He was not a good man. He was on the Warren Commission, and acted as J. Edgar Hoover's informant to guide the WC to a no-conspiracy conclusion. As President, he did everything possible to obstruct Congressional investigations into CIA/FBI wrongdoing. The man spent his whole career covering up for people.
Ford disputed the moderator saying Helsinki acquiesced to Soviet dominance of Eastern Europe. Since Helsinki became a manifesto for dissident movements, leading to the fall of Communism, he was correct. He got carried away with rhetoric, but it would have been dangerous for a President to validate the moderator's premise. I am a Democrat who understood what he meant in '75. He tried to cram subtle points of diplomacy into sound bites and stumbled. The reaction to what he said, now that was dumb.
There is truth to what he said. Yugoslavia was not part of the Warsaw pact and since the 50s was a fully independent. In fact the Communists there came to power through a partisan movement. Similarly Ceausescu in Romania was seen as a national hero for much of his rule. (albeit not in the late 80s). Perhaps Poland is the exception to a degree.
Also the USSR is now gone too, but can we say the regime didn't have legitemacy? Google Soviet Union referendum, 1991
Incumbent Presidents Defeated: 1800 John Adams defeated by Thomas Jefferson 1828 John Quincy Adams defeated by Andrew Jackson 1840 Martin Van Buren def by William Henry Harrison 1888 Grover Cleveland def by Benjamin Harrison 1892 Benjamin Harrison def by Grover Cleveland 1912 William Howard Taft defeated by Woodrow Wilson 1932 Herbert Hoover defeated by Franklin Roosevelt 1976 Gerald Ford defeated by Jimmy Carter 1980 Jimmy Carter defeated by Ronald Reagan 1992 George HW Bush def by Bill Clinton
Wow only Jimmy Carter could almost blow a 30 point lead to this fool. In summer of 1976 Carter was leading Ford 65%-35%, but he only ended up winning 50%-48%. If Carter could only win by two percent over Ford in the wake of Watergate, it is not surprising that, as the incumbent, he got smashed by Reagan in 1980. Carter was the first elected president since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to be defeated.
@SavagePersonified90 Gerald Ford loved America. Sarah Palin loves America. It is sad how a TV brain freeze can ruin someone. Because it is human nature. For instance there are a lot of people in this country who can sing, but can they do it on stage with perfection ? There are great baseball players who can play great at AAA. But can they pitch mistake free at Yankee Stadium. (ala Ed Whitson)
Regardless what one might think of each man as a president, it's nice to know they eventually put aside their political differences and became friends.
The American People Once again Voted for a Lesser President because of the help of a Leftest Biased Media. Great job America. We could have used President Gerald Ford those 4 Years. Carter's Banking and Loan Policies plus his Housing bills came back to bite us in the late 1990's . Clinton's Housing Loan Policies didn't help Neither.
@ggmathena1 As far as I can see from this clip, I am affraid that the Left Biased Journalists had noting more to do than to clean up the fragments that were left after this political suicide.
More batshit conspiracy theory. Conservatives "blame" others even when they screw up.
Max Frankel favorably covered Nixon going to China. He was credited as a fair journalist and tempering the liberal editorials of the times.
Look up info instead of repeating right wing "talking points". Did you get this accusation from the Gingritch script "Language a Key Mechanism to Control" ? Do you even know what Im talking about?
I'm just the messenger: in my college history class we learned that Yugoslavia and Poland actually did remain autonomous and independent from the Soviet Union. Still, there was a sphere of influence in the surrounding states of the Soviet Union. Technically, Ford was partly correct, just saying.
@syncrolecyne I agree. I think what hurt Ford even more was that he didn't back off what he said regarding Poland for at least a week. I remember my father back then saying that if Ford had acknowledged his error immediately, the issue probably wouid have gone away.
President Ford was a fucking idiot. Unbelievable that these comments were made by the then sitting U.S. President. No wonder Jimmy Carter won, though vastly more intelligent then Ford, Carter had his own problems. Nixon was a liar and schemer, Ford was an all around idiot, and Carter naive/clueless on handling both domestic and international affairs.. The 70s were just a decade for bad Presidents.
He had a bad term though. Anyone with Watergate coming before this was bound to lose. If Reagan was the 76 Republican nominee, he would of beat Carter and lost re-election in 1980.
@HalfBornUnicornFetus Both Carter AND Ford were jinxed...but they were probably the most laid-back Presidents we ever saw too. I mean heck Willie smoked a doobie w/ Ford's kid ON TOP of the White House!! Boy, those were the days.....
@HalfBornUnicornFetus Ford actually had a good 2 1/2 years as President. When he took over in August 1974 the inflation rate was at 11.8% and by 1976 he had it down to 5.8%. He got us out of the recession of 1974-75 by cutting taxes for the middle class. He set us on a path (which Carter reversed) that would have given us a surplus by 1979, ended the Cold War by 1982, Interest Rates would've been lower than they are now. Gerald Ford would've been perhaps the GREATEST.
Thats amazing. To be that emphatically wrong about such a basic fact of world politics. Can't believe I didn't know about this. This beats anything GWB ever said by far. Where had Ford been his entire Presidency?
Tell us how you lied to the american people about the J.F.k. murder, How you were a puppet of the "Secret team" and " Pardoned Nixon" so he could not be indited for Watergate.Or tell us what Watergate was really about and how many people were killed under Nixon's regime so no connection could be traced back from Dallas to you and Bush Sr.
His comments would have been much less damaging if he had stopped before mentioning Poland. Tito and Ceausescu were totalitarian monsters, but did maintain some degree of autonomy from Moscow. Just as important, there weren't large blocks of Yugoslav- or Romanian-American voters to piss off. Poland is different on both counts.
Carter were a bit naive politically (having only state level experience in Georgia previously)
He might be bad administrator but there are things that Carter had achieved: he advocate renewable energy before it was popular, Carter also he bring peace to Middle East (Camp David accord) and Central America (Panama Canal handover)
I liked Gerry Ford, he was a decent man. But here he DID sound delirious, even if I can see his point. NOT just poor communication, here: disastrous. And disaster indeed followed.
Gerald Ford was a veteran of WWII, and he was a decent man. For that, I had great respect, and admiration for him. However, he really put his foot in his mouth on this one.
Gerald Ford was a veteran of WWII, and he was a decent man. For that, he had my great respect and admiration. However, he really put his foot in his mouth on this one.
Yugoslavia was never dominated by the USSR, and Romania often disagreed with USSR publicly (even condemning its invasion of Czechoslovakia). But the USSR definitely had a heavy influence on the Poles. Two out of three.
