Let's all wish Gerald Ford a Happy 92nd Birthday!

[UrbScotty]

I hope I'm not late in posting this. If I am, I hope you'll pardon me.

You know, Jerry, there is no American dominance of Iraq's oil fields.

[wryter2000]

1. Happy birthday to the last decent Republican president

I wish we could have him back.

[sleipnir]

5. Yeah, I'd vote for Eisenhower as the last, but Ford wasn't too bad.

Happy birthday, Gerald.

It must be fun to be an unelected president!

[LiberalEsto]

10. Decent? He pardoned the Watergate gang

give me an f-ing break!!!

[longship]

15. And he knew that he'd never be reelected for doing it.

He didn't pardon the Watergate gang. He pardoned Nixon, who was already a destroyed man.

I thought the same when Ford did that. But since then, I've calmed down about it. If I had been Ford, I don't know if I would have pardoned Nixon. But that's just the thing, I'm not Ford. He'd pay for that pardon with his defeat at the polls and he knew that when he did it.

Happy Birthday, President Ford.

[wryter2000]

20. I tend to agree

I hated like hell that Nixon could take his secrets to his grave, but even back then, I realized that Ford wasn't getting anything out of it. I think he sincerely believed it was the right thing to do for the country.

[lateo]

28. Exactly...

We need to stop this myth.

[JackRiddler]

16. Excuse me?

First off, he wasn't President. That's true morally, as he was not elected. He didn't even steal an election, like Dubya's crew, he was simply appointed by Nixon, whom he then pardoned in an apparent quid pro quo.

Second, like most of these president characters, he was a front for a mob. He was probably even dumber than Dubya, who at the least can simulate a few convictions. This guy could not even stand up straight while chewing gum.

He was put in to cover for the crew who performed necessary damage control following the fall of Nixon and the revelations of the CIA investigations.

Do you have any clue? Any whatsoever? As to the identity of this mob?

You may recall the names from some musty textbook of your youth.

Secy Defense: Donald Rumsfeld
Chief of Staff: Richard Cheney
Secy State: Henry Kissinger

Dir. Central Intelligence: George H.W. Bush
Members of his appointed "Team B": Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle.

Team B was charged with devising extreme scenarios of Soviet power (later shown to be absolutely absurd). They ended up terrorizing the rest of the government into accepting higher military spending. Do you see any similarities to what these same guys do today?

Vice-President: Nelson Rockefeller came in, as the country's real owner, to manage the crisis. (Interesting how there were several assassination attempts on Ford by mind controlled Manson bots.)

Rummy and Cheney came up with the original version of the USA PATRIOT Act.

Rockefeller ran a cover-up Commission on CIA crimes, which is appropriate since he was previously RUNNING the CIA as a member the "40 Committee" (with his sponsored intellectual Kissinger).

Bush covered up at the CIA and won the loyalties of the ops who later made him Veep, President, and Chairman of the Board.

I haven't even scratched the surface of their infamy.

Carter came in, fired about 700 of the most unsavory covert operators. They coalesced around former DCI Bush and arranged his subsequent career. The model of "The Enterprise" was born.

THIS IS THE SAME ADMINISTRATION WE ARE LIVING UNDER TODAY.

[DemonFighterLives]

24. I never had much love for him

I kind of did a retake when Caroline Kennedy gave him the "Profile In Courage" award. I still don't understand that exactly.

http://www.jfklibrary.org/newsletter_summer2001_01.html

[JackRiddler]

30. This country has a mob

of self-obsessed celebrity aristocrats.

Papa Bush gave Ted Kennedy his award in 2003. Clinton and Papa Bush lie together, in both senses of lie.

[formerrepuke]

2. In a few months he will become the longest-living President ever

(Reagan was just over 92, I think)

[UrbScotty]

26. Reagan was 93

Ford will become the oldest President around Veteran's Day of 2006.

[patrice]

3. For some reason, I can't remember, I always trusted Gerald Ford.

I think I even voted for him once.

Happy Birthday Mr. Ford.

[Hepburn]

4. Not only was Jerry Ford cool...

...I actually dug his wife Betty. She seemed like she was for real.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRESIDENT FORD!! :party:

[napi21]

6. What's with all these ex presidents living so long?

I'm not wishing any of them ill will, just asking. SC judges too! I know the avg life expectancy has gone up, but we're talking 90's here!

[LiberalEsto]

12. It's the great free healthcare

and the secret service protection


much better healthcare than the average American will ever get to experience

[PA Democrat]

13. Great health insurance?

We pay for the best for our politicians, even though many of us cannot afford the same coverage for our own families. Makes a joke out of the term "public SERVANTS" doesn't it?

[SalmonChantedEvening]

7. Happy Birthday President Ford

:toast:

[myrna minx]

8. Happy Birthday President Ford.

One of the last of the real Republicans.

[Botany]

9. Happy B Day .... Jerry

:party:


He did get unfair press the man was an All American center @ the U of Mich.
and was skiing expert slopes into his late 70s

Although I disagree w/ his politics he has class ..... true story his golden
retriever pooped on the floor in a room he was in an aid or secret service
agent went to clean it up ..... Ford stopped him and said, "That is something
and do not expect another man to do."

