Re:Possibly Unpopular Post....

[Guest guest]

A friend of mine once got a ticket for jaywalking. He

didn't have the money to pay the fine, so he had to do

24 hours in jail. Ever since then, he reminds people

that he did more time for jaywalking the Nixon did for

all his crimes. That said, I miss the time when

presidents were able to do their job according to

whatever their ability was and to be themselves.

Reagan & Co. invented the perpetual campaign, and

every statement and action on virtually ever day of

work was planned for its PR effect. Ford and

were above that, and they deserve credit for that. I

don't think those days will return. People are so

used to being told what they want to hear that their

desire for 'straight talk' is hokey. Americans have

dumbed-down like they were supposed to, and they ended

up with dummies.

I guess Ford wasn't the brightest bulb in the

Christmas tree string, but he was genuine. He also

didn't expect Betty to act like those glazed-eyed

Stepford wives of Nixon, Reagan, and II staring

at their husband-presidents as if at pharaoh-gods. He

had some ideas that were silly but not dangerous, like

the WIN buttons and the swine flu vaccinations. I

just wish he had never hired the comedy team of Cheney

& Rumsfeld. He was also involved in the Indonesian

invasion and massacre of two hundred thousand people

in East Timor when the Portuguese pulled out. (Though

maybe Kissinger had manipulated him.)

I guess it's hard to reconcile all this. His allowing

a TV crew to film him making himself an English muffin

was too amateurish to qualify as a publicity stunt,

and it was sure refreshing. And having Nixon go to

jail wouldn't really have done us any good. But he

was weak and ineffective. This reminds me of the old

insult, " If you had brains, you'd be dangerous. " It

took the current president to cure me of that

expression.

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Jane wrote:

>> For a faceblind person using the " essence " method of recognition,

Ed Sullivan and Nixon could have been twins. <<

That's funny. They always looked alike to me too. But I never heard

anyone else say that. (I'm also faceblind.)

- Debra