Gerald Ford, Unsentimentally - The Progrssive editorial

[Democrat 4 Ever]

Gerald Ford, Unsentimentally
By Matthew Rothschild
December 27, 2006

Sorry, but I refuse to let my tear ducts open over the death of Gerald Ford.

There’s something profoundly undemocratic and vaguely medieval about the almost mandatory salutes that we, the people, are supposed to offer when a former President dies.

The niceties of custom all too often reinforce the habits of blind obedience to the unworthy wielders of power.

Say no ill of the dead, we are told.

Hogwash. Let’s look at Gerald Ford’s record.

The first thing he did was to pardon Richard Nixon, even though ten days previously he had said that the special prosecutor should proceed against “any and all individuals” and a year before, he averred that “I do not think the public would stand for it.”

The pardon short-circuited the necessary prosecution of Nixon, which would have served as a salutary check on future inhabitants of the Oval Office. Instead, the pardon set a precedent for such flagrant lawbreakers as we have in the White House today.

If impeachment of Bush and Cheney may be just a remote possibility, prosecution and incarceration remain inconceivable. And so Bush and Cheney, thanks to Ford, can float comfortably above the law.

On domestic policy, Ford was a standard issue Republican, vetoing social spending bills, cutting food stamps and housing and education programs, infamously denying aid to New York City while all the while boosting Pentagon spending. And, in a move Bush and Cheney would have applauded, he proposed the nation’s first official secrets act to provide criminal penalties for the unauthorized disclosure of classified material.

On foreign policy, Ford was damnable.

He fronted for Pinochet in Chile, and kept aid flowing to that vicious strongman.

And on December 6, 1975, Ford and Henry Kissinger flew to Jakarta to meet with dictator Suharto and to give him a green light to invade East Timor.

According to a declassified State Department cable, here was part of their conversation.

Suharto to Ford and Kissinger: “We want your understanding if we deem it necessary to take rapid or drastic action.”

Ford: “We will understand and will not press you on the issue. We understand the problem you have and the intentions you have.”

Kissinger: “We understand your problem and the need to move quickly, but I am only saying that it would be better if it were done after we returned.”

Ford and Kissinger returned to the United States, and Suharto launched his invasion hours later.

Suharto’s invasion and occupation cost the lives of 200,000 Timorese.

But never mind. We’re not supposed to remember those things. Just that Gerry Ford was such a nice guy.

http://progressive.org/node/4358

[Solon]

1. Don't expect any of the so called "Ford fans" to respond to this...

if they do, I'll be greatly surprised, but hell, as far as I know, given WHO has been defending the guy, they probably LIKED folks like Nixon, Pinochet, and Suharto.

[Moochy]

3. One of the Ford Fans said today....

Today there was a poster who said they liked Ford more than Carter, and that they wished they could take back their vote for Carter. :eyes:

[Solon]

5. I saw that post, I didn't respond to it, cause my response would have been deleted...

Let's just say I don't think they bat for our team, and leave it at that.

[hfojvt]

28. actually I have no problem with the editorial

at least the snip in the OP. I do wonder if it is only gonna be negative, negative, negative though. Is there nothing positive to say about Ford?

The difference between the editorial and some of the Ford bashing on DU is one of substance. It is more than three lines, one incident (like the pardon, or the Warren commission (which apparently should have been called the Ford commission, since he ran it)) followed by scatalogical expletives and name-calling.

[ikojo]

2. You go Matthew!!!

Woo hoo!!! I hope Matthew is around to deliver such a eulogy for Poppy!

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MichiganVote]

6. As I recall NY blew its own budget all to hell then wanted a no strings hand out

Ford said they had to have a plan, NY pissed and moaned and then gave in when it was clear Ford wasn't just going to hand over more money for the state to blow.

[originalpckelly]

7. I'm sick of this shit. It's called respect and manners.

You ought to be ashamed. We didn't even have to discuss this if people don't like him much. It's so sad to see people so brutal, so cruel, so vicious, especially people who claim to be progressives. You sound like a bunch of fascist pigs. No one in America should take joy in the death of an American President. It's the most fucked up thing I've ever seen.

[Solon]

8. Respect has to be earned, and manners only belong to those who respond in kind...

Ford deserves neither, period.

One of Ford's "Friends" died recently too, and we didn't show him any respect either, yet here we are being admonished for our rightful anger and criticism of the Ford Presidency, why is that?

[ikojo]

9. Because he was a "murkan"

[Solon]

10. eh, being a "murkan" is nothing special...

Hell there are probably going to be some folks on this very board that will take offense at that statement. For some reason, most Americans believe they are some type of "Nobility" that are "bred better" than everyone else. I say this as an American, I remember, a while ago, some member on this board bitching about foreigners insulting our current pResident, saying it wasn't their place. All I said was, since they are subject to HIS foreign policy, a position I do NOT envy, let me tell you, that they have not only a right, but an obligation to knock him down a peg.

[Moochy]

13. Nationalism is still a poison

Even if it's not cool to say it. :)

[MichiganVote]

14. I can't speak for those who you feel have admonished you for your anger

or for your criticisms of Gerald Ford, you're entitled to your opinions however you arrive at them. Yet, while Ford may not have met your expectations, he did achieve a measure of respect among others for a variety of reasons. Whether or not the respect was deserved appears to be the issue that crops up over and over in the posts that I have read both pro and con Gerald Ford.

A message board is a poor excuse for the determined dialogue that Americans had then or even want to have now. Personally, I don't mind the anger so much as the way it is expressed. Meaning, when anger is expressed as hatred, I suspect that the expression is less one of outrage and more about personal pain.