[edbermac]

11. The one good thing about Ford...

He's no George W Bush...though I can't help but think of Chevy Chase's imitation of him...

[Quixote1818]

14. HB President Ford

:patriot:

[Javaman]

17. No b-day wishes for that guy...

Pardoned the watergate thieves and was a member of that farce also know as the warren commission.

[cureautismnow]

34. Agreed. Sappy B-D for President Veto.

That bastard vetoed everything in sight that the Dem-controlled Congress through his way. In junior high, we'd joke that we'd better enjoy our summer vacation before Ford vetoes it!

He also contributed to the ultimate whitewash aka Warren Commission. Spector and he created the magical Single Bullet theory to promulgate their insidious fraud on the American public.

It was fortuitous for Ford that Bush-boy came along to equal his legacy of never having legitimately been elected as POTUS. Ford and Junior are two crooked and ignorant peas in a pod. :bronx cheer:

[oasis]

18. Ford's a good guy from back in the day when most Republicans were decent.

:toast:

[Hidden Stillness]

19. Both the Fords are Good People

Gerald Ford is a decent person, and apart from pardoning Nixon, which stopped the investigation and possible corrective measures, was actually a good, sometimes liberal, Republican, as many were back then--and Betty Ford was and is great. There was a huge Betty Ford craze during the '70s, for all her feminist opinions, and about birth control etc., and her honest admissions about her prescription drug problem, and Gerald Ford stood by her and was proud of her honesty and progress on it. They were decent people, moderate, not vicious--as Republicans never are anymore--and during Ford's very short term, Ford raised the minimum wage twice! A rare example of an honest Republican. Happy Birthday, and I wish there were some of them like that today--now they all just slash your throat.

[wryter2000]

21. Betty on Christmas Eve one year

Reporter: What would you like for Christmas, Mrs. Ford?

BF: I'd like world peace and for no child to have to go to bed hungry.

Reporter: What would the President like?

BF: A sweater.

[MN ChimpH8R]

22. Ford was a decent guy

Not to say I always agreed with him or voted for him, but I got over his pardon of Tricky Dick. Not gonna blame him for Cheney et al turning into the monsters they became since Ford's administration.

He was an old fashioned moderate Republican, and I wish we had a lot more like him now.

Happy birthday, President Ford. :toast:

[deadparrot]

23. Happy birthday, President Ford.

I wasn't around to see you in office, but I'm positive that having you as Commander-in-Chief would be vastly superior to what we currently have on our hands.

[Flying Dream Blues]

25. Happy Birthday, President Ford!

:party:

:toast:

[PsN2Wind]

27. Yes, Happy Birthday

Gerald Ford. Never elected to office in a national election. Given the VP job by Nixon after one crook resigned, assumed the presidency when another crook resigned. Pardoned that crook, lost the election and has enjoyed the perks, prestige and paydays of an ex president ever since, now going on thirty years. Talk about a "Golden Parachute"!!!!!!!!!!

[JackRiddler]

31. Hey, he earned all those perks

Back when he played along with the Magic Bullet as a member of the Warren Commission.

[kestrel91316]

29. Happy Birthday, Gerry!

I always did like Gerry Ford, way back when I was young and naive and in college. He would come to Colorado to ski, and we all thought that was pretty cool for a president.

That little matter of pardoning Nixon........well, I figured maybe it WAS the best thing to do at the time. I was not as politically savvy then as I am now.

Anyway, he is now quite old and he served his country more than many other Americans have. So he deserves out best wishes. He will not be around for folks to kick much longer, and I am sure his family loves him greatly. Give the old fool a break.

[leesa]

32. Screw him. He pardoned the Watergate crooks and set the stage for

making crime acceptable.

[seabeyond]

39. happy bday president Ford........

;)

[immoderate]

33. Happy Birthday, Mr. President,

Thanks for serving the USA:patriot:

--IMM

[readermostly]

35. Wishing you a great 92nd birthday, Mr. President.

[More Than A Feeling]

36. Happy Birthday, Mr. President

As a present, you should be made Speaker of the House for one day, in honor of the only ambition you ever had.

[GarySeven]

37. I met and interviewed Gerald Ford

I was a reporter in Augusta, Ga., when Ford came to play a few rounds at the National. I went to the airport to meet him and had no trouble whatsover getting an interview with him. He was very personable and answered all my questions (all about current politics) even though he was running late.

Yes, he pardoned Nixon but that actually was a favor for this country. Yes, he presided over a horrible economic meltdown that he flubbed. Yes, he "freed" Eastern Europe, fell down stairs, and, even worse, was a Republican. But he was a Republican in an era when Republicans were loyal and patriotic to the nation, not a bunch of gangster thugs. And he left ideology largely behind and tried to do what was best in an office he never sought and - very remarkably - was never elected to. I admire the man and I don't care what anyone says about it.

[Raiden]

38. Happy B-Day Gerry!!

One of the last decent Republicans and a good guy as far as I'm concerned

[yorgatron]

40. the legacy of Ford will be

willing stooge and accomplice for the Warren Commission.
willing stooge and accomplice for the Watergate Scandal.
clumsy oaf best portrayed by a smirking Chevy Chase.