No Sympathy For The Devil

Now that he's dead, we will be hearing tons of tributes to Gerald Ford. There will be all of the mentioning how he led us out of the "national nightmare" of the Watergate era and the talk of how he "healed" the nation. Especially now that it has been found out he gave an interview criticizing Bush's decision to go to war they will be comparing him to W when talking about his presidency. Of course if that's where you set the bar, just about anybody else's presidency will look great. I mean, saying you were a good president because you were better than Bush is like saying you're a great father because you treat children better than John Wayne Gacy.

There will also be a lot of people talking about what a kind person he was, and how he was so nice. This is image is upheld by the fact that he was a "folksy" Midwesterner and was so old that he reminded people of their grandfather.

In this day and age of media spin and infotainment, Mark Antony's line from Julius Caesar, "The evil that men do lives after them/ The good is oft interred with their bones," could not be more untrue. The opposite seems to be the rule in this day and age. The evil is brushed aside and replaced with quaint clichés and empty tributes.

But I believe the evil that men do should be remembered. So as you're watching the elaborate, probably grotesque, state funeral for a man who led this country because he was appointed by his criminal friend, rather than elected by the people in a democratic process, here are just a few little things to remember about his short presidency.

When they speak about what a nice, caring, generous, honest, genuine, and "down to earth" person he was, notice that none of the people saying it will be from East Timor. I would guess that they don't hold him in such high regard after his administration's support for the evil regime that oppressed the East Timorese for over two decades. Ford and Kissinger not only sold Indonesia the weapons to carry out their invasion and occupation of East Timor, but explicitly approved of the plan. Ford's hands are stained with the blood of hundreds of thousands of East Timorese civilians. (Great resources here, here and here)

He also pardoned Nixon. That should be under the category of "nuff said" but it seems to have been spun so much over the decades that it is now considered one of the good things he did. Well I call bullshit on that. His defenders can claim he did it for "national healing" or that it was necessary to move beyond Watergate and get on with governing, but I don't buy it. He did it to protect his friend, who just happened to be the one that appointed him Vice-President.

You know what would have been a lot better at healing this country? Throwing Tricky Dick's sorry, lying, corrupt ass in jail. The chilling effect of that pardon was letting all future presidents know that they can do whatever illegal thing they want and will never have to answer for it.

And finally, when seeing the death toll rise in Iraq and wondering how our country came to be in such a horrible state, think about this: Gerald Ford is directly responsible for the careers of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Both were given their first big jobs in his administration, both served as Chief of Staff at different times and Rummy got his first tour as Secretary of Defense. Ford also did a lot to advance the career of George H. W. Bush, his CIA director and fellow co-conspirator in the crimes committed against the people of East Timor. Needless to say, the chain of events started by Ford have eventually led us to the national tragedy called the George W. Bush administration.

So forgive me if I don't shed any tears for Ford on Tuesday, the announced day of national mourning and the time of his state funeral.

My thoughts will be with the people of East Timor, now the independent nation of Timor-Leste, who just a few short years ago were able to finally free themselves of the terrorism brought to them by one Gerald Rudolph Ford.