Cynical Nation

Dodd is a whore with a major ego.

I look forward to the revelations about the famous sandwiches he and Ted Kennedy created utilizing waitresses in DC as the meat between them and how he handles the questions.

This is the man who submarined John Bolton's nomination becuase of some petty angst about Cuba.

F*** him and the horse he rode in on.

Imus is a complete idiot. This interview confirms my previous impression of him.

P.S. Mal you sound jealous of Dodd and Kennedy?

Mal, Dodd may be a politician and may disagree with you on John Bolton, but calling him a w**** and using the F word?

You derided all the people who had good things to say about Gerald Ford, an honorable and decent (if not perfect) man that there has been in politics. (I lived through that time too and there were many that did understand the pardon even then. I also knew Democrats who liked Ford even as they voted for Carter and I went to see him during the 1976 campaign even though I did vote for Carter the first time.)

As far as Lieberman goes.. isn't Dodd a Democrat and didn't Lamont win the Democratic primary? On the one hand, there is loyalty to a man and on the other hand there was respect for the wishes of the Democrats in his state. I don't see the big deal in Dodd respecting first the votes of the Democrats in the state, then later accepting the verdict of all the voters in his state. Not that complicated and Dodd did nothing wrong in this instance, in my view.

Dodd must be drinking the same water as George Pataki. Really, what is he thinking?

How dare they run for President! The nerve! The outrage! When clearly neither has the experience that George W Bush had prior to his running for President!

PE, I stand by what I said both about Dodd and the Ford funeral.

What I knocked about the Ford funeral was the idea that he somehow healed the country.

If that was the case, why did his own press secretary, Jerry ter Horst, resign in protest?

If that was the case, why did he lose to Jimmy Carter?

I, like you, thoroughly respected Ford as a good man but I never felt he was remotely close to being a good president.

My problem is that people are reconstructing history here. I have little doubt that there is an ulterior motive for this which is to set him favorably vs. Bush as far as 'healing' a polarized country.

In truth, he did no such thing.

As for Dodd, I recall reading how hurt Lieberman was by his support of Lamont.

His awkward attempt at rapproachment smacks of the old line from "The Godfather": 'It's not personal. It's strictly business."

Lieberman should grow up, because between the two of them it is Dodd who is acting like a grownup. Lieberman LOST the democratic primary, which meant he LOST the support of the democratic party during that time. He then WON the seat so he is still the senator. Therefore he lost and gained Dodd's support.

It aint personal and the business you describe is the people's business, Mal, not a scene from the Godfather, and Dodd has acted entirely proper.

As far as Ford goes, his pardon was controversial and yes it did prompt the resignation of his press secretary. Still, the economy was not doing that well during that period. Carter's average misery index was 16.27 but Ford's was at 15.93, significantly higher than Nixon's. That wasn't Ford's fault and it had come down slightly, but was still very high in 1976. Also, you had a challenge from the right from Ronald Reagan and many thought that Reagan overshadowed Ford at his own convention. (Reagan came much closer to defeating Ford than Udall's distant second to Carter.)

Given that Ford only assumed power through a scandal, that he nearly lost the nomination of his own party, that Vietnam fell during that time, and that the economy was not doing well... the election was still very close. Had Carter, as a southernor, not won the south (Ford won California and the West), Ford would have won.

As far as the "ulterior motive" behind the praise for Ford..

People liked Gerald Ford. They liked his wife too. I was one of many who mourned his passing. In the mourning of his passing, little stories came up that illustrated why we liked the man.

Get over it.

Ford did help to heal the country. I knew many people upset at Nixon who were then relieved that it was a man like Ford who took over the country. I remember this collective sigh of relief. Maybe not in your part of the country, but certainly in mine. Ford assumed power at a difficult time and I think the praise for the man is warranted.