Opinion of Gerald Ford...

[nickshepDEM]

The Nixon thread actually went pretty well, so lets do something similar for Gerald Ford.

The Ford administration saw the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam, the execution of the Helsinki Accords, and the continuing specter of inflation and recession.

[liberalitch]

1. Picked to pardon the president.....

otherwise..... an empty suit.

Helsinki Accords (which were never adequately observed by 80% of the signers) was a conference that was planned years in advance.
All they did was change the name of the seating chart from Nixon to Ford.

The only reason he got 45 minutes instead of 15 was: Warren Commission (Ford always counted on to merely nod), Pardoning Nixon and being imitated by Chevy Chase in a spectacular way.

[BobRossi]

2. A tool...

The convenient fool. Nothing more.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. An adequate caretaker

Those words were used to describe him when he was selected as Vice President. I was all for him, thinking he would be a breath of fresh air, until he pardoned Nixon. Then I realized it was back to the same old same old.

[happyslug]

4. LBJ's Comment on him "Played to much Football without a Helmet"

Can not find the exact quote but I have heard the statement attributed to LBJ in regard to Gerald Ford. Basically LBJ did not think much of Ford's intellect, through respected him as a good person.

[Red Zelda]

5. A dumb jock

a political nobody

[Joey Liberal]

6. He's a republican. Enough said. n/t

[Zorro]

7. Dork

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Dumb as a stump.

Likable idiot appointed to pardon nixon.

We got out of Vietnam because the Democratic congress stood up and cut the funding, which is also the only way we are going to get out of Iraq.

Edit: oh and nixon was a murderous war criminal. He was only a liberal in the sense that Republicans had to play along with FDR's legacy in order to avoid Goldwater like disasters. The reason Nixon had to get a carte blanche pardon was that his crimes both foreign and domestic were huge.

[LeftishBrit]

9. None too bright; but MUCH better than Reagan

At least he appointed a liberal to the Supreme Court, and didn't spend his entire time trying to push the country and the world to the right.

His wife might have made a better president, however.

[SaveElmer]

10. A decent man in an impossible position...put a plug in for Betty Ford...

Still a Republican but essentially honest...did his best as he saw it...

Betty Ford is a very admirable person in my book...

[Vidar]

11. I think he tried to be good.

[election_2004]

12. More reasonable than Reagan, GHWB, or GWB

Not to mention he's far more respectable than the rest of the current GOP congressional "leadership."

[MasonJar]

13. Wasn't killed by Manson broad, Froomkie (sp) and played a

great game of golf, so I hear.

[lumberjack_jeff]

17. Squeaky Fromme. n/t

[jmowreader]

14. He was just what the country needed at the time

It is impossible to overstate just how corrupt Richard Nixon actually was. We have had more corrupt presidents (the last three Republican presidents, for instance), but most of them at least attempted to hide their black and evil ways. Nixon had this certain air of self-confidence in his wickedness--it was almost like he was DARING them to throw him in jail.

After six years of the most gleefully corrupt president our country may ever witness, Ford was like a breath of fresh air. He was very honest. Two years of Ford plus four years of Carter gave the country six years to recover from the madness that was Nixon. (And then we got into REAL madness with Reagan and Bush 41; that's a story for another time.)

Ford's only unspeakable act? Choosing Donald Rumsfeld as his secretary of defense.

[Imagevision]

15. Picked to infiltrate/participate in JFK - Warren Commission Findings (stooge)

[mitchum]

16. A tool and a stooge for J Edgar Hoover

[bemildred]

18. Amiable stooge. Could have done a lot worse, and mostly we have. nt

[Jack Rabbit]

19. Perhaps the best president between the Vietnam era and Clinton

Mainly because he wasn't president long enough to do aa much damage as the others.

Although I disagreed with almost everything he said or did, I never felt any animosity toward Ford himself.

[cobaindrain]

20. We would've been better off if he was re elected in 1976

Ford was a nobody, kind of dim, people don't have a strong opinion of him either way.

But if he's re elected in 76 (and almost was) than the GOP take the brunt of the malaise years, and when he tried for re election in 80, Democrats would've been swept into office and held the presidency for two terms EASY!

There is NO REAGAN if ford is re elected.

[Hippo_Tron]

22. My scenario involves Desert One being successful

Reagan could've emerged at a later date had Ford bee re-elected. If Carter had defeated Reagan in 1980 the "conservative" wing of the GOP would've looked nuts and would've been rejected as nuts.

[Jack Rabbit]

23. Ford would not have been eligible to run in 1980

He served more than half of Nixon's unexpired term.

[mtnsnake]

21. A decent guy, and he was great for SNL skits and other late night comedy

the way he'd fall down airplane steps and other places, too. lol

[Blue_In_AK]

24. I have to admit I voted for Gerald Ford in 1976

but I really like his wife best.

[Botany]

25. I disagreed with him but much has been said about him that is wrong

1. Clumsy .... yes he tripped in public but was an all american center
@ the U of M. also skied "black diamond" expert runs into his late 70s
2. Dumb ..... Went through the U of M towards the top of his class ....
Went to Yale on a partial Academic Scholarship .... where he was an
assistant football coach.
3. Republican = evil ..... his Dog shit on the carpet when he was President
an aid or a secret service person went to clean it up ... Ford stopped 'em
and said, "I expect nobody to do that for me." And cleaned it up himself.
4. The Nixon Pardon ..... Watergate and Nixon was taking up over 50 %
of his time ..... Ford said, "Screw it" and pardoned Nixon. (BTW yes i am
sure there was a "deal too.")

[beth9999]

26. He was a Repug...

... and therefore by definiton was a snake, liar, thief and slime. The only good that you can say about him is that he didn't steal an election to become president (although he probably tried to steal the 1976 election away from Carter).