I've spent a good part of my morning discussing Gerald Ford with people. When someone dies I think there is a natural desire to cover over the blemishes of their life and promote "the good things" and I see a lot of this happening with Ford. However it seems kind of odd the things they are wanting to whitewash .
There are a number of people arguing that Ford was not a klutz and blaming the perception of same on Saturday Night Live. I don't buy it. SNL didn't make up that Ford was a clumsy; that perception was created by the numerous pictures of him bumping his head, tripping over his own feet and whacking bystanders with golf balls.
Then there is the talk of how he "healed a nation" by letting Richard Nixon get away with high crimes and treason. Far from healing the nation I think his pardoning of that crooked son of a bitch made a generation of Republicans feel that they could get away with just about anything. And boy have they been testing that for the past 30 years. Nixon should have gone to prison and had he the excesses of the Republican party that have so devastated our country since that time may not have ever happened.
On top of all this, the man was a political lightweight of the worst kind. Republicans talk about Carter not knowing what he was doing; this man was so clueless he thought people wearing buttons could fix the economy. "Whip Inflation Now?" How about "What an Imbecilic Notion?"
I understand Ford was a nice guy, but he did this country no favor by letting Nixon walk and certainly no favor by passing out "WIN" buttons. By putting a human face on addictions his wife was of greater service to the country than he was.
My two cents.
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