@herunarivelice Yugoslavia was dominated for a short time by the USSR. I believe Soviet influenced ended in the late 1940s when Tito told Stalin to go fuck himself.
Ford was ultimately right. The Iron Curtain begin to crack in Poland. Ford's statement was a lifeline to Eastern Europe. Maybe 10 years after this I read in The New Yorker--not a conservative publication-- that countries like Hungary and etc. always identified with the West and never with the Soviets. Where was Carter when the Gdansk shipyard workers broke Communism in Poland? When Romanians drove out Chochesque? Carter said the US was on the wrong side of history. No--Carter was.
@shangpush No. Ford was absolutely wrong. If he had been right and there was no domination, Solidarity and the Romanian revolution wouldn't have been necessary.
Also, what the hell are you talking about "where was Carter?" Did you expect him to be there personally? Ford wasn't there personally. Both Ford and Carter supported those movements for freedom, I'm sure.
He may have said we were on the wrong side of history about some issue or another, but it sure as hell wasn't talk about communism.
I can remember as a young child hearing the news of the debate in which Ford had blundered. I had no idea what he'd said or what it all meant in my being a child.
Certainly now I understand what all the talk was about. Ford seemed possibly in denial or maybe for the sake of argument he wanted to oppose. However this was not an opinion, but was pretty much fact (at least to a strong degree). I still don't know why a man of his stature had this notion? Even Carter looked in disbelief.
he was a little overeducated on the question....those three countries indeed were probably the most independent eastern bloc countries under the soviet sphere...but no insist that they were completely independent or not communist was plain stupid
@lumpagogo I don't think Reagan was that crooked. I think the three presidents that followed Reagan were real works of art. But for the record my comment wasn't meant to be a knock on Carter it was just an observation that he aged rapidly in 4 very rough years for the presidency. I also think Jimmy Carter is a decent human being. Not a great president but a good person. Notice I said not great, which doesn't necessarily mean bad. :)
Gerald Ford was a great president and without doubt a kind and utmost decent individual. I also believe that he had an above average IQ. But nevertheless this little clip makes you wonder whether he perhaps played too much football without a helmet in his youth...
This is what cost Ford the election. Even worse, he didn't retract this dumb statement for days afterward. The course of history was changed at this moment. Otherwise Ford would have won in '76 which would have left the door open for Kennedy to defeat Reagan in '80.
I think Ford was trying to say that the Communist countries of Eastern Europe enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy (I won't say freedom) within the Eastern Bloc. However, this is not to say that Russian tanks would not have rolled in if Moscow had believed that too many liberties, so to speak, were being taken in a particular country.
@newmark401 Soviet leader Brezhnev tightened and then relaxed political and control over Eastern Europe and vice versa during the 1970s. But he did invade Czechoslovakia in 1968 when those relaxed political control went too far according to him and Moscow. Brezhnev and the other Soviet leaders crushed any actions of self-determination in their Eastern European satellites with troops and tanks, the Breznev Doctrine.
I think that it is safe to say today that Ford (with this comment) lost the vote of American citizens whose ethnic origin came from the captive nations of central and eastern Europe.
One of the Worst Misstatements in American Debating History & I'm Glad President Ford is Remembered for Other Things because he was a Great Man & a Good President.
@BearcatWizard From a non-partisan view, Carter's presidency was the definition of a disaster.
Ford's popularity was forever hurt by pardoning Nixon. However it's great to see historians as of late review his legacy for the better. He was a very good leader.
Carter had made plenty of mistakes, but he also has a long list of extraordinary accomplishments as President (starting with the Camp David Peace Agreement). Ford, while a decent man and good leader, has very few accomplishments.
wtf man ? have u ever been in poland at that time ? Communists were all over and they were corrupting our govermant... nobody wanted them there but nobody could kick them out.
It was almost like Ford wanted to lose the election by coming out with such a ridiculous statement. However for the Republicans it was a blessing in disguise, get rid of a pretty liberal president in by their standards, let the Democrats have a man in Carter have a term in office and prove he is totally out of his depth and then bring in a staunch conservative and charasmatic man with Reagan and rule for the next twelve years.
Gerald for is one the normal guy ever become president, he lost because he couldnt play the dirty political game. Read the memoir of alan greenspan, and you will know it is a shame this man was never elected or re-elected
I've read where Ford at this point just really didn't care and didn't want to be President anymore. Did want to be President from the start and was ready to leave. He didn't do much campaining as well.
well it's like Obama...all pre-memorized and prepared information....off the cuff Obama exhibits average conversed intelligence, and rhetoric....and he went to Harvard!!!!, or that is, he "got into" Harvard! Today I think that's an appropriate distinction to recognize.
@DIZZZZY1975 well no, its like all candidates, do you think mccain or bush refrained from memorization? nobody goes to harvard under affirmative action, if thats what you mean by "he got into harvard." you must be assuming things? or maybe thats what you seen on Fox news, either way, seems like mr ford was living a fantasy world like all other republicans, all greedy corporate thugs lookin out for the rich. where was this guy when the mills started closing? check out the documentary outfoxed.
The single most interesting thing about this clip to me is the correct invocation of the countries relevant to the point at issue--Romania, Yugoslavia, Poland. How intellectual standards have dropped among politicians, and especially Republicans! Even McCain, who sold himself last year as a geopolitical foreign affairs expert, mixed up the Sunnis and the Shias in recorded clips. That's like mixing up the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. Maybe Palin will know better ;)
Funny thing is Ford was right. Russian control over the countries in question was receding and after Gorby's accession things unraveled quickly. Our propoganda machine had to keep talking Rooskie bullying and all that but take a look at South Korea and Germany: we have lots of troops in both but we are not "dominating" either state.
He was completely wrong about Poland. This debate took place in 76 and in 1981 martial law was declared in Poland. The soviets were still completely dominating Poland at that time. Gorbachev didn't come until 1985.
Funny thing about the USSR: it could have kept the Empire together in that a little firepower would have done the trick. The same thing is true of the Shah's Iran but in both cases the decision went the other way. You can bet there was plenty or regret by both 'deciders'. Things are headed for a 'Darby Crash' in the Lower 48 as this criminal clique known as Repub-Dem continues its thievery and debauchery at our expense.
The rigid Capitalists who see Marx as some kind of murderous ghoul/guillotine freak, can never point to his alleged advocacy of violence. It's only assumed. And they shamelessly deny the U.S. action in the Russian Civil War. How can we reason with these people? Few have argued that the U.S. was all bad and the USSR all good. A sense of balance is needed, a recognition that there was propoganda on both sides. Leninism/Stalinism was never pure Marxism; we lumped them all together--wrongly.
