Arkansas Blog

I have to say my respect for Ford was a bit tarnished by reading what bunghole buddies he was with R.M. Nixon.

After spending most of the morning reading all there was to read about Saddam at the NY Time site, it makes me wonder exactly how much different the US is from Iraq?

Jerry Ford hides his strong opinions until after his death? He stayed quiet while Bush 43 ignored 230 years of American tradition, history and wisdom by launching an attack on a dirty little Middle Eastern country. I thought the whole purpose of our form of government was to guard against one madman wrecking the world? Mr. Ford.....why did you play golf while Nero Bush fiddled away our honor and reputation?

Of course I'm glad to hear one more voice against Emperor Bush and his neo-con plans that are all aflame at this moment. But a good American would have wished he'd been headed off at the pass, before we arrived at our current mess. Preventing the wreck is much preferred to cleaning up the blood and bones afterwards.

How many will continue to be silent after the 1st of the year? Nothing anyone has said or done has moved the Bush administration off their path to destruction so far. Losing last November, the Baker Report.....nothing...has slowed George down on his trip to the bottom. Will the new Democratically controlled Congress have the balls to pull George out of the driver's seat?

After watching 6 full years of Bush-Cheney following their own rules, breaking laws right and left, why would we think they'll turn over a new leaf in 2007? Will they willingly give up power? Will they suddenly take the advice of others? Will they suddenly start obeying the law? Will they see the error of their ways? Are you high?

I suspect they'll take care of their opponents in an American version of the way Saddam got things done. As the masters of smear, expect a full on assault on their detractors. Expect the Nixonian view that if the President does it, it must be legal to be expanded to amazing proportions in the near future.

By the end of 2007 we may see the White House ringed with military weapons manned by a fraction of our Army still loyal to Bush.

We never think it can happen here. Yet a quick look at the Bush years shows incredible changes in the power of the Executive Branch, never before witnessed in American history.

Civil War 2 may be just around the next corner. And if that is what it takes to rescue our country from this rogue administration I'll gladly grab the Sweet 16 from the attic and haul my lumpy old body to duty. Let's roll!

PS Thanks Mr. Ford......but you're a little late.

At least Gerald Ford outed one of the most evil of all people, especially during the 70's and that is none other than Kissinger. Kisser was never even a naturalized citizen yet he held major power position in the U.S. Kisser engineered high oil prices as a matter of MidEast policy. He took his team to meet with OPEC and coach them.

Too little too late. And he lied...a big one too. He said he wouldn't pardon Nixon and he did. If he so loved his country above politics (as all the talking heads are pontificating about) why did pardoning Nixon take precedence over his own words and the 'good of the country'? Why did all his truths have to wait until his death? Basically he played golf while Iraq burned and our soldiers died.

The passing of time means more slaughter in Iraq. Every day brings more death/carnage. But Ford/Bush treat 'time' as if it's only meaning revolves around their precious legacies/agendas. I guess if Ford had eked out another 10 years his words on Iraq/Bush would've just had to wait. After all, ya got to wait for the right time to speak out against bad things. Republicanism, evidently, trumps country and personal ethics. He could have taken his words to his grave for all the sincerity I see in them.

Hell ya Kissinger was an arrogant, incompetent fool. Perhaps in another 30 years some one will admit that Cheney was drunk when he winged his lawyer. Or that Bush disappeared during his National Guard stint. Or that nobody but Rabid Republicans gave a damn that Clinton got a blow job. OR THAT BUSH/CHENEY LIED THEIR WAY THROUGH BUSH'S ENTIRE PRESIDENCY. Maybe.

When I read all the obits and eulogies of President Gerald R. Ford I am amazed.

One said ". . . America pulled out of the Vietnam War during Ford's term, although Ford would have preferred to see the war to its end. . . ."

Prior to Nixon's resignation (August 9, 1974) the Paris Peace Accords were signed on 27 January 1973. The Paris Peace Accords ended U.S. offensive actions, agreed to the withdrawal of all U.S. Personnel and exchange of prisoners of war. Ford did see the Vietnam War to it's end, as house minority leader under Nixon.

What many remember was that Ford was President when the final troops left Vietnam, but Nixon signed the peace accords while Ford was house minority leader. I remember because we stopped being deployed to Vietnam and started deploying to the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

A lot of others make the choice of Ford and the most Republican saving pardon in history into salve for a nation in a great nightmare. They forget that his pardon of Nixon just extended the Watergate cover-up and kept the full truth from being exposed to the general public. It was salve, but salve for a desperate Republican party nightmare.

The conservative Wall Street Journal had a more accurate view of Mr. Ford when it pronounced, "The nomination of Mr. Ford caters to all the worst instincts on Capitol Hill-the clubbiness that made him the choice of Congress, the partisanship that threatened a bruising fight if a prominent Republican presidential contender were named, the small-mindedness that thinks in terms of those who should be rewarded rather than who could best fill the job."

He was a good man and Republican, a president during a tough time in history. He would have probably been a good Speaker of the House (his real goal). I pray for his family, but let's stop revising and gilding history for a change.

I agree that Ford should have spoken out much sooner, and so should Bush One and Clinton.
Respect for the office is out the window when an complete moron occupies the office, and telling the truth is a hell of a lot more important, especially when thousands of people have been slaughtered and the slaughter continues.