Jerry Ford R.I.P

Once again, Bush the Lesser gives the taxpayer a thumb in the eye by giving federal employees a day off to honor the death of an ex-President. Gerald Ford was 93 and out of office for 30 years. He was a government employee, not a King. Whatever happened to the old days when Republicans stood for smaller government, spending tax money carefully and staying out of foreign wars?

Ford sank his own career by pardoning Nixon, on the grounds that it was the best thing for the country. I think he was right and you've got to respect his patriotism.

During his time in office the man was pictured as clumsy. It was really Chevy Chase's parody of him that we remember. Ford himself was probably the best athlete to hold the office: he was a starting lineman on a Big 10 football team. Try having people follow you around all day every day with video cameras and putting every slip and stumble on the evening news.

But the media presents what sells, which may or may not be a fair picture of the truth. In the last Presidential election, John Kerry, a decorated veteran of the war in Viet Nam, was savaged by the Swift Boat Veterans group, while George W. Bush, whose powerful family kept him out of combat, slipped by on his ROTC service. The sad truth is, the truth doesn't matter so much as what you can spin it for.