tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post7768232818897925950..comments2023-11-05T02:47:24.986-08:00Comments on D e e p C o n f u s i o n: The "Accidental" PresidentHopeSpringsATurtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01674162196011919272noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-1336878879244954622006-12-29T13:20:00.000-08:002006-12-29T13:20:00.000-08:00I'm all for "forgive and forget" but you must conf...I'm all for "forgive and forget" but you must confess in order to recieve forgiveness. Keeping mum doesn't count. Also this latest revealation about how Ford strongly disagreed with the Iraq war and Bush's prosecution of it yet insists this should not be made public while he was alive is another nail in the coffin of his so-called "legacy". Legacy , indeed.HopeSpringsATurtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01674162196011919272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-32401327820515854092006-12-29T10:57:00.000-08:002006-12-29T10:57:00.000-08:00The Accidental President, whom Nixon no doubt hand...The Accidental President, whom Nixon no doubt hand-picked because he knew Ford would not be able to betray their friendship by doing what was right for the democracy.<br /><br />When we see the kinds of consequences that can flow from not acting, it behooves us all to make sure that the current occupant of the White House is held accountable for his crimes - not because I would like to put the country through more trauma, but because it is vital to the continued health of the democracy.<br /><br />A component of oversight is accountability: there is no point to overseeing the actions of the executive branch if there is no accountability for those actions.<br /><br />Time to get the 110th Congress to do the job the framers expected of them.Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00274265125642974580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-2222807142764247842006-12-29T06:38:00.000-08:002006-12-29T06:38:00.000-08:00And great photo as usual.
OSAnd great photo as usual.<br /><br />OSAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-61436588903250014492006-12-28T21:27:00.000-08:002006-12-28T21:27:00.000-08:00If Gerald Ford had any conscience, he would have ...If Gerald Ford had any conscience, he would have confessed. Told the truth about the evils he was at the very least, conplicit in. I think he probably was a "good family man" but he sold out all of any goodness to evil. I think Betty is a good woman and it's pretty obvious why she drank and took drugs. I hope she finds peace in this twilight of her life.HopeSpringsATurtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01674162196011919272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-36534375806498924092006-12-28T19:17:00.000-08:002006-12-28T19:17:00.000-08:00hi op99,
not defending Ford one bit, and I'm glad...hi op99,<br /><br />not defending Ford one bit, and I'm glad bloggers are speaking up. He was a weak man chosen for unthinking party loyalty who accommodated great evils against this country and others. Even back then I knew most of what he had done, including supporting Suharto.<br /><br />I just related the story to point out that Ford exhibited what looked like a lot cognitive dissonance, a trait not seen very often in elected officials. He may have just gotten hold of a bad burrito, or more likely was too drunk to speak (ref to "falling down a flight of stairs"). I'm just saying there <br />*might* be an untold story which involves a conscience.MarcLordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17036432624426967890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-21923322750118542022006-12-28T18:06:00.000-08:002006-12-28T18:06:00.000-08:00Marclord, it is one thing to honor any human being...Marclord, it is one thing to honor any human being's life, and I'm sure that on a personal level, to Ford's family and friends, he is as deserving of that respect as any of us. However, as a political matter, when the pundits and media start in with the beatification of dead politicians who made many vile compromises in their lives, somebody has to speak up about it. <br /><br />FWIW, I still thought of Harry Truman as a mass murdering fuck at his funeral.<br /><br />This quote is not really apropos of Ford, but perhaps we can use it at George W. Bush's funeral:<br /><br />"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go."<br />---Oscar WildeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-31965040178419035452006-12-28T15:17:00.000-08:002006-12-28T15:17:00.000-08:00That's all true, but I for one am willing to fall ...That's all true, but I for one am willing to fall down a flight of stairs to honor Ford's memory.<br /><br />True story: back in the 80s I once attended a funeral of a Great American (and they kept reminding us of it, repeating that phrase ad infinitum), the patriarch of a prominent US family. It was in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and the list of eulogizers was impressive: among them were Billy Graham. Henry Kissinger. Gerald Ford. Richard Nixon. <br /><br />As it happened, I was sitting in the fifth or sixth row of the center phalanx of seats. There were sections of seats to the right and left, and people didn't sit in the first few rows of them out of respect for the family and friends, who occupied the first few center rows. <br /><br />One tall man came in, I think somewhat late, and sat alone on the outer right of the second or third row of the section of seats to my right. He kept his bald head down, and only when his name had been passed over without comment and he did not rise to speak as per the memorial schedule was his resemblance confirmed: he was Gerald Ford.<br /><br />I'm not sure if he even stayed for the entire ceremony or not, but the proceedings and his position relative to mine gave me ample occasion to study Ford and his demeanor, which was eyes-on-the-floor downcast. It seemed like he didn't want to be there, and even, somehow, really didn't belong there. <br /><br />Maybe he just couldn't bring himself to utter the platitudes I was being subjected to, the self-serving praises of the deceased's anti-communism, free market economics, Growth, and Greatness. Or maybe he just couldn't stomach going between (as my faulty memory recalls) Kissinger and Nixon. He detested the first man as a matter of record, and perhaps he detested the other despite inheriting his Presidency. <br /><br />At the time, the sadness or at least discomfiture before he was passed over made me wonder, and it was no doubt strange. Perhaps because I was already well on my way to becoming a dissident in that world, or more accurately an outcast from it, that the observations made me empathize with him. At the least, it's possible to be a President, but an outsider.MarcLordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17036432624426967890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-62944754970795677122006-12-28T14:23:00.000-08:002006-12-28T14:23:00.000-08:00Thanks Op for the East Timor link. I should have p...Thanks Op for the East Timor link. I should have put that in the post.<br />Love the Mark Twain...HopeSpringsATurtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01674162196011919272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-73625266461954325102006-12-28T13:07:00.000-08:002006-12-28T13:07:00.000-08:00Mark Twain said, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but...Mark Twain said, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27627502.post-35388214252190509762006-12-28T10:51:00.000-08:002006-12-28T10:51:00.000-08:00The moral of the story is, if you are ever incline...The moral of the story is, if you are ever inclined to give a Republican pol the benefit of the doubt, dig a little deeper. <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/27/1638254">Here's a link</a> for the East Timor part of the story.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com