Gerald Ford is longest-living U.S. president

[LTR]

Gerald Ford, who turned 93 in July, became the longest-living U.S. president on Sunday, edging past Ronald Reagan, who died two years ago.

Ford, who was born on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska, has been alive for 93 years and 121 days, one day more than Reagan, who died in June 2004.

Ford, a former Michigan congressman and vice president, became U.S. president on August 9, 1974, after Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal.

(snip)

"The length of one's days matters less than the love of one's family and friends," Ford said in a statement in the local Desert Sun newspaper.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061112/pl_nm/ford_dc

[AussieDave]

1. Thank goodness - Ford is one of the decent ones

Ronneeee Raygun lovers will be soooo sad that he no longer holds the record........

[Botany]

2. You go Gerry!

No hate here. Although I might not like his politics Ford was class
when this Country needed it.

Ford Story:

As President his Golden Retriever "messed" on the floor. An aid or a Secret Service
person went to clean it up but Ford stopped him by saying, "I expect no man to that
for me." He then picked up the poop himself.

[Benhurst]

10. Great story. Unfortunately the Secret Service has been

picking up Bush's poop from the day one.

[laststeamtrain]

3. Such a notable!

Gave Rummy & Cheney jobs. Pardoned Tricky Dick. Survived an attempt on his life by one of the Manson family.

What a guy!

[PCIntern]

5. Warren Commission member,

...and weren't there two attempts on his life? I'm vaguely remembering another besides Squeaky's.

Almost beat Carter - who should have won by 20 points - shows you what shape the Dems were in even after the horror that was Watergate. It took Clinton and Perot to finally break the Republican Prez business...and we know how well that went after the fact.

We really gots to do something to break the back of the Republicans politically.

[HawkerHurricane]

8. The second attempt...

the person didn't have bullets.

[PCIntern]

13. Thanks!

I knew something was weird and wondered why it was never classified as an attempt.

that explains it...

Tough getting old and forgetful...

[HawkerHurricane]

16. "Tought getting old and forgetful..."

It beats the alternative, though.

[Alexander]

25. Rummy & Cheney already had jobs, with Nixon.

I don't care for the pardon, but I hardly think of Ford as a crook, particularly when compared with Nixon, Poppy and Shrubco.

[grytpype]

4. .

[Botany]

6. Gerry Ford was an All American center @ the University of Michigan.

please

[noonwitch]

30. My dad has the Detroit paper edition with the line from that team

I don't know why he had it all those years, but when Ford became president, he had it laminated and hung it up over the bar in the basement. It had photos of all the starters on the team, and an article about Ford, who was pretty good looking when he was in college. If you doubt this, find some pictures of his son Andy from his Y&R days-he looks just like his dad.

[htuttle]

12. They made him wear the helmet all the time after that one, didn't they?

[Johnyawl]

7. On the plus side, he put John Paul Stevens on the SCOTUS

[demnan]

9. He looked good in retrospect

because anybody would have been better than Nixon. That said, he didn't totally screw things up while he was in office, for that I give him credit. Betty was ok too.

[Divine Discontent]

11. they were moderates

it seems were not allowed to have those anymore...



www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- antibush prodem stickers/shirts

[Zomby Woof]

18. He gave us Rummy and Cheney

Rumsfeld was HIS Secretary of Defense, and Cheney was his WH Chief of Staff.

Ford nostalgia is misplaced.

[Alexander]

26. Wrong. Nixon did. Ford just kept unindicted people from Nixon's team.

The fact bus is waiting outside for you.

[Raine]

14. Congrats to President Ford

I'm glad he was able to best Raygun. :thumbsup:

[Arugula Latte]

15. Wow. I wouldn't have bet money on him when he kept falling down.

But, he survived. Cue SNL Tom Brokaw voice: "Gerald Ford did not die today."

[SoCalDem]

17. Amazing what top-notch, free health care can do, eh?..n/t

[BlueIris]

19. Say what you want about Ford, and I for one could say plenty, but

Gerald Ford never gets enough credit for having been the greatest natural athlete to ever assume the presidency. He was as physically fit as you could want for someone in his seventies at the time he was in office, and despite the SNL jokes, was actually quite graceful. I'm not at all surprised to see him reach this ripe old age. He may be with us for a few years yet.

[Raine]

23. That's true

he had balls go astray but that was because he participated in active sports instead of just clearing brush like chimpie does.

[pitohui]

36. hella graceful for a drunk, i'll say that

if you think he was a better natural athlete than teddy roosevelt, fine

[BlueIris]

37. Yeah, I do think he was a few leagues up on TK, actually.

And I understand that many will never appreciate any of his good qualities 'cause of that whole pardoning Nixon thing, too, which is his (and their) loss to live with.