Marx's ultimate goal of "each according to his ability each according to his need", in my eyes is a disgusting naturally oppressive structure which holds back human will and creative and forces people to be tied down for the good of all, no matter the ability of others.
He put an alternative, to a yes naturally exploitative system and he critiqued it very well by my view in Das Kapital. But his solution to the problem was not a very good one to put it simply. I call myself a socialist, but am an ardent anti-Marxist, I'm instead a pro-market libertarian socialist.
Leninism-Stalinism is not Marxism, was not Marxism. Everybody know that nothing works although 99% of Homo Sapien is relatively satisfied with the status quo. We are adding 100,000,000 new Homo Sapien to the Earth every year so how bad can things be?
Uh... what's your point? I wasn't arguing whether Leninism or Stalinism was Marxist or not. They certainly had aspects of his theory and it could be argued that Marx did want the stage they played out to occur . But Marx's ultimate classless communist society can be just as exploitative as Capitalism, if not more.
Again, nothing works on paper but it doesn't have to because Homo Sapien rolls with every punch as it plunges toward global annihilitation. Almost all Homo Sapiens have what they need, whether they live under Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, Feudalism, Semi-Anarchy (Somolia and others), you name it. Our endless discussions re. same are pointless because it's a slow degeneration toward nihilism. In the meantime, folq are living in the moment.
BC's ad hominem attack forms the conclusion to this discussion. Joe McCarthy must be proud of the revival of the Red Scare. Our Glenn Becks and James Dobsons never tire of referring to Imam Obama as a "communist" even though the Imam is as much of a capitalist as they are.
We need to debate the selling of the U.S. mfg economy down the river, the large amputation of our service economy, as well. We are also under seige from immigration, legal & illegal, while we fight pointless conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, by proxy in Pakistan. Aggression vs Iran is on the table. Meanwhile, we have a Moslem insurgency
"here" (not to mention the guerrilla war being fought by La Raza, Aztlan). Exactly, who is the common man's friend? Who are the real traitors?
Speaking of violence, let's take a look at 9-59,000,000 American Indians murdered, 700,000 deaths in the War Between The States, 59,000 GIs dead in Vietnam, 400,000 wounded. Exactly what are you people trying to prove: that we are pure and everyone else is infected? You think your Reagans and Limbaughs give ein muterf*cker about you? Think again, your worship, and look at the hx of the Rooskie Civil War. And look at Karl Marx's words, not what someone said are his words.
It is seen that if one argues a series of points, one is engaging in a reasoned effort to advance one's essay, by the bobo. Ahh, but is also seen that calling one a "jerk" is much more, uh, fun.
@lumpagogo I called you a jerk because of your comments about the radical Left wing President Obama turnig America into a theocracy with help from former presidents Clinton & Bush. What a bunch hogwash! Obama is about the most radical, left-leaning, secular president this country' s ever had. He is neither Christian nor Muslim, he is a Marxist atheist.
@67nairb He might be an atheist but guess what? This country was founded (look it up) on the principle of separation of church and state. His belief or lack thereof is irrelevant. My personal suspicion is that he's probably an atheist considering he's highly educated and education correlates with decreased religiosity (look it up). He's also a CENTRIST but you wouldn't know that considering how much Washington has shifted to the right over the years. More reading, less hyperbole, 67nairb.
@lumpagogo And for you to criticize the radical Left-wing Obama probably means you are way out in Left Field of him. Y'know what? I apoligize for caling a you jerk. You're not a jerk, you're just an idiot.
Ford was a WWII Navy vet, a combat vet. Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946, then served four years. Ronald Wilson Reagan, aka President 666, made army instruction movies during WWII, never even went to basic training.
Ford must've had the intention to say something ORIGINAL, right? For it is hardly possible that he was unaware of the most basic political facts of his time. If he had no clue about the state of political affairs in Eastern Europe, why did he mention communist countries like Yugoslavia, Romania, and Poland by name? He mentioned the fact that they were sovereign states, and that is true. Along the same lines, the U.S. would always have stressed the independence of their own satellites as well.
Even you could have slipped up that sentence after campaigning nonstop for two years.
McCain didn't slip up, he meant to say what he said. I don't think he actually believed it, but he apparently had no problem taking Phil Gramm's advice and lying about our economy.
Obviously you don't know the history of the matter; Ford stuck by his statement for the next 6 days until it became such a disaster that he was forced to retract it.
Gerald Ford had right in one thing: Yugoslavia was really independent of USSR although strict socialistic under rule of marshall Tito but all remaining states were only satellites.
There's never been any international law banning communism or socialism; it should never have been our policy to tell others how to run their economic affairs. The so-called "Cold War" was largely our doing--we were told to 'believe' the "Iron Curtain" included Poland and Romania. We were told a lot of things.
P.S. There are still plenty of socialist and communist countries around. Why we are not loudly complaining and threatening them?
There are not plenty of communist countries around, and socialist countries are not even in the same category. You need a history lesson, the Cold War was started after WWII when Stalin held onto everything east of Germany that the USSR had supposedly "liberated", and proclaimed it Soviet conquered land. Then there was the Berlin Airlift, Greece, Poland, and other major events that started the Cold War. Read up on it and get back to me if you have any questions.
Our friends who are dedicated to subjectivity must have forgotten about the direct U.S. involvement in the Russian Civil War (1917-1923). The USSR never had good cause to trust the U.S. and the "Allies" after that naked aggression against it. There aren't any distinctions between Communism and Socialism these days which is why the subjectivists have pegged Imam Hussein Obama equally as a "socialist" and or "communist." But all we need to do is examine "Corporate Welfare" for the best examples.
@lumpagogo The Russian Civil War began in 1918 after the Bolsheviks seized power and ended in 1922 when they defeated the Whites killed all their enemies and complete political control over the country.
Obama is basically saying that today -- and he has made the economy worse since taking office. With all the debt racked up under Obama alone, his young voters will have to pay it off. The old folks, who voted for McCain, won't be around to pay off Obama's debt. That's the supreme irony.
jimmy carter, knew in that instant, that he had won the election, per ford stupidity!...of course, jimmy did the same thing invoking amy, and nuclear proliferation against reagan in his debate...who are we electing?...mr ford mr carter & mr reagan had some great qualities...but, is this the best we can offer?...i guess we can answer that every 4 years!
I well recall watching this all those years ago and feeling a sense of incredulity over the fact that a US president could be that pig-shit stupid. Later, over the period 2000-2008, we came to wonder whether American presidents could be anything else but that!
I feel bad for Ford as these so called debates that Lincoln -Douglas would laugh at hurt Ford. He held the line on a resurgent Congress and his Vetos were pretty much held up. I noted Tip O'neill was a dear friend of Jerry Ford and they got along very well.
Mr. Ford really cleaned-up and cashed-in on the money train, once he left office. He was on many boards of directorships, privy to many investment deals, and to top it off, was a triple dipper with retirement pensions from not only his presidency, but from being both a V.P., as well as a congressman. But of course, my wife and I are not allowed to "double-dip" from both of our hard-earn Social Security.
Behold, the corruption of our goverment is pervasive, even with the "nice guys".
No Ronald Reagan in the 80's probably. He wasn't the strongest of individuals either and people would have probably got fet up with him aswell and vote democrat afterwards.
From what I've read, Ford was a decent guy and perhaps the last president respect by both sides. He certinaly wasn't as clumsy as Chevy Chase made him out to be. (He played football in his youth). I've heard he and Carter even became friends. He also narrowly edged out Reagan to become the longest lived president ever.
He was a nice guy, but he was an idiot. The 2 most significant things he did in his entire career were to cooperate with the manifestly fallacious Warren Commission, and to pardon the most reprobative piece of bilge to ever ascend to the Presidency.
he had to pardon nixon, even if it makes me cringe to think about it. watergate had to end, it was a mess and nothing else was getting done. and he sort of redeemed hisself after his presidency. for years whenever a nation was having trouble with an election, they sent ford and carter down to straighten it out, or at least try.
Maybe Im old-fashioned, but I believe that when someone commits a crime, they should be prosecuted, even if they are a former President. As I said, he was a nice guy, but given the 2 legacies he left behind that I mentioned, he doesnt hold a very favorable place in history.
This has been flagged as spam show
ford was just as bad carter bush and obama every blames the 2000s for everything
DRisLegend200919 3 weeks ago
You have to wonder how things would've turned out if "Sweater Malaise" Carter had not been selected by the Electoral College in 1976.
rsp196607 1 month ago
He was not a good man. He was on the Warren Commission, and acted as J. Edgar Hoover's informant to guide the WC to a no-conspiracy conclusion. As President, he did everything possible to obstruct Congressional investigations into CIA/FBI wrongdoing. The man spent his whole career covering up for people.
fallspeed 2 months ago
Stupid jock.
Jujuman2003 2 months ago
Ford disputed the moderator saying Helsinki acquiesced to Soviet dominance of Eastern Europe. Since Helsinki became a manifesto for dissident movements, leading to the fall of Communism, he was correct. He got carried away with rhetoric, but it would have been dangerous for a President to validate the moderator's premise. I am a Democrat who understood what he meant in '75. He tried to cram subtle points of diplomacy into sound bites and stumbled. The reaction to what he said, now that was dumb.
SaveScience 2 months ago
There is truth to what he said. Yugoslavia was not part of the Warsaw pact and since the 50s was a fully independent. In fact the Communists there came to power through a partisan movement. Similarly Ceausescu in Romania was seen as a national hero for much of his rule. (albeit not in the late 80s). Perhaps Poland is the exception to a degree.
Also the USSR is now gone too, but can we say the regime didn't have legitemacy? Google Soviet Union referendum, 1991
inpro990 2 months ago
This makes me cringe.
FatTony726 3 months ago
A great and honest president, ruined by a mistake like this (and by Nixon's mistakes, too).
STOPobama1 4 months ago
SavagePersonified90 5 months ago
Wow only Jimmy Carter could almost blow a 30 point lead to this fool. In summer of 1976 Carter was leading Ford 65%-35%, but he only ended up winning 50%-48%. If Carter could only win by two percent over Ford in the wake of Watergate, it is not surprising that, as the incumbent, he got smashed by Reagan in 1980. Carter was the first elected president since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to be defeated.
SavagePersonified90 5 months ago
@SavagePersonified90 Gerald Ford loved America. Sarah Palin loves America. It is sad how a TV brain freeze can ruin someone. Because it is human nature. For instance there are a lot of people in this country who can sing, but can they do it on stage with perfection ? There are great baseball players who can play great at AAA. But can they pitch mistake free at Yankee Stadium. (ala Ed Whitson)
MickeyMorandini1 3 months ago
Ford was a good man, but in this case he was from Mars.
Sitcommer 5 months ago
this election is the epitome of dumb and dumber.
WhoaJ30 6 months ago in playlist Politics
EPIC FAIL BY PRESIDENT FORD @ 0:58-1:07.
Betty: How was your evening dear?
Pres. Ford: The ice bucket!
SaleGuy 6 months ago
Regardless what one might think of each man as a president, it's nice to know they eventually put aside their political differences and became friends.
Totalpranny 6 months ago
President Ford's gaffe here really hurt him which is a shame, because he was a lot better then that and a lot more intelligent.
FRSFreeState 6 months ago
This moment aside, Ford was a very decent man and today's republican party could learn a lot from him.
philberz 7 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@philberz at least he was honest he was much better than any modern republicans
DRisLegend200919 3 weeks ago
Well, it's not like anyone actually elected him. America got stuck with him because Nixon was a massive dick.
aquagrl63 7 months ago
@aquagrl63 you could have turned that into a great joke by saying "Richard" was a massive dick!
johnkerry7 6 months ago
The American People Once again Voted for a Lesser President because of the help of a Leftest Biased Media. Great job America. We could have used President Gerald Ford those 4 Years. Carter's Banking and Loan Policies plus his Housing bills came back to bite us in the late 1990's . Clinton's Housing Loan Policies didn't help Neither.
ggmathena1 8 months ago
@ggmathena1 As far as I can see from this clip, I am affraid that the Left Biased Journalists had noting more to do than to clean up the fragments that were left after this political suicide.
CanalPSG 7 months ago
@ggmathena1
"because of the help of a Leftest Biased Media"
More batshit conspiracy theory. Conservatives "blame" others even when they screw up.
Max Frankel favorably covered Nixon going to China. He was credited as a fair journalist and tempering the liberal editorials of the times.
Look up info instead of repeating right wing "talking points". Did you get this accusation from the Gingritch script "Language a Key Mechanism to Control" ? Do you even know what Im talking about?
hipstermi 7 months ago
I'm just the messenger: in my college history class we learned that Yugoslavia and Poland actually did remain autonomous and independent from the Soviet Union. Still, there was a sphere of influence in the surrounding states of the Soviet Union. Technically, Ford was partly correct, just saying.
conwashur 8 months ago
Ford should have never pardoned Nixon, he probably would have seen a 2nd term but he let that slimey crook slip through......
Thejbirdy 9 months ago
Ford and Carter were 2 of the most decent people to ever be president, although neither were great presidents.
philberz 9 months ago 2
He was right about Yugoslavia and Romania...but he probably lost a couple of midwestern states in a tight race with the Poland remark.
syncrolecyne 9 months ago
@syncrolecyne I agree. I think what hurt Ford even more was that he didn't back off what he said regarding Poland for at least a week. I remember my father back then saying that if Ford had acknowledged his error immediately, the issue probably wouid have gone away.
gfpirate 7 months ago
President Ford was a fucking idiot. Unbelievable that these comments were made by the then sitting U.S. President. No wonder Jimmy Carter won, though vastly more intelligent then Ford, Carter had his own problems. Nixon was a liar and schemer, Ford was an all around idiot, and Carter naive/clueless on handling both domestic and international affairs.. The 70s were just a decade for bad Presidents.
gothatway09 9 months ago
3 Ford voters disliked this video...Just kidding, Carter sucked.
HalfBornUnicornFetus 10 months ago
@HalfBornUnicornFetus So did Ford.
Thejbirdy 9 months ago
@Thejbirdy
He had a bad term though. Anyone with Watergate coming before this was bound to lose. If Reagan was the 76 Republican nominee, he would of beat Carter and lost re-election in 1980.
HalfBornUnicornFetus 9 months ago
@HalfBornUnicornFetus Both Carter AND Ford were jinxed...but they were probably the most laid-back Presidents we ever saw too. I mean heck Willie smoked a doobie w/ Ford's kid ON TOP of the White House!! Boy, those were the days.....
Thejbirdy 9 months ago
@HalfBornUnicornFetus Ford actually had a good 2 1/2 years as President. When he took over in August 1974 the inflation rate was at 11.8% and by 1976 he had it down to 5.8%. He got us out of the recession of 1974-75 by cutting taxes for the middle class. He set us on a path (which Carter reversed) that would have given us a surplus by 1979, ended the Cold War by 1982, Interest Rates would've been lower than they are now. Gerald Ford would've been perhaps the GREATEST.
SavageArmsMan 5 months ago
1:07 Frankel: eh-uh-ark-urp WTF is going on here?!?!?!?!
7beers 10 months ago
The most WTF moment in US presidential debate history?
7beers 10 months ago 2
And with that error went any hope of Gerald Ford winning.
HamptonRoadsTVFan 10 months ago
What the F was he Thinking.
FatTony726 10 months ago
Obviously he had never heard of the phrase: "When you're in a hole - STOP DIGGING!"
npe1 11 months ago
Thats amazing. To be that emphatically wrong about such a basic fact of world politics. Can't believe I didn't know about this. This beats anything GWB ever said by far. Where had Ford been his entire Presidency?
corbalt1 11 months ago
Carter was a very GOOD president !!
Michthemitch 11 months ago 2
...and some people say Sarah Palin could never be president ! ! !
EddieLandsberg 11 months ago
Tell us how you lied to the american people about the J.F.k. murder, How you were a puppet of the "Secret team" and " Pardoned Nixon" so he could not be indited for Watergate.Or tell us what Watergate was really about and how many people were killed under Nixon's regime so no connection could be traced back from Dallas to you and Bush Sr.
TheJetfighter666 11 months ago
Does anyone know which debate this was?
ajt141 11 months ago
What a fucking dumbass.
QueenTopGear 11 months ago
I don't think this was a "mistake". He knew what he was saying. He was an internationalist and believed in world government.
MrsSarb 1 year ago
The battle of the fucking retards.
ConservativeRev 1 year ago
Comment removed
GeekingForJesus 1 year ago
Amazing! Wasnt he actually the sitting US pres at the time?! Stunning!
watcher9999999999999 1 year ago
What was it LBJ said... 'he's so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time'?
TonyBananas101 1 year ago
This is some Palin-grade stupid right here.
His comments would have been much less damaging if he had stopped before mentioning Poland. Tito and Ceausescu were totalitarian monsters, but did maintain some degree of autonomy from Moscow. Just as important, there weren't large blocks of Yugoslav- or Romanian-American voters to piss off. Poland is different on both counts.
TariqAlSuave 1 year ago 9
This has been flagged as spam show
Carter were a bit naive politically (having only state level experience in Georgia previously)
He might be bad administrator but there are things that Carter had achieved: he advocate renewable energy before it was popular, Carter also he bring peace to Middle East (Camp David accord) and Central America (Panama Canal handover)
ryviuz 1 year ago
Comment removed
ryviuz 1 year ago
light bulb
MsKissmejb 1 year ago
Nice guys...bad presidents.
TheUnkownGod 1 year ago
@TheUnkownGod
Gerald Ford was an idiot and an oaf. Carter was just an idiot.
raggedclown 1 year ago
@raggedclown nice GUYS... BAD BAD Presidents.
TheUnkownGod 1 year ago
@TheUnkownGod I agree. Both of them were too nice, if anything. They didn't have that killer instinct that you need to succeed in politics.
GusF 1 year ago
Hell, I didn't understand what the Ford was saying until the reporter had him clarify.
Holy crap! Talk about tossing a softball to Carter.
itpduder 1 year ago
What did Ford say about this afterwards?
7beers 1 year ago
I liked Gerry Ford, he was a decent man. But here he DID sound delirious, even if I can see his point. NOT just poor communication, here: disastrous. And disaster indeed followed.
Strophal 1 year ago
I bet Gerry Ford didn't sleep for weeks after this debate
FRSFreeState 1 year ago 22
Poor boy!
ravaefava1 1 year ago
This blunder as well as the pardon of Nixon DID INDEED cost Ford the election ,as it turned out it was a close election as it was anyway !!
7980COOL1 1 year ago 2
Gerald Ford was a veteran of WWII, and he was a decent man. For that, I had great respect, and admiration for him. However, he really put his foot in his mouth on this one.
ftsjr 1 year ago
Gerald Ford was a veteran of WWII, and he was a decent man. For that, he had my great respect and admiration. However, he really put his foot in his mouth on this one.
ftsjr 1 year ago
Yugoslavia was never dominated by the USSR, and Romania often disagreed with USSR publicly (even condemning its invasion of Czechoslovakia). But the USSR definitely had a heavy influence on the Poles. Two out of three.
herunarivelice 1 year ago
@herunarivelice Yugoslavia was dominated for a short time by the USSR. I believe Soviet influenced ended in the late 1940s when Tito told Stalin to go fuck himself.
bealio721 1 year ago
@bealio721
Tito Jackson ran Yugoslavia?
murdochmikey 1 year ago
Ford was ultimately right. The Iron Curtain begin to crack in Poland. Ford's statement was a lifeline to Eastern Europe. Maybe 10 years after this I read in The New Yorker--not a conservative publication-- that countries like Hungary and etc. always identified with the West and never with the Soviets. Where was Carter when the Gdansk shipyard workers broke Communism in Poland? When Romanians drove out Chochesque? Carter said the US was on the wrong side of history. No--Carter was.
shangpush 1 year ago
@shangpush No. Ford was absolutely wrong. If he had been right and there was no domination, Solidarity and the Romanian revolution wouldn't have been necessary.
Also, what the hell are you talking about "where was Carter?" Did you expect him to be there personally? Ford wasn't there personally. Both Ford and Carter supported those movements for freedom, I'm sure.
He may have said we were on the wrong side of history about some issue or another, but it sure as hell wasn't talk about communism.
CaptainAntlers 1 year ago
I can remember as a young child hearing the news of the debate in which Ford had blundered. I had no idea what he'd said or what it all meant in my being a child.
Certainly now I understand what all the talk was about. Ford seemed possibly in denial or maybe for the sake of argument he wanted to oppose. However this was not an opinion, but was pretty much fact (at least to a strong degree). I still don't know why a man of his stature had this notion? Even Carter looked in disbelief.
ianbillen 1 year ago
I like Ford
sandythebear 1 year ago
Ford was a nice guy
sandythebear 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
He really messed up with this one. Really.
crinihendrix 1 year ago
He really messed up with this one. Really.
crinihendrix 1 year ago
1:00
Oops.
kefkaROX 1 year ago
he was a little overeducated on the question....those three countries indeed were probably the most independent eastern bloc countries under the soviet sphere...but no insist that they were completely independent or not communist was plain stupid
pem82sox 1 year ago
This debate, like the entire election of 76, is very underrated.
mharmanos 1 year ago
I didn't know Homer Simpson was running for president...
lilgunner94 1 year ago
This debate and blooper got President Ford in alot of trouble.
67nairb 1 year ago
Scripted
manitobatouch 1 year ago
It's amazing how President Carter aged in only one term. He wasn't smiling as much by the end of his term. Those were rough years for this country.
louthebody 1 year ago
@louthebody
Every time Ronald Reagan bought a wrench for $500, he got a kickback for $100--Jimmy tried to steer an honest ship.
lumpagogo 1 year ago
@lumpagogo I don't think Reagan was that crooked. I think the three presidents that followed Reagan were real works of art. But for the record my comment wasn't meant to be a knock on Carter it was just an observation that he aged rapidly in 4 very rough years for the presidency. I also think Jimmy Carter is a decent human being. Not a great president but a good person. Notice I said not great, which doesn't necessarily mean bad. :)
louthebody 1 year ago
Gerald Ford was a great president and without doubt a kind and utmost decent individual. I also believe that he had an above average IQ. But nevertheless this little clip makes you wonder whether he perhaps played too much football without a helmet in his youth...
avien84 1 year ago 2
What was Nixon thinking? He picked a Ford, not a Lincoln!
superdavid002 1 year ago
My medical blog welcome
ambienbuy.
net
Mirovuder 1 year ago
I liked Carter but Ford wasn't all that bad a guy really, but this has got to be the worst debate moment ever.
Yeldarb4 1 year ago
This is what cost Ford the election. Even worse, he didn't retract this dumb statement for days afterward. The course of history was changed at this moment. Otherwise Ford would have won in '76 which would have left the door open for Kennedy to defeat Reagan in '80.
spitfirecjw 1 year ago
@spitfirecjw
I think Ford was trying to say that the Communist countries of Eastern Europe enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy (I won't say freedom) within the Eastern Bloc. However, this is not to say that Russian tanks would not have rolled in if Moscow had believed that too many liberties, so to speak, were being taken in a particular country.
newmark401 1 year ago
@newmark401 correct.
67nairb 1 year ago
@newmark401 Soviet leader Brezhnev tightened and then relaxed political and control over Eastern Europe and vice versa during the 1970s. But he did invade Czechoslovakia in 1968 when those relaxed political control went too far according to him and Moscow. Brezhnev and the other Soviet leaders crushed any actions of self-determination in their Eastern European satellites with troops and tanks, the Breznev Doctrine.
67nairb 1 year ago
lol
hello1234514 1 year ago
they were
realdealforsure 1 year ago
I think that it is safe to say today that Ford (with this comment) lost the vote of American citizens whose ethnic origin came from the captive nations of central and eastern Europe.
TheBeerNut1 1 year ago
ranks ranks right up there with McCain: "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" in terms of campaign-killing statements
sizzlakalonji7 1 year ago
One of the Worst Misstatements in American Debating History & I'm Glad President Ford is Remembered for Other Things because he was a Great Man & a Good President.
FrsBigeasy 1 year ago
My Parents said that Ford was a better President than Carter and he should've won.
BearcatWizard 1 year ago
@BearcatWizard From a non-partisan view, Carter's presidency was the definition of a disaster.
Ford's popularity was forever hurt by pardoning Nixon. However it's great to see historians as of late review his legacy for the better. He was a very good leader.
goodbadugly16 1 year ago
@goodbadugly16
Carter had made plenty of mistakes, but he also has a long list of extraordinary accomplishments as President (starting with the Camp David Peace Agreement). Ford, while a decent man and good leader, has very few accomplishments.
spitfirecjw 1 year ago
I think Ford wanted to lose in 1976. No other reason why he would make such a critical mistake.
Raford146 2 years ago 2
wtf man ? have u ever been in poland at that time ? Communists were all over and they were corrupting our govermant... nobody wanted them there but nobody could kick them out.
thug00 2 years ago
It was almost like Ford wanted to lose the election by coming out with such a ridiculous statement. However for the Republicans it was a blessing in disguise, get rid of a pretty liberal president in by their standards, let the Democrats have a man in Carter have a term in office and prove he is totally out of his depth and then bring in a staunch conservative and charasmatic man with Reagan and rule for the next twelve years.
stevoverbino 2 years ago
For Jimmy Carter this had to be a dream come true.
bke274 2 years ago 36
@bke274 Yeah too bad Carter's foreign policy was worst that that.
buck2239 1 year ago
@bke274
Too bad Carter was a joke.
seth917 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
this guy was a moron
kubaniski 2 years ago
Gerald for is one the normal guy ever become president, he lost because he couldnt play the dirty political game. Read the memoir of alan greenspan, and you will know it is a shame this man was never elected or re-elected
trueconservatie33 2 years ago
loool such a dumb president...
MrLaith007 2 years ago
I've read where Ford at this point just really didn't care and didn't want to be President anymore. Did want to be President from the start and was ready to leave. He didn't do much campaining as well.
dannyd1572 2 years ago
well it's like Obama...all pre-memorized and prepared information....off the cuff Obama exhibits average conversed intelligence, and rhetoric....and he went to Harvard!!!!, or that is, he "got into" Harvard! Today I think that's an appropriate distinction to recognize.
DIZZZZY1975 2 years ago
@DIZZZZY1975 well no, its like all candidates, do you think mccain or bush refrained from memorization? nobody goes to harvard under affirmative action, if thats what you mean by "he got into harvard." you must be assuming things? or maybe thats what you seen on Fox news, either way, seems like mr ford was living a fantasy world like all other republicans, all greedy corporate thugs lookin out for the rich. where was this guy when the mills started closing? check out the documentary outfoxed.
yfz450mane 2 years ago
The single most interesting thing about this clip to me is the correct invocation of the countries relevant to the point at issue--Romania, Yugoslavia, Poland. How intellectual standards have dropped among politicians, and especially Republicans! Even McCain, who sold himself last year as a geopolitical foreign affairs expert, mixed up the Sunnis and the Shias in recorded clips. That's like mixing up the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. Maybe Palin will know better ;)
slickhector 2 years ago 2
Funny thing is Ford was right. Russian control over the countries in question was receding and after Gorby's accession things unraveled quickly. Our propoganda machine had to keep talking Rooskie bullying and all that but take a look at South Korea and Germany: we have lots of troops in both but we are not "dominating" either state.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
He was completely wrong about Poland. This debate took place in 76 and in 1981 martial law was declared in Poland. The soviets were still completely dominating Poland at that time. Gorbachev didn't come until 1985.
vladislav3 2 years ago
Funny thing about the USSR: it could have kept the Empire together in that a little firepower would have done the trick. The same thing is true of the Shah's Iran but in both cases the decision went the other way. You can bet there was plenty or regret by both 'deciders'. Things are headed for a 'Darby Crash' in the Lower 48 as this criminal clique known as Repub-Dem continues its thievery and debauchery at our expense.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
The rigid Capitalists who see Marx as some kind of murderous ghoul/guillotine freak, can never point to his alleged advocacy of violence. It's only assumed. And they shamelessly deny the U.S. action in the Russian Civil War. How can we reason with these people? Few have argued that the U.S. was all bad and the USSR all good. A sense of balance is needed, a recognition that there was propoganda on both sides. Leninism/Stalinism was never pure Marxism; we lumped them all together--wrongly.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
Marx's ultimate goal of "each according to his ability each according to his need", in my eyes is a disgusting naturally oppressive structure which holds back human will and creative and forces people to be tied down for the good of all, no matter the ability of others.
SuperSuperfan 2 years ago 2
Marx unfolded a viable alternative to the "disgustlingly" rapacious avarice which had oppressed so many for the sake of the few. Nothing has changed.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
capitalism rules!! woot woot! :)
stza16 2 years ago
He put an alternative, to a yes naturally exploitative system and he critiqued it very well by my view in Das Kapital. But his solution to the problem was not a very good one to put it simply. I call myself a socialist, but am an ardent anti-Marxist, I'm instead a pro-market libertarian socialist.
SuperSuperfan 2 years ago
Leninism-Stalinism is not Marxism, was not Marxism. Everybody know that nothing works although 99% of Homo Sapien is relatively satisfied with the status quo. We are adding 100,000,000 new Homo Sapien to the Earth every year so how bad can things be?
lumpagogo 2 years ago
Uh... what's your point? I wasn't arguing whether Leninism or Stalinism was Marxist or not. They certainly had aspects of his theory and it could be argued that Marx did want the stage they played out to occur . But Marx's ultimate classless communist society can be just as exploitative as Capitalism, if not more.
SuperSuperfan 2 years ago
Again, nothing works on paper but it doesn't have to because Homo Sapien rolls with every punch as it plunges toward global annihilitation. Almost all Homo Sapiens have what they need, whether they live under Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, Feudalism, Semi-Anarchy (Somolia and others), you name it. Our endless discussions re. same are pointless because it's a slow degeneration toward nihilism. In the meantime, folq are living in the moment.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
BC's ad hominem attack forms the conclusion to this discussion. Joe McCarthy must be proud of the revival of the Red Scare. Our Glenn Becks and James Dobsons never tire of referring to Imam Obama as a "communist" even though the Imam is as much of a capitalist as they are.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
We need to debate the selling of the U.S. mfg economy down the river, the large amputation of our service economy, as well. We are also under seige from immigration, legal & illegal, while we fight pointless conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, by proxy in Pakistan. Aggression vs Iran is on the table. Meanwhile, we have a Moslem insurgency
"here" (not to mention the guerrilla war being fought by La Raza, Aztlan). Exactly, who is the common man's friend? Who are the real traitors?
lumpagogo 2 years ago
Speaking of violence, let's take a look at 9-59,000,000 American Indians murdered, 700,000 deaths in the War Between The States, 59,000 GIs dead in Vietnam, 400,000 wounded. Exactly what are you people trying to prove: that we are pure and everyone else is infected? You think your Reagans and Limbaughs give ein muterf*cker about you? Think again, your worship, and look at the hx of the Rooskie Civil War. And look at Karl Marx's words, not what someone said are his words.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
@lumpagogo You're a jerk.
67nairb 1 year ago
@67nairb
It is seen that if one argues a series of points, one is engaging in a reasoned effort to advance one's essay, by the bobo. Ahh, but is also seen that calling one a "jerk" is much more, uh, fun.
lumpagogo 1 year ago
@lumpagogo I called you a jerk because of your comments about the radical Left wing President Obama turnig America into a theocracy with help from former presidents Clinton & Bush. What a bunch hogwash! Obama is about the most radical, left-leaning, secular president this country' s ever had. He is neither Christian nor Muslim, he is a Marxist atheist.
67nairb 1 year ago
@67nairb
Isn't there a Beatles' song that has the lyric: "...Think for yourself (Boy).....?" It is what nair needs to do and he knew that.
lumpagogo 1 year ago
@67nairb He might be an atheist but guess what? This country was founded (look it up) on the principle of separation of church and state. His belief or lack thereof is irrelevant. My personal suspicion is that he's probably an atheist considering he's highly educated and education correlates with decreased religiosity (look it up). He's also a CENTRIST but you wouldn't know that considering how much Washington has shifted to the right over the years. More reading, less hyperbole, 67nairb.
sleepcity 1 year ago
@lumpagogo And for you to criticize the radical Left-wing Obama probably means you are way out in Left Field of him. Y'know what? I apoligize for caling a you jerk. You're not a jerk, you're just an idiot.
67nairb 1 year ago
1. Marxism has never advocated violence, only justifies it if there is reactionary violence started by the disenfranchised Elitists.
2. The U.S. most definitely entered the Russian Civil War on the side of the White Russians--plenty of combat.
3. A "few at the top control everything" no matter the economic model.
3. The U.S. is a combination theocracy/oligarchy/global-archy, led by the Bush, Clinton, Obama, RCC/Episcopal/Moslem Cartel.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
Ford was a WWII Navy vet, a combat vet. Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946, then served four years. Ronald Wilson Reagan, aka President 666, made army instruction movies during WWII, never even went to basic training.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
Ford must've had the intention to say something ORIGINAL, right? For it is hardly possible that he was unaware of the most basic political facts of his time. If he had no clue about the state of political affairs in Eastern Europe, why did he mention communist countries like Yugoslavia, Romania, and Poland by name? He mentioned the fact that they were sovereign states, and that is true. Along the same lines, the U.S. would always have stressed the independence of their own satellites as well.
langengro 2 years ago
Pgill,
Even you could have slipped up that sentence after campaigning nonstop for two years.
McCain didn't slip up, he meant to say what he said. I don't think he actually believed it, but he apparently had no problem taking Phil Gramm's advice and lying about our economy.
keyboardplaya 2 years ago
Obviously you don't know the history of the matter; Ford stuck by his statement for the next 6 days until it became such a disaster that he was forced to retract it.
esb84 2 years ago
Gerald Ford had right in one thing: Yugoslavia was really independent of USSR although strict socialistic under rule of marshall Tito but all remaining states were only satellites.
Loocas77 2 years ago
There's never been any international law banning communism or socialism; it should never have been our policy to tell others how to run their economic affairs. The so-called "Cold War" was largely our doing--we were told to 'believe' the "Iron Curtain" included Poland and Romania. We were told a lot of things.
P.S. There are still plenty of socialist and communist countries around. Why we are not loudly complaining and threatening them?
lumpagogo 2 years ago
There are not plenty of communist countries around, and socialist countries are not even in the same category. You need a history lesson, the Cold War was started after WWII when Stalin held onto everything east of Germany that the USSR had supposedly "liberated", and proclaimed it Soviet conquered land. Then there was the Berlin Airlift, Greece, Poland, and other major events that started the Cold War. Read up on it and get back to me if you have any questions.
esb84 2 years ago
Our friends who are dedicated to subjectivity must have forgotten about the direct U.S. involvement in the Russian Civil War (1917-1923). The USSR never had good cause to trust the U.S. and the "Allies" after that naked aggression against it. There aren't any distinctions between Communism and Socialism these days which is why the subjectivists have pegged Imam Hussein Obama equally as a "socialist" and or "communist." But all we need to do is examine "Corporate Welfare" for the best examples.
lumpagogo 2 years ago
@lumpagogo The Russian Civil War began in 1918 after the Bolsheviks seized power and ended in 1922 when they defeated the Whites killed all their enemies and complete political control over the country.
67nairb 1 year ago
oops
parakeethands 2 years ago
Wow, he is a President with the CIA at his side and he was this stupid on the issue. This is sad.
rawdawg15 2 years ago
It's still not as bad as when McCain said "The fundamentals of the economy are still strong."
McCain was talking about his OWN country.
keyboardplaya 2 years ago
Obama is basically saying that today -- and he has made the economy worse since taking office. With all the debt racked up under Obama alone, his young voters will have to pay it off. The old folks, who voted for McCain, won't be around to pay off Obama's debt. That's the supreme irony.
Oceanpacifica1968 2 years ago
That's not as bad as when Obama said he was campaigning in 57 states.
pgill1994 2 years ago
McCain was being a mature leader. Obama was inciting panic.
kiminokami 2 years ago
The largest political blunder in all of American Presidential Debates history.
nukenate 2 years ago
I think Gerald Ford would give up Republican nominee to Ronald Reagan in 1976. And who knows, he would avoid Iran hostage crisis, for example.
MrAlex78able 2 years ago
jimmy carter, knew in that instant, that he had won the election, per ford stupidity!...of course, jimmy did the same thing invoking amy, and nuclear proliferation against reagan in his debate...who are we electing?...mr ford mr carter & mr reagan had some great qualities...but, is this the best we can offer?...i guess we can answer that every 4 years!
1clarinet1981 2 years ago
I well recall watching this all those years ago and feeling a sense of incredulity over the fact that a US president could be that pig-shit stupid. Later, over the period 2000-2008, we came to wonder whether American presidents could be anything else but that!
Czerniakowska 2 years ago 7
@Czerniakowska Nope it got worse, now we have Obama
ltkhokie1 1 year ago
I feel bad for Ford as these so called debates that Lincoln -Douglas would laugh at hurt Ford. He held the line on a resurgent Congress and his Vetos were pretty much held up. I noted Tip O'neill was a dear friend of Jerry Ford and they got along very well.
bikr0 2 years ago
Mr. Ford really cleaned-up and cashed-in on the money train, once he left office. He was on many boards of directorships, privy to many investment deals, and to top it off, was a triple dipper with retirement pensions from not only his presidency, but from being both a V.P., as well as a congressman. But of course, my wife and I are not allowed to "double-dip" from both of our hard-earn Social Security.
Behold, the corruption of our goverment is pervasive, even with the "nice guys".
glaetze 2 years ago
I wonder what things woul've been like if Ford won insted of Carter.
davleuv 2 years ago 2
Both were terrible presidents . . . Reagan almost got the 1976 nomination.
pspguy28 2 years ago
No Ronald Reagan in the 80's probably. He wasn't the strongest of individuals either and people would have probably got fet up with him aswell and vote democrat afterwards.
yahoochatter 2 years ago 2
Comment removed
kefkaROX 2 years ago