President Gerald Ford Dead 26 Dec 2006

My mother and probably yours admonished that if you can't say something nice about someone don't say anything at all.
I watched the coverage last night following the announcement of President Ford's passing on Fox, MSNBC and CNN.
There are two Televisions in the room.
Fox's coverage was more interesting and more revisionist than the other two but I left it on one set and flipped back and forth between CNN & MSNBC on the other. MSNBC and CNN mostly ran old news and interview footage, Fox had talking heads spouting opinions not even remembrances.

Some of the readers here are too young to remember any of the details of President Ford coming to office, Vice President and then President.
I'm not too young and I'll get the something good out of the way because there is good.
President Ford was a good man, a veteran, and a man who devoted a huge part of his life to what he believed in and ended up catching a negative public image for doing it.
He knew the personal costs (and rewards) for his choices and accepted them.

Now back to what I remember that isn't so nice.
Gerald Ford was not a remarkable man as an individual, he knew that and surrounded himself with what he thought were bright people (who turn out as we know now not to be good people).
He was finally chosen to take the place of elected vice President Spiro Agnew after he was caught out for bribery and tax fraud.
It was as I remember a very difficult thing because the White House was under extreme pressure for the Watergate break in and investigation and it's obstruction of justice in Congressional investigation.
There were a great many men who were asked to take the position and all of them refused, until they finally got to Gerald Ford House minority Leader.
Congress could put him in and Ford knew that at his age and the generally centrist road he'd walked meant that after Nixon, there wasn't going to be a newly elected Republican candidate in 1976, certainly not Him.
He took the position, made a number of middle of the road poor decisions as President oversaw the evacuation of Saigon, gave away the Panama Canal, and of course pardoned President Nixon for any and all crimes he "may" have committed and open the office to Jimmy Carter, another good man that made mistakes.

One last good thing about "Ford", he was the last Republican President, elected or unelected to put a Presidental face on conservation with his "Win" pledge and buttons, something that I laughed about at the time, but signed and still observe to this day.
Conservation, something that has become a very unconservative value, something ridiculed as "Liberal".

Thanks Gerry and condolences to your family and friends you were a good, typical American.
Now you've got the biggest golf course in creation to play on.