I was just going to let Ford's death go by unremarked by me, no doubt
to the relief of the American public, but the absolute drivel on the
teevee n00z has once again driven me to remark:

I am willing to accord to Ford a recognition that he was an adequate
President, and managed to keep things on an even keel after the
debacle of the Nixon Administration,

although I believe Ford's pardon
of Nixon was a horrifying error

and permanently made it impossible
for there to be any other answer to the question "Are Presidents
above the law in the United States?" but "Yes."

And I am willing to grant, on the strength of such commendation by
one of his most knowledgably harsh critics (see next paragraph) that
he was a relatively honest and hard-working Congressman in the
sixteen years he was such before becoming House Minority Leader in
1968.

But "Becoming Minority Leader changed Jerry Ford greatly. Watching
him was like watching a wasp being hatched. During his sixteen years
in the House before becoming Minority Leader, he was known as a
plodder by his peers, but he was known hardly at all by the public.
A hard and almost hidden worker on the House Appropriations
Committee, he was regarded as a Congressman's Congressman and was so
cited by the American Political Science Association . . . .

"Jerry acquired a taste for money. Where he had been hesitant and shy
two years before [in 1968], he was now arrogant and brusquely sure
that money was the name of the game.

He often repeated this phrase
to me. He was a good example of power corrupting what had been, in
my estimation, of one of the few honest and sincere men in
Washington . . . .
< Robert Winter-Berger, _The Washington Pay-Off_ (Lyle Stuart, 1972)

[_The_ classic study of DC corruption, long suppressed, perhaps not
least because Chapter 2, pp. 56-69, points unmistakeably in the
direction of JFK's killers, with one of the most stunning political
scenes ever witnessed at first hand and recorded in the US.]

I was just going to let Ford's death go by unremarked by me, no doubt to
the relief of the American public, but the absolute drivel on the teevee
n00z has once again driven me to remark:

I am willing to accord to Ford a recognition that he was an adequate
President, and managed to keep things on an even keel after the debacle of
the Nixon Administration, although I believe Ford's pardon of Nixon was a
horrifying error and permanently made it impossible for there to be any
other answer to the question "Are Presidents above the law in the United
States?" but "Yes."

And I am willing to grant, on the strength of such commendation by one of
his most knowledgably harsh critics (see next paragraph) that he was a
relatively honest and hard-working Congressman in the sixteen years he was
such before becoming House Minority Leader in 1968.

But "Becoming Minority Leader changed Jerry Ford greatly. Watching him
was like watching a wasp being hatched. During his sixteen years in the
House before becoming Minority Leader, he was known as a plodder by his
peers, but he was known hardly at all by the public. A hard and almost
hidden worker on the House Appropriations Committee, he was regarded as a
Congressman's Congressman and was so cited by the American Political
Science Association . . . .

"Jerry acquired a taste for money. Where he had been hesitant and shy
two years before [in 1968], he was now arrogant and brusquely sure that
money was the name of the game. He often repeated this phrase to me. He
was a good example of power corrupting what had been, in my estimation, of
one of the few honest and sincere men in Washington . . . .

"[Jerry] thought for a moment, then said: 'I really don't have the time
to involved myself in this sort of problem, anyway. I'm too busy.'

"I said: 'He's willing to give . . . thirty thousand to the National
Committee.'

"Without changing his tone or expression, Ford said: 'He is? Tell him he
can see me whenever he wants. I'll try to help.'

" 'Thanks.' I turned and headed for the door. Before I got there, I was
hit by that wave of nausea I had often carried out of a Democrat's office.
I stopped and looked back at Ford, and I guess my feelings showed. I
said: 'Jerry, this is a hell of a note.'

" 'Don't let it bother you, Bob,' he said. 'Money is the name of the
game. Without it, you're dead.' " . . . .

< Robert Winter-Berger, _The Washington Pay-Off_ (Lyle Stuart, 1972)

[_The_ classic study of DC corruption, long suppressed, perhaps not least
because Chapter 2, pp. 56-69, points unmistakeably in the direction of
JFK's killers, with one of the most stunning political scenes ever
witnessed at first hand and recorded in the US.]