I lived through the Nam days, the Nixon days, the Ford days. And one thing I know is that hardly anyone had "good" choices then. I am grateful that altho' today's "Nixon" is one bad, bad, apple...we do still have choices that many of us did not have in the old days.

[Solon]

15. I hate injustice, allowing Nixon to retain his freedom, if not his job, was an injustice...

and a bad precedent to set as well. Thanks to Ford's actions, impeachment is pretty much a toothless provision of the Constitution. Let's not kid ourselves, we haven't upheld the rule of law, nor have we had real accountability in the Executive branch since Nixon.

[MichiganVote]

18. Not meaning to minimize but haven't bad precedents been set

since the beginning of this nation? As to impeachment...it was Nixon's resignation that was inevitable b/c party leaders were sure of his impeachment. Nixon knew it too. I doubt Clinton found impeachment to be a toothless tiger. Keep a few things in mind regardless...Nixon wanted John Connolly or Nelsen Rockefeller to be his VP even b/f Ford. Ford himself went through very, very tough confirmation hearings during which any sign of a skeleton was searched for. Lawmakers were at least trying to be sure the American public was not provided with another crook.

[Solon]

20. Problem is that AFTER his resignation, why was Nixon left off the hook?

If it was some poor sap, i.e. a NORMAL citizen who committed the same crimes, or similar enough, they would spend upwards of 10 years in prison. Basically, this means that the law only applies to normal folks, not the President.

[MichiganVote]

21. Maybe. But that's assuming that Ford broke the law. He did not.

It was/is permissable for a president to pardon someone prior to indictment or trial. Watch Bush do it for Libby. In any case, the case against Nixon would have been on conspiracy charges and I have no idea what the outcome of that would have been. As I said, its all water under the bridge....one thing that Ford did do that Bush never would do is voluntarily respond to the assertions that he and Nixon had scored a deal. Ford attended congressional hearings to answer questions without having been summoned.

[Solon]

22. Ford may not have done anything illegal, but ethically, it was questionable, at the very least.

Also, this reminds me, Bush the Elder pardoned some of the Iran-Contra folks, some were even convicted of their crimes, that was, again, unethical, even though it wasn't illegal for him to do.

[MichiganVote]

23. According to his beliefs, the times and what he wanted to do,

I think Gerald Ford thought his actions were ethical. Who can argue with that? Well just about everyone it seems. There may be suspicion that Ford was arrogant, evil or kissing the ass of his party but I haven't read any evidence of that. People have their opinions, but most don't seem to rest on fact. Its curious to see all the unrest with Ford and his choice when it was Nixon who was involved in the law breaking.

[Solon]

24. So his moral compass was off...

What he did was wrong, period, I can't believe we are even discussing this, yes Nixon did the law breaking, but he never PAID FOR IT, BECAUSE OF FORD!

[hfojvt]

27. I'm kinda surprised that progressives would be such firm believers

in the Prison Industrial Complex. Sending people to prison, apparently, is good for society. As long as they are people we hate.

Ford would say, and I would agree, that if Nixon had been prosecuted our country would have paid for it. All the time, energy, money, and attention going to the trial of the century instead of working on our country's real problems. Somehow, you think we would not have all these problems if only Nixon had done a few years in a federal penitentiary.

In fact, the entire demonization of Nixon seems kinda misplaced. "The elimination of Mr. Richard Nixon leaves intact all the mechanisms and all the false values which permitted the Watergate scandal." I think that was quoted in "The People's History of the US." Sending Nixon to jail would not solve any political problem or any economic problem, it would not prevent future crimes from Nixon or other politicians. It is only an act of vengeance on a political opponent.

[Solon]

29. Look, I get it, the President is above the law...

I give up, have it your way, just don't bitch about Bush's illegal actions anymore.

[David__77]

11. It's not about "joy," it's about truth. There's no honor in a whitewash.

Simply "being an American president" does not command any sort of respect or honor. In fact, it largely should command suspicion at the very least. Ford was guilty of some serious offenses, and any honest biography should account for these. We are not "one nation" any more.

[niyad]

25. since when are you sick of the truth? this is a really surprising post coming from you, and I, for

one, am extremely disappointed to see it.

I was sick over the fawning done over nixon-- the "elder statesman" and all that crap, when HE died. one of my friends, a high school history teacher, was reprimanded for reminding his students of the watergate hearings.

I don't give a fig about "don't speak ill of the dead" nonsense. if there is something that needs to be said, I go along with alice roosevelt longworth, who was reported to have said, "if you haven't got anything nice to say, come and sit by me."

[fishwax]

26. which parts of the editorial quoted in the OP are brutal, cruel and vicious?

Must we simply refrain from saying anything remotely negative about the man now that he's dead? Is it off limits to discuss any of the negative impact of the decisions he made? Or is there something in the tone of the OP that you find particularly offensive? I don't get it. The OP strikes me as a pretty reasoned (if, as advertised, unsentimental) assessment of the man's record. One might disagree with the assessment, I suppose, but I just don't see how it's brutal or cruel or vicious or fascist.

[Raster]

12. Ford was a tool and a fool.

His actions are partially to blame for the mess we are in now.

And I get very, very tired of the Mother Superior crowd pontificating about how we shouldn't disparage the man simply because he is dead. He was NOT A DECENT HUMAN BEING. He was nixon's escape route and an accomplice to treason. This country is NOT BETTER for his interdiction.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Moochy]

17. Mike Malloy is talking about this right now n/t

[Annces]

19. thanks for posting this

It seems like some people are under the influence of the authoritarian mindset that has been written about on DU, where you do not disparage the authorities, as if they are stand ins for our parents or something. However I think even parents should be looked at with as much clarity as you can attain, it is necessary for living consciously.

Yes Ford died. But this brings him into the middle of our discussions, and this is a political discussion board.