"Major announcement" concerning Gerald Ford

[cboy4]

being released by the White House within the half hour.

NBC affiliates throughout the country are receiving calls to stand by.

No details are being released ahead of time, but I'm getting this tip from a friend who is a producer and just took a call NBC News affiliate news channel . . .

[htuttle]

1. Well, either he died, or he's running in '08

No telling nowadays...

[Trajan]

2. Oh damn ....

He is over 93 .... this cannot be good news ...

[Warpy]

3. Why would the White House release it?

Wouldn't his family be the appropriate people to release news of his illness or death?

What's Stupid got to do with it?

[Bluebear]

13. My first thought too. nt

[Pab Sungenis]

15. The White House always releases the news of a former President passing.

Protocol. Flags immediately go to half mast, too.

[Blue-Jay]

4. He's died

[NYC Liberal]

5. According to Wikipedia CBS 4 (Boston) confirmed he's dead

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford#Death

[rockymountaindem]

9. Wow...

Only three living ex-Presidents left.

[cboy4]

6. It's official

BC-CA--APNewsAlert,0014
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Former first lady Betty Ford says President
Gerald Ford has died

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-12-26-06 2348EST

[Pithy Cherub]

7. CNN just anounced he's died

[Roland99]

8. NBC Breaking in that Pres. Ford has died.

:(

[NYC Liberal]

10. It's on CNN

[stillcool]

11. why would it come from the White House?..

I guess we'll find out. thanks for the warning...I love the internets!

[Neecy]

12. If this is true...

My condolences to the Ford family.

He was the last non-insane Republican president we had.

[RoyGBiv]

14. Well, I don't hate him ...

He wasn't a nutjob and had some good words. As our first unelected VP/President, he at least didn't let the country fall completely apart.

And his wife was pretty cool.

RIP, Gerald.

Would it be inappropriate to post Dana Carvey's impression of Tom Brokaw pre-recording news releases? Yeah, probably.

[Infinite Hope]

16. CNN Breaking: Gerald Ford Died

He was 93.

Interesting fact from CNN: The first person to ever be both VP and President without being elected to either office.

I don't know much about him, and there are always "dumb" jokes about him, but he was always someone who seemed to be respectable - statesman-like.

[knowledgeispwr]

17. God bless his family...

may they have peace and comfort in this time.

I didn't know that fact about not being elected even indirectly. Interesting.

[Hailtothechimp]

18. He gets a HUGE federal pension

since he was in both the Congress and the executive branch (and collects for each one, for some reason).

Here's the info on his presidential deal (now worth $500,000 annually in payments and expenses):
http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-249.pdf

Here's the Congressional take ($60K + back in 1984, and we can assume it's much higher now):
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921722,00.html

Nobody is wishing the man ill. But he has been bringing in the bucks for 30 years, since his highly questionable decision to PARDON RICHARD NIXON. That's his legacy, plain and simple. That and sitting on the Warren Commission. But he's been handsomely rewarded for it, I guess.

[Moderator]

19. Locking - please see this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2665974