The Navajo Nation shut down today in honor of him. I wonder what the nation would be like had he won the election.
I know his pardoning of Nixon brought mixed responses at the time, but it was the proper thing to do. The country, and the presidency, was in total dissarray when Nixon left office, and Ford brought trust and integrity back. Not bad for a president who was never elected as either a Vice-President or a President. He was a good man.
Wonder who’ll the Republicans will put into office when Bush and Cheney resign in disgrace.
Actually if both Bush & Cheney resigned the Speaker would become President so that won’t happen.
I don’t expect Bush and Cheney to resign any time soon. If anything, Cheney will step down for health reasons so maybe the Republican’s front runner presidential candidate can be put in as vice president? With Nancy Pelosi on their heels, neither one would want to give her the satisfaction of resigning.
Hooooohahahahahaha!!
Man oh man – the liberals are in full fantasy mode today.
Bush resign? I’m taking bets and laying high odds that he’ll still be president until noon, 1/20/09.
Gerald Ford could never win the election because he was bald. This country is so superficial about appearance that with the age of television, a bald person can never be elected president again. Ike was the last elected bald president. Sorry Rudy, might as well forget about running.
And Ike only won because his opponent was bald too. (Adalai Stevenson)
Golf, I don’t think anyone will place a bet on that unless something akin to the “smoking gun” tapes appear.
Leave it to CapnAmerica to poison a thread dedicated to a deceased President with typical CapnAmerica venomous spew.
Always like Gerald Ford. Honest and someone you want to lead because of his calm and leadership. He worked well with his Democratic peers. Those who lived during those times were glad he helped the nation to heal when it needed healing. We were reeling from Vietnam and then Nixon happened. Gerald Ford was a good man and a good President.
SJM,
One man’s accountability evidently is another’s ‘venomous spew.’ I think it’s more important to speak the truth than it is not to speak ill of the dead.
For the record, while Jerry Ford was undoubtedly a nice guy, all this claptrap about ‘binding up the nation’s wounds’ just sounds nonsensical to me. By pardoning Nixon, Ford allowed those wounds to fester, to the point where we now have a diseased and cancerous Presidency that has outgrown all its Constitutional checks and balances.
Gerald Ford set a dangerous, dangerous precedent by putting the Presidency above the law. The fact that Presidential lawbreaking is now silently tolerated is precisely why SJM is, in all likelihood, correct: Cheney and Bush probably will never face the impeachment they so richly deserve. ‘High crimes and misdemeanors,’ indeed.
What you Repukes don’t seem to get is that the President works for US, and that the framers intended for him to be subject to the rule of law. To pardon someone before a guilty verdict has been rendered is NOT forgiveness: it’s complicity. And it’s no wonder Cheney has been falling all over himself these last few days to direct attention to Ford’s precedent.
When Repuke Senators and Congressmen suspected criminal goings on in a Democratic White House, they pushed for impeachment. When a Republican President confronted similar goings on in a Republican White House, he pardoned. Never forget that.
Ford championed, among other things, the vile immigration act of 1965 and filthy affirmative action! He also played a key role in the Warren Commission whitewash. he is just another in a long line of traitors and I say good riddance!
Viva La Revolucion Blanco!!
I think President Ford was a great man and a brave man. He sacrificed his own political career for what he thought was the right thing to do. Not many politians have done that. I don’t remember thinking much about the pardon at the time it happened but now after having lived through the mess with Clinton I can see that he did the right thing.
“He sacrificed his own political career for what he thought was the right thing to do.”
And that, Brenda Shull, is the mark of a true leader. A refreshing contrast to those these days who think polling data determines right and wrong.
outlander, brenda – agreed. While the pardon tended to ‘leave a bad taste’ it was necessary. And although I did not vote for Ford in 1976 I would not have cussed a lot if he had won. I could respect him.
C F
Since Gerald Ford isn’t here to say it:
Up yours – sideways
Get him buried so we can go back to work
Imagine, a president that could admit mistakes, instead of one that thinks he never makes mistakes!
Ford did the best thing a Republican can do.
He died.
What did it solve to pardon Nixon? The right has been filled with hate since then anyway. Maybe if Nixon had been sitting in prison, the right would be a little less froggy today.
“Ford did the best thing a Republican can do. He died. What did it solve to pardon Nixon? The right has been filled with hate since then anyway.” – JR
Well JR, just what is is that you’re full of???? (I mean besides sh*t)
I note you did not dispute my post Outie. What exactly did I get wrong?
Hey true story here. I was DEVASTATED when Ford lost to Carter. I was also 10 years old.
I can hardly be blamed for the actions of your party when I was just a child. I’m just the product of them.
The right NEVER forgot what happened to Nixon. They never gave poor Carter a chance. Then, when Reagans successor Bush I did not get his holy appointed 8 years, the right decided to make Clintons life a living hell.
THEN they stole an election.
No, the hate clearly begins on the right. We progressives just aint taking it on the chin anymore.
Well Jr, I have never been “devastated” by election results, so I can’t relate. To me, it’s water off a duck’s back. What I do or don’t do in my life, makes far more difference than who has the upper hand politically.
But really, are you so far gone as to wish death upon Mr. Ford and Republicans in general?
I didn’t wish death on anyone.
But I am not sad when Republicans die.
Yeah I know your side was real busted up about Paul Wellstone. Turning his own memorial against him and calling it politics.
Teacher says, “Every time a Republican dies, another gay angel gets his wings.”
JM, you never answered that question I asked you a few posts back–
how old do you think the earth is?
JR there is help for someone with the malady you suffer from. You are clearly delusional, have a deep seated hatred for an entire class of people, think business is out to screw you every chance they get and now would vilify a past president who was a bandaid for a troubled nation. What could have possibly been accomplished by putting Nixion in jail? He resigned in disgrace and went off to lick his wounds out of the public eye. We moved on. At that time I was voting democratic. Carter cured me of that. Double digit inflation, higher taxes and interest rates over 14% for a home loan. It wasn’t hate which motivated my move to the republicans but the observation that healthy businesses were the backbone of our nation and a party made up of people like you just wasn’t getting the job done. Ford deserved all the good things said about him today.
Actually ksgrm, healthy business adn a healthy workforce is what it takes to be the backbone of our nation. Why do you give credit just to business? What would business without their employees? Can business move this country forward or does it take a teamwork of people and business.
I will vote Republican if they get back to fiscal responsibility and less government. But today’s GOP is not my daddy’s GOP. The social conservatives have hijacked the party and George Bush has bankrupted us. So where does that leave people like me?
Lucee I certainly didn’t mean to imply that employees were not important. They are actually the largest assett that any business has. I was just trying to make the point that businesses are necessary for a healthy economy. They are mutually inclusive. I feel the same way about the Dems as you do about the GOP. It certainly isn’t the party of my father, a true yellow dog democrat. The dems do entirely to much social engineering for me. They are to quick to take money from the rich to give to the poor. I think that helping those in need has to be done by those others that our government. We have to encourage people to better themselves not constantly being available with a handout. I work with several programs that do just that. They are through my church. If we keep working at it, I’m sure there is a party for those that share my point of view. I have yet to see a presidential candidate I can support. Obama has came the closest.
SJM,
My reply to you was strongly worded but substantive. In response, you talk shit while saying nothing.
When Repukes like you have to curl up in the fetal position and snivel that criticisms of your views are based in ‘hate,’ you give away the game: you’ll lower yourself however is required to not have to concede a point.
Must suck to be on the losing end, SJM. Get used to it, bitch.