Why isn't President Ford's death on the front page?

[Mortos]

I know he was a Republican and he pardoned Nixon. But he was a former president and, according to Jimmy Carter, a decent human being.

His death is front page news everywhere including popular democratic and liberal sites.

Not putting his death on the front page of DU makes us look petty, in my opinion.

Just my 2 cents.

[Mortos]

1. I guess no one cares if this site looks petty

50 views and no comments.

I digress.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. First, It Belabors The Obvious

Secondly, petty to whom?
The Professor

[Mortos]

11. So reporting any national news, using your logic would

"belabor the obvious". In my opinion it makes the entire DU community look petty for not giving his death a prominent place on the home page. He was the longest lived President. He was one of only 4 living ex-presidents. His death is newsworthy.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. This Isn't A News Site

This is a political forum for progressives. It's primary functions are the discussion forums and the journals. If you want hard news, go to MSNBC, or ABC, or the NYT or WaPo sites.

The front page of this site is for those things DU readers, mods and admins decide are interesting and highly discussed topics. It's not meant to be for headline news. It never has.

And, as to the second part of your ansewr, i asked "Petty To Whom?" not "Who looks petty?" To whom would we look petty? You keep saying we look petty. Again, i'll ask: To whom?
The Professor

[Mortos]

20. I think it makes DU look petty

and so would most casual readers and members who put decency before partisan politics. I think several posters here agree with me and there are many more posts on Ford, on which you have also attacked the posters as "dense" and "obtuse".

You seem to have a problem with common decency and, further, with those who practice it.

I asked this in another post, are you really a college professor?

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Answers

You're still not answering "to whom?" To WHOM are you worried it looks petty. You keep saying DU looks petty. I know who you think looks petty. I'm asking for the 4th time, TO WHOM?

Secondly, if someone is being obtuse or dense, then i'll call them as i see them.

Thirdly, i'm not even a democrat, so partisan politics have nothing to do with it. I think Ford was a very bad man. I thought on December 24th he was a bad man. His dying doesn't change my opinion. You would seem to be saying that it's ok to not like someone as long as my timing is correct. That lacks any sense of logic. I didn't care for him or about him when he was alive. Why should his death change that opinion?

Fourthly, my objection on that other thread was over the nonensical lecturing about how everybody else should be acting. If you want to participate in the hagiography go ahead. If you want to pretend to not know about the poor job he did as president until some arbitrary time period goes by, go ahead. Just don't lecture me as to how i should behave. I haven't liked Ford for more than 30 years. I'm not going to pretend otherwise after all this time. So, i don't have a problem with common decency. I have a problem with pompous jerks preaching to others.

Fifthly, (if there is such an adverb), i have said not one mean thing about Ford, other than that i believed (just speculatively) that he took a deal to become president upon Nixon's resignation as long as he pardoned everyone. There is nothing inherently mean in that statement. I've believed it for 3 decades. So, show me where i wasn't displaying decency toward the deceased. All i said was i didn't trust him. And that happens to be the truth.

Lastly, for someone preaching common decency, your last question shows you to be a hypocrite. It is clearly intended to cast aspersions on my veracity, which would not be the commonly decent thing to do. So, if you're worried about common decency, it sure doesn't show. But, yes, i taught in three different fields (quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, and later econometric analysis and modeling) for nearly a quarter of a century. Now i do it part time. How that has a single thing to do with this topic is quite the mystery. Talk about being apropos of nothing.
The Professor

[Mortos]

22. What is the hottest topic on DU right now Proffesor?

Look at the hottest threads and most commented on, it is the death of Gerald Ford and debates about his decency and presidency. If that does not indicate the worthiness for home page status, then what does?

It seems he is left off, merely because he was a republican. If that is the case, it is a petty reason in my opinion.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Then I Think You're Wrong

It's a hot topic within the Discussion Forums. Like i said, that is the raison d'etre of DU. It's not a news site. So, headlines on the front page are not intended to show what the main news of the day might be. Besides, the admins might be gone for the holiday, so who would be there to do it? You volunteering?

The Professor

[Bobbieo]

32. Full front page, 2nd coming headlines in the AZ Republic

Small item about Saddam Hussein on lower right corner.

[shain from kane]

2. Why bother? Everybody knows it.

"Now he's gone
Lord he's gone
Like a steam locomotive
rolling down the track
He's gone
He's gone
and nothin's gonna bring him back
He's gone...."

[wryter2000]

3. I have to agree

It would be nice to see a mention on the home page.

