SteveThe Owl Posted December 27, 2006 Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 Geez... first James Brown, now this. WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. President Gerald Ford, who was swept into office after the Watergate scandal and later pardoned Richard Nixon, died at age 93, according to a statement from his widow on Tuesday. "My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, has passed away at 93 years of age," Bette Ford said in a statement."His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."Her statement was released by the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, where Ford has been treated.A former Republican congressman, Ford took office vowing "our long national nightmare is over." He served for 2 1/2 years with a style often mocked as bumbling until he lost the 1976 presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. What a crappy week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chameleon Posted December 27, 2006 Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 He pardoned Nixon. Huge gaff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottieking Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 Do you like.....nachos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 Well, why don't you come over and watch the game and we'll have nachos, and then some beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 Pity this comment had to have been held off till "later". Still, good thing it's now out there. Ford on Iraq: "I don't think I would have gone to war" Last Updated: Thursday, December 28, 2006 | 6:44 AM ETThe Associated PressFormer U.S. president Gerald Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified, the Washington Post reported a day after his death.Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously, the Post's Bob Woodward wrote.The story initially was posted on the newspaper's internet site Wednesday night, about 24 hours after Ford died at the age of 93."I don't think I would have gone to war," Ford told Woodward a little more than a year after President George W. Bush launched the invasion.In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice-President Dick Cheney — who was Ford's White House chief of staff in the mid-1970s — and Bush's defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his secretary of defence.Rumsfeld resigned in November after his performance as defence secretary was blamed in part for Republican losses in the U.S. mid-term elections."Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction," Ford said in the interview."And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do."Woodward wrote that the interview took place for a future book project, though the former president said his comments could be published at any time after his death.Famous phrase was vetted by wifeIn another interview released after his death, Ford told CBS News in 1984 that he initially was against using the phrase "long national nightmare" in his first speech as president following Richard Nixon's resignation, concerned that it was too harsh.Ford said he reconsidered and sought his wife Betty's advice."After thinking about it and talking to Betty about it, we decided to leave it in and, boy, in retrospect, I'm awfully glad we did," he said.After Nixon stepped down over the Watergate scandal to avoid being impeached, Ford became the 38th president of the United States on Aug. 9, 1974. He had been Nixon's vice-president."I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers," he said as he took office. Ford went on to say: "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.… As we bind up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the golden rule to our political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timouse Posted December 31, 2006 Report Share Posted December 31, 2006 Geez... first James Brown, now this. WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. President Gerald Ford, who was swept into office after the Watergate scandal and later pardoned Richard Nixon, died at age 93, according to a statement from his widow on Tuesday. "My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, has passed away at 93 years of age," Bette Ford said in a statement."His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."Her statement was released by the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, where Ford has been treated.A former Republican congressman, Ford took office vowing "our long national nightmare is over." He served for 2 1/2 years with a style often mocked as bumbling until he lost the 1976 presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. What a crappy week. indeed. the very funky and the very unfunky both died within days of one another...this could fundamentally destabilize space/time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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