OK, I admit that I have not paid much attention to the Gerald Ford post-mortem on tv. I have read many print articles on the man and the President, but I have avoided the gab-fest. It appears I am not alone in my lack of interest, shall we say. More on the flip.
Dana Milbank wrote a scathing article this morning in the WaPo about the lack of dignitaries at last night's Capital Hill service for President Ford. Read it here: At the Capitol, VIP Roll Call Has Many No-Shows
I can't add much to Milbank's prose except to say: Both Republican leaders and Democratic leaders have really let this country down. Bush, Pelosi and Reid should have been there last night. The article doesn't say why Pelosi was a no show but Bush is clearing brush at his ranch (how much f*cking tumbleweed is on that spread, for Christ's sake?) and Reid decided to go on a trip to South America with a few other Senators to tour some Incan ruins. Lame, lame, lame!
Gerald Ford: not elected to national office, but I think he did a decent job given the circumstances. He inherited a crappy foreign policy situation, a crappy economy and his wife got breast cancer (and decided to go public about it.) For those who don't remember, admiting you had cancer, especially breast cancer, just wasn't done in the 70's. Not only that, Betty apparently was hitting the bottle pretty hard, too. Through it all (even the SNL parodies), Ford just kept on truckin'. Sure, he did some things that were unpopular but he also played his hand well.
He was not petty, vindictive or rude, which is more than can be said about 43.
I just had to give a shout out to a decent, honorable man who got dissed last night. What a shame.