Say Anything Blog

It’s not really fair to get after Ford for not having much of a legacy.  For one thing, history didn’t deal him a very good hand.  For another, he never really wanted to be President.  What he really wanted was to be Speaker of the House.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Perhaps if Americans could have predicted Jimmy Carter would be such a lousy, incompetent idiot the election would have gone differently???

Not surprisingly, the very best appreciation yet offered of President Gerald Ford is from Peggy Noonan.

One of the greatest things about Gerald Ford as a former president was that he didn’t say much. He had no need for the spotlight. He was modest in the old-fashioned way of stepping aside and not getting in the way of the new guy.

He kept a lot to himself. This was in part because he had a self to leave it to.

It must have taken some effort. The man who replaced him, Jimmy Carter, was a kind of non-Ford, offering personal goodness as his main calling card. He carried his own garment bag. He was not imperial. He was awfully proud of his humility…

He was a good man, and that’s not nothing--it’s something. Gerald Ford fought for his country. He didn’t indulge his angers and appetites. He seems to have thought, in the end, that such indulgence was for sissies--it wasn’t manly. He was sober-minded, solid, respecting and deserving of respect. And at that terrible time, after Watergate, he picked up the pieces and then threw himself on the grenade.

We were lucky to have him. We were really lucky to have him. Rest in peace.

Read the whole thing.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Americans really liked him at first. The moment he pardoned Nixon was when the honeymoon was over…

Zsa Zsa,

True enough.  But as Noonan and other rational commentators have noted, in retrospect the pardon of Nixon was the right thing to do.

Bear that in mind the next time some liberal hate-monger tries to buttress a pitiful argument by telling us what “the American people” or “the rest of the world” think about an issue at that particular moment in time.

More often than not, leadership consists in doing not what is popular, but that which is right.  Our founding Fathers certainly understood this, which is why they bequeathed us with a republic, not a democracy.  Gerald Ford understood this.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

I remember from 1976 that only 5000 voters would have had to change their minds (split among 3 states) for Ford to have won. 

That’s remarkable considering the times. 

Carter was NEVER popular among anyone except for the press.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

I was too young to vote for Gerald Ford. BUT in my economics class at school I did. I was one out of maybe 20 who voted for him in our mock election. My teacher really picked on me that day because I was the only one who voted for him…

OK Fine!

Carter was never popular among anyone except for the press and Zsa Zsa’s economics class.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

Whistle...You must keep in mind Carters own cabinet members after he held office reported they did not vote for Carter either!… “Carter Sucks” bumper stickers were quite popular too.

How about your economics class?

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

AFTER Jimma had held office! ... My economics class was at a boarding school in Arizona. It was a good thing they were too young to really vote! ... My grandfather was a big Democrat until Jimmy Carter changed his mind. He voted for him the first time. BUT not the second time. I guess we have Jimmy Carter to thank for making my Grandfather into a Republican???

Whistle… Many of the people I went to school with were from California and New York. So as you can see the majority were liberal. Although, Michael Reagan went to my school. Not the same years. BUT as you can see he would have been a wonderful asset to my economic class.