[pitohui]

38. maybe it's the whole real outdoors versus fake sports thing

i just can't take a football guy as seriously as a guy who is actually out camping, hunting, shooting

to me one man is at least real even if i don't agree w his politics, the other guy is in a fake world

it's reality versus playpen and i don't think mr ford ever faced reality for one damn minute of one damn day

his wife, yeah, but not him

he never came forward and acknowledged why he kept falling down

she has grace and courage, he not so much

again, just my two cents tho

[bobbie]

20. Yeah, only the good die young. Whereas Ford...

Who helped cover-up the assassination of President Kennedy via the Warren Commission, who pardoned Nixon for crimes he committed or *may* have committed (sight unseen)--which included his role in the assassination, he's still kickin'.

Fuckin' bastard.

[pfitz59]

21. I'm with you...

Time for a Vulcan mind-meld before its too late! I want his secrets revealed!

[bobbie]

22. Oh thank you. I just have a serious grievance against accessories in the murder

Of President Kennedy. None of whom were ever brought to justice. So far that is.

[Alexander]

27. I take it you despise Poppy then?

Of all the evidence I've seen of a JFK assassination conspiracy, the most compelling evidence points the finger squarely at George Herbert Walker Bush, working on behalf of the CIA, Mafia, Cuban exiles, and Richard Nixon.

[bobbie]

33. Well dang Alexander, you nailed it...

Words can't do justice to my hatred of Poppy the crime lord. Yeah, he was a major player in JFK's murder; hell J. Edgar Hoover's memos place the GodPoppy in Dallas on Nov 22, 1963. There's no doubt that the klan who stole the white house in 2000 is the same klan that stole it in 1963. They started a half century (so far) of illegitimate "governments" in this country.

The CIA led it since JFK was pulling us out of Vietnam, ending the Cold War, and normalizing relations with Cuba, thus taking money out of war profiteers' pockets. They also blamed him for their own Bay of Pigs bungling of course. They trained the Cubans as assassins; hell murder is the CIA's job--along with propaganda. And of course many of the shooters were mafia, though CIA and mafia are pretty much the same thing. Two sides of the same coin.

Richard Nixon was a major force in attempts of the CIA to covertly overrun Cuba, what with him installed by his sponsor Prescott Bush as Eisenhower's VP. Of course Poppy's CIA had to murder both John and Bobby Kennedy to finally get their thug Nixon into the White House, only to have him stupidly use CIA "assets" to break into offices to steal evidence of the JFK murder, leading to his political demise.

LBJ of course was in charge of the cover-up, and his sidekick and neighbor Hoover assisted. (You left him out!) Of course it wasn't LBJ's first murder so he was proficient at cover-ups.

Then of course all protection was removed from President Kennedy; the obliging secret service helpfully stood down and the Dallas Police stayed away. Look at footage of the murder and you'll see that there is not *one* guard around the President. Not one guard near him in the Plaza.

Add in some funding by Texas Oil zillionaires like HL & Lamar Hunt and Clint Murchison (someone's gotta pay the three teams of snipers the $50k each), and likely Nelson "I wanna be Prez, waaaaa" Rockefeller. Toss in a hapless patsy who worked for the FBI and CIA and pfft, no more President Kennedy.

Now LBJ could reverse President Kennedy's National Security Action Memo #263 that was pulling "all US personnel" out of Vietnam by end of 1965, replace it with NSAM #273 escalating the war, invent the Gulf of Tonkin lie, and LBJ's sponsors Brown and Root, along with Bell Helicopter (both Texas companies) could make a killing.

Though, I guess people know Brown and Root by their current name Halliburton.

[martymar64]

34. And the conspirators still have power

Most egregious example: Arlen Specter - the inventor of the Magic Bullet theory.


May they all burn in Hell.

[bobbie]

39. Oh Arlen Spector should have a special place in hell

Reading his badgering and leading of witnesses during their Warren Commission testimony is just sickening. And seeing the exact same people year after year, or their demon spawn..., who were actually accessories during or after the fact in the murder of President Kennedy--it's totally disgusting. They were all so richly rewarded too. Certainly Spector was. Hey, it took one helluva imagination to cook up that bullshit.

May they all burn in hell--amen.

[SquireJons]

24. I'm proud of all of you

I was a wee bit afraid to look at the posts for this article. I was worried that some folks would bash the old guy. What a pleasent surprise it is to see all the nice and gracious comments. It's amazing what winning one little (landslide) election does for ones outlook.

It's like a cool autumn breeze just blew in.

[LeftishBrit]

28. Great - wishing him the best

He wasn't the most brilliant of leaders, but he was so much more decent than the Republicans who followed him.

[DamnYank]

29. A war veteran, too

No one has pointed out that Ford served in the Navy during WWII. Not the National Guard, nor he didn't have "other priorities." While serving on the light carrier Monterey he almost slid overboard during the "Caine Mutiny" typhoon of December 1944. Only a two-inch lip around the edge of the flight deck kept him from drowning.

[greeneggs708]

31. American Communist

There was a letter to the editor today.

Remember when Ronald Reagan called Ford an American Communist, instead of Congressman.

Media didn't have a chit fit then. Those were the days my friends.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

32. Must be all the nachos.

[pitohui]

35. alcohol is a preservative

happy birthday dude