Betty Ford had higher poll numbers than her husband when he was president, and we can see why: The former First Lady, who died Friday at the age of 93, could, quite simply, not have been a cooler chick. The famous rehab center bearing her name aside -- and that counts as quite an achievement in itself -- the woman campaigned for the ERA, spoke in favor of abortion rights, and brought public attention to her battle with breast cancer. She was down with marijuana and premarital sex. While her husband was in the White House, she advocated vociferously for more women to be invited to state dinners on their own, not just as dates, during a time when many unmarried women still couldn't get their own credit cards.
It's telling, too, that her husband -- and thus, presumably, she -- was a Republican. We will probably never see the likes of her again. Yes, we've made progress, in the sense that there are now two viable female Republican candidates for president. But, alas, those candidates are "Evangelical feminists" Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, who play up their submissiveness as good wives, mothers, and, most critically, anti-choice crusaders. These days, you can't possibly be a Republican and a feminist -- even if some moderate conservatives could get behind a woman who doesn't sign a ridiculous marriage pledge, that whole choice thing is a dealbreaker in this play-to-the-extremist-base era. One can't imagine even a Republican First Lady -- much less a female candidate -- so refreshingly individualistic as Betty Ford today. She will be missed.
This post originally appeared on SexyFeminist.com.