[Kajsa]

9. I agree.

At least acknowledging his death
would be the decent thing to do.

Btw- I hate the mean sh*t that has
already sprouted on the board.

Gimme a friggin break, the man
just died!!

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. So tearing into him yesterday, for pardoning Nixon, for the

Warren Commission coverup, for selecting Cheney as his Chief of Staff and Rummy as Asst Scty of Defense, establishing them in the executive branch of government was OK, but today it's not?

WTF?

[Kajsa]

34. If you don't see the difference

between tearing into someone who is alive
and someone who just died, less than one day later---

then I sure as hell can't explain it.

Btw,
I never saw the thread you mentioned, never said it was OK,
so stop putting words in my mouth and back off!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. I just did a quick walk downtown

doing errands, and NO flag is as of yet at half staff....I find this odd, especially in a town that is majority Republican.

[YOY]

23. DC Near North Capital St...there are plenty at half mast

n/t

[onenote]

24. looking out my DC office window: every flag is at half staff

I can see a half dozen flags from my office window, and every one is at half mast. And I just came back from a meeting across town and every flag I passed was at half mast.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

28. That's why I thought it was unusual

maybe they haven't heard the news yet here.

[question everything]

I think that Bush had to officially issue the directive

to lower the flags for 30 days and he's done it in the past two hours, or so.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

33. Ah!

That explains it! When I'm out and about again, I bet the flags will be lowered.

[theguvnorgc]

6. Ummm.....

What front pages are YOU looking at?

[Mortos]

10. The DU home page

What front page did you think I meant.

[ronnykmarshall]

7. FREEPER! FREEPER! FREEPER!

:sarcasm:

[Mortos]

12. Ya got me.

Guess it is back to freerepublic and rush limbaugh for me.

[michaz]

8. I was wondering

the same thing.

[pitohui]

13. because guess what, nobody cares

the world would have been a better place if gerald ford had never lived

he put cheney in position to be where cheney is today

what more do you need to know? he got old, he died, he was a weak man who let himself be a tool of evil and left behind a terrible legacy

[Mortos]

14. I guess Jimmy Carter is a "tool" as well

You know there are some real class problems with some people here. Some members here sound more like freerepublic goons everyday.

Jimmy Carter said Ford was, "one of the most admirable public servants and human beings" he has ever known. What a gullible twit Carter must be. You need to fire off an angry email and tell Mr. Carter what an idiot he is for saying nice things about a fellow human being who died at the age of 93.

Hey, here is an idea, let's all go to Ford's viewing and spit in his coffin. :sarcasm:

[wryter2000]

17. Who woulda thought?

Jimmy Carter's a freeper. Dang, and I voted for the guy. :sarcasm:

[Mortos]

18. I was too young but I would have

I wonder which corporation is getting all the kickbacks from those habitat for humanity houses he keeps pushing?

[pitohui]

19. jimmy carter is a public figure and has to talk nice abt the man he ran out of public office

you will notice that jimmy carter didn't think ford a sufficiently great guy that he allowed him to run for president un-opposed or anything

if you think, in his heart of hearts, carter thinks ford was anything but a drunk old fool, then you are pretty naive

it's part of the job of politician to be tactful

however as i'm not a politician i will just be honest

[pitohui]

21. there are certainly some class problems here

most southern people who are above about age 8 have been taught the value of the white lie

carter is not free to say what he really thinks of ford because of his position in public life

if you don't understand this, then not understanding jimmy carter's remarks is the least of your problems

[verse18]

25. Was Reagan's death on the front page of DU?

I wasn't here at the time.


on edit: Meant to reply to OP.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. Were The Admins Here?

As i recall, the admins were around when Reagan died, because it wasn't the holidays. For the front page to be updated, i would think one of the admins would have to be here to do it, and they just might be spending time with their families.

I don't however, remember whether he was on the home page or not. But, if he had been, it could be because someone was available to do it.
The Professor

[RaleighNCDUer]

31. His death wasn't. But his immediate deification was. nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

29. Carter is a diplomat.

Thank god, here we don't have to be diplomatic. We can say what Carter cannot - that * is a direct result of Ford's presidency. He made Poppy head of the CIA, which made him a public enough figure to make him VP under Reagan. He brought Cheney and Rummy into the highest circles of government.

Ford was no dupe nor dummy. He was the most powerful republican in the senate, a republican LBJ if you will, when he was appointed VP, and his eyes were wide open when he was given that opportunity on the promise to pardon the Nixon criminals.

If Carter is not able to say so, we are not under those social constrictions. We can tell it like it is.