To commemorate the passing of Gerald Ford, here’s a repost of my favorite political ad of all time :
And while we’re talking about Ford’s legacy, let me echo what Atrios said :
As we all know, because everybody on the teevee will keep repeating it, Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon was perhaps the wisest and awesomest thing anyone has ever done in the history of presidenting. Never mind that it wasn’t popular at the time. Never mind that it set an awful precedent which led to the pardoning of the Iran Contra figures and transformed corrupt Nixonites into distinguished elder statesmen and Bush administration officials.
We are told again and again that what they nation needed was “to heal.” That “the turmoil” needed to be over. That it was necessary to move on.
Ford’s presidency began by pardoning a criminal scumbag. It wasn’t “closure”, it was driving the getaway car. And while it may be impolite to point out Ford’s complicity in this shameful nadir in our nation’s history, it could be worse. When Bill Clinton dies, every obituary will contain the name “Lewinsky”.