There are apparently no depths that slaves to the present-day GOP and George W. Bush will not sink in trying to defend the indefensible.
The enormously inconvenient truth of a former Republican President speaking out against the monstrous folly of Iraq has caused some alarm. After all Gerald Ford needed to be praised for his vision and courage in pardoning Nixon - an Emperor's New Cloak revisionism that has inexplicably become conventional wisdom.
Having been given a hero's State Funeral Tour - multiple services... multiple eulogies - there is still that messy little business of the last deposit he left on Bob Woodward's tape recorder in June 2004 about Iraq.
(Off-topic for a moment. I'm guessing that Bob Woodward makes more than minimum wage. Possibly over $10 an hour. How then was it possible in 2004 that his Gerald Ford interview was recorded on what seems to have been recycled road gravel? Even Nixon's 1973 Watergate tapes sound better than that! Al Jolson's 1920s canon has greater clarity! Someone at the Washington Post should buy Bob one of those personal mini-recorders - perfect for forgetful housewives on supermarket sprees, replaying complex travel directions and for journeymen reporters recording denunciations of Bush policies by GOP grandees. Only $19.99. S&H extra. Microwave and dishwasher safe. Operators are standing by...)
So now that Gerald Ford has been canonized and deified - how to deal with that awkward voice from the grave condemning Bush's Iraq policy? Especially this week as Bush digs a deeper grave for the Americans likely to die as a result of his Scorched Earth stubbornness.
Simple! Just discount Ford's condemnation as the ramblings of senility! Ha-ha! Those old folks will say ANYTHING when they get a little bit older! Golly gosh!
And who better to put the stake in Gerald Ford's wisdom than one of his old lackeys. Ron Nessen the TV hack turned PR flack who took the Tony Snow role for Ford after his first choice resigned (after only one month) in disgust at Ford's pardon of Nixon.
(Jerald F. ter Horst - Ford's first choice for the job - was so horrified at Ford's Nixon whitewash that he later recounted "I stayed up most of that night just formulating a three-paragraph letter of resignation." It is interesting to note that so blithely unconcerned was Ford about the pardon - that immediately after announcing it on TV - he went off to play golf for the rest of that day!)
Ron Nessen apparently had no compunction in defending Ford.
Until yesterday that is.
Asked by Howard Kurtz on CNN's "Reliable Sources" about the careful deliberations of his former boss - and his decision to speak his conscience (albeit with a request to have it 'tape-delayed" till after his death) - Nessen spoke with simplicity. First of all he condemned the Washington Post for its timing on running the story.
" it was published the day his body was lying in state at the Capitol, and the state funeral was held at the Capitol. You know, this was an exclusive story that Bob Woodward had. Why couldn't they wait until the following Sunday or until a week after the funeral to publish that story?"
Sure Ron. Some of us were thinking that it should have been published approximately 2 hours after he uttered the words in 2004 - a couple of thousand US deaths ago. When it might have made a difference to the 2004 elections. And the lives of 2,000 Americans. And you want it delayed till after the funeral. Perish the thought that an act of (belated) courage might tarnish his funeral.
But Ron saved his best for last:
"My one other issue with publishing that... when Ford talked to Woodward, he was 91 years old, or 92 years old. My mother is 95. You know, I'm not sure I'd like to see some of her quotes published on the front page of "The Post" because I don't think she has the same mental acuteness she had when she was younger."
Nice. Condemn your ex-boss AND your mother as senile. That's classy.
Two points Ronnie.
Nowhere in any of the descriptions of the interviews that Gerald Ford gave in the last few years with Bob Woodward, presidential historian Michael Beschloss and others - is there the slightest intimation of senility. By all accounts his physical frailty had not impaired his mental acuity. Hence his clear-headed condemnation of Bush - and of Ford's wayward protégés Cheney and Rumsfeld.
And secondly - I'm sure your mother is a delightful woman - but she was not the 38th President of the United States. So her views on George Bush's disastrous Iraq policy might not be quite as newsworthy as the thoughts of a mentally alert ex-President.
I would however like to know her views on your snide remarks about her mental acuteness and that of Gerald Ford...