Ford set an awful precedent...and wasn't really very effective otherwise

[fujiyama]

I'll start off by saying I have no ill will toward Gerald Ford...either his presidency (and what I know of it), or the man (who by all accounts really sounded decent unlike most modern repukes). I give my condolences to his family.

Sure, he gave two lunatics their start in politics, but at the time, I doubt anyone could have guessed the sort of policies Rummy and Cheney would enact years down the road.

However, I don't understand the need for people to idealize men when they die.

The pardon of Nixon was in my opinion, one of the worst precedents that has been set in the last thirty years. It destroys even the appearance of equal justice. The normal judicial process was subverted. Nixon should have been treated as any other man - with an indictment, a trial, and sentence. It would have been an incredibly powerful image for the world at the time as well - after a time when the US was recovering from Vietnam, it would have shown the world that no one in this nation of laws is above it.

The precedent stays with us. Pardons will now be common for any president forced to resign or step down. If Bush resigns, Cheney pardons. It will be seen as a move to "heal" the nation.

What healing was there after Ford's actions? The US economy continued downward, eventually ending Carter's presidency and bringing about Reagan's awful policies. And Ford, simply continued (as Carter, Reagan and Bush Sr did), appalling cold war policies responsible for thousands of deaths abroad through support of reprehensible regimes.

I'm sure Ford had positive traits. And he didn't have the mean spiritedness that infected repukes after word.

But he wasn't perfect...and I think it's time for some candor and real reflection. I think that's why people come to DU. We get enough sappy idolization from the mainstream media.

[acmavm]

1. The pardons go right to the heart of the matter. Do you think that

Gerald Ford would have ever become president if there hadn't been an agreement prior to the whole Nixon resignation fiasco? And that agreement was to let a criminal administration walk off scott free after violating the laws of this country, the Constitution, and any rules of decency that a public servant is supposed to uphold and abide by. Ford was willing to allow a horrible precedent be set just so he could claim that he was the president.

We are living with that mess right down to that day. The same criminals breaking the every law in the book.

Think what you want about Ford. He was the non-president for a reason. To allow a whole shitload of criminals to escape punishment. And now they're back.