Gerald Ford Has Died

[sotoalf]

I find the notion that a Nixon trial would have "ripped the country apart" deeply insulting and condescending. How marvelous that our elected officials regard the body politic as children who need to shielded from horrors.

 

[ChubbyHubby]

I agree. Godspeed Mr.President.

With regard to President Nixon's pardon, isn't it amazing how things which seem so wrong at the time seem so right many years later? Really gives creedence to the statement "History will record his true worth". And once again, it also shows how much control the media had (and has) over what we think.

Food for thought...

Mr. Ford did the right thing by pulling troops out of the Vietnam quagmire. I disagree about pardoning Nixon. We now have presidents who feel themselves above the law (Iran Contra and Monica L). I think it would have been good for a president to face the full force of the law.

I understand and respect his reasoning for his decision and can only differ in my opinion. He had to live with the consequences while I do not. I respect the fact that he did what he thought was the right thing knowing he would not be re-elected to office.

His legacy will be greater than that of the current one. The next president will be stuck getting out the current quagmire.

Chubster.

 

[Disney Doll]

Mr. Ford did the right thing by pulling troops out of the Vietnam quagmire. I disagree about pardoning Nixon. We now have presidents who feel themselves above the law (Iran Contra and Monica L). I think it would have been good for a president to face the full force of the law.

I understand and respect his reasoning for his decision and can only differ in my opinion. He had to live with the consequences while I do not. I respect the fact that he did what he thought was the right thing knowing he would not be re-elected to office.

His legacy will be greater than that of the current one. The next president will be stuck getting out the current quagmire.

Chubster.

Well, I saw an excerpt from an interview with him, where he said that he felt President Nixon would be unable to get a fair trial, which was probably true...where could he have been tried where the jury would have not have been biased? He also said he felt that he needed to end it and let the country heal.

Politically, he paid the price.

This interview took place years after he left office, and he said he still felt like he did the right thing.

I do too.

 

[TheDoctor]

I find the notion that a Nixon trial would have "ripped the country apart" deeply insulting and condescending. How marvelous that our elected officials regard the body politic as children who need to shielded from horrors.

There are a great number of people who would agree with you on this. I used to believe that the Nixon pardon was wrong but have mellowed some as the years have gone by. In any event, what is done is done and it is time to honor the man for his accomplishments and his life.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

RIP Gerald Ford.
To me he was example of good, decent, honorable man.
I remember when pardoned Nixon.
As a teen that showed me how we should forgive those who do wrong.
Granted I didn't know much about politics at 14.


God Bless his family and his wife of 60 years, Betty.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

sorry double post.

server is sloooowwwww..

 

[Kitty 34]

What a good man he was. May he rest in peace.

 

[Virgo10]

I find the notion that a Nixon trial would have "ripped the country apart" deeply insulting and condescending. How marvelous that our elected officials regard the body politic as children who need to shielded from horrors.

Yup, what you said. I was in my late 20's when he assumed the office of President. Coming from a generation that put politicians slightly lower than used car salesmen, the pardon of Richard Nixon just reinforced our opinion that you could get away with anything if you held a high enough office.

Actually, my opinion hasn't changed to this day and I'm way past my late
20's.

 

[TheDoctor]

This is interesting. Bob Woodward just released an embargoged interview with President Ford. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701558.html

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.

In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., 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. 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 Pentagon chief.

"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."...

The Ford interview -- and a subsequent lengthy conversation in 2005 -- took place for a future book project, though he said his comments could be published at any time after his death.....

Describing his own preferred policy toward Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Ford said he would not have gone to war, based on the publicly available information at the time, and would have worked harder to find an alternative. "I don't think, if I had been president, on the basis of the facts as I saw them publicly," he said, "I don't think I would have ordered the Iraq war. I would have maximized our effort through sanctions, through restrictions, whatever, to find another answer."

 

[JunieJay]

An underated man who put the country's interests above his own. A very classy gentleman who did not ask for the tempest he was thrown into. Rest In Peace Mr. President.

I so agree. He was just a very decent man.

I feel a lot of sadness over the passing of President Ford. Not sure why it hit me so hard....I guess because he was decent and kind and I'm wondering if those attributes exist anymore in politicians.

 

[Disney Doll]

I so agree. He was just a very decent man.

I feel a lot of sadness over the passing of President Ford. Not sure why it hit me so hard....I guess because he was decent and kind and I'm wondering if those attributes exist anymore in politicians.

I agree with you. I cannopt think of a politician today that I would label decent and kind. I hate that I feel like I am voting for who will be the least offensive....the lesser of two evils, if you will.

 

[eclectics]

I so agree. He was just a very decent man.

I feel a lot of sadness over the passing of President Ford. Not sure why it hit me so hard....I guess because he was decent and kind and I'm wondering if those attributes exist anymore in politicians.

I don't think so. The days of "my worthy opponent" debates are over and replaced by smear campaigns and negative ads. We voters have to work hard now to try to catch a glimpse, between sound bites, of a candidate's true soul.

 

[Missy1961]

I so agree. He was just a very decent man.

I feel a lot of sadness over the passing of President Ford. Not sure why it hit me so hard....I guess because he was decent and kind and I'm wondering if those attributes exist anymore in politicians.

I was thinking of that when I heard about President Ford's passing. Especially as I was reading this thread--everyone was so respectful of him. From the moment a politician is elected, he or she is working to be re-elected, so we never see those attributes anymore.