Everyone sane, I believe, must agree that Ford has been a terrific ex-President. And much better than Carter - both as President, and as ex-President.

Having said that: was Ford as good as, say, Reagan? I’d have to say no. He made a few good moves and any number of lame efforts. He was in bed with the Rockefeller liberals. He had one broad category of accomplishment, that we could call “cleaning up Nixon’s messes” - and, like the Bush Presidents, had problems with “the vision thing” beyond that. I don’t think Ford could have done the job Reagan did in the 1980s.

Again, I quite agree Ford was a good man and better than the alternatives (Carter and Nixon).

[GP Ed. Note - Sean... take a chill pill and get off the Angry Truck, okay?]

Your words mean a lot today. I have been upset since this morning, when someone from the Washington Times — his first name is Charlie — appeared on Fox News and ridiculed President Ford. He said he could cite only one important accomplishment during Ford’s presidency: all the “great” Chevy Chase movies that might not have been made had a “bumbling” President Ford not made a “star” out of Chase.

Regards,
Peter H.

[GP Ed. Note - .... Or, I've decided to put all of your comments into moderation and decide one-by-one whether to approve them or not.]

(from http://www.365gay.com)

…Seventeen days later in San Francisco Sara Jane Moore, a 45-year-old political activist, was arrested after she fired a gun at the president.

The shot missed, and before she could get off a second shot Oliver Sipple who had been in the crowd beside Moore grabbed her arm.

Ford again was unhurt but the event and the media flurry that followed changed Sipple’s life forever.

Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1941 Sipple had served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, where was wounded twice. Following his discharge in 1970 he moved to San Francisco, living on a veteran’s disability pension.

With the media clamoring for information on the man who saved the presidents life openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk told a reporter that Sipple was gay and had worked on the campaign that made Milk the first gay local politician in the US.

But while Milk and Sipple’s friends in San Francisco knew he was gay his family did not. Following the press report his mother disowned him.

Sipple, shocked by the outing issued a statement: “My sexual orientation has nothing at all to do with saving the President’s life, just as the color of my eyes or my race has nothing to do with what happened in front of the St. Francis Hotel.”

He then sued the San Francisco Chronicle and six other papers for damages, and the mental stress he suffered as a result of his mother’s action. The lawsuit dragged on until it finally was dismissed in court five years later.

The distress that Sipple was going through led him to drink. He was found dead on February 2, 1989 in his apartment. Police at the time said they believed he had been dead for two weeks.

On the wall, not far from where his body lay slumped in a chair, hung a framed letter of gratitude from President Ford.

“I want you to know how much I appreciated your selfless actions last Monday. The events were a shock to us all, but you acted quickly and without fear for your own safety. By doing so, you helped to avert danger to me and to others in the crowd. You have my heartfelt appreciation,” it read.

Only 30 people attended Sipple’s funeral.