I really try to live by the adage to never speak ill of the dead but I can't be the only one finding the adjective "brave" a little tough to swallow when referring to Gerald Ford. His crowning achievement was his pardon of Richard Nixon- an act that won him a "Profile in Courage" award from the Kennedy foundation a few years ago. Ted Kennedy said he spoke out against the pardon at the time but realizes now that it was a brave act that will be looked on favorably by history. He may be speaking too soon.
It's too soon to tell for sure, but it seems to me that history will judge that the scorch-and-burn political strategy really came into it's own under Nixon and Ford's pardon did nothing but push it out of sight. It continued to fester and plague our political system for the next thirty years. Had Nixon actually been tried and convicted we MAY not have had to suffer through the likes of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove with the damage they've done to America and our political system.
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6 comments:
Ford was the best Republican president we've had since Eisenhower with the possible exception of Bill Clinton.
Don, I sort of have to agree with your carachterization of B. Clinton as a Republican.
Dean, I agree with your assessment of the legacy of Ford. I would add that James Brown also recently died. I believe that long after Gerald Ford is merely a name on a list of Presidents, James Brown's contribution to America's (and the world's) culture will be be widely remebered.
There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe!
-Swinebread
James Brown certainly contributed more to the country and the culture. Which goes to say that power, such as the almost unlimited power inherent in the presidency, isn't everything.
Swinebread-
Go back to your RPG reviews!
;-)
I agree with Don's take on Clinton as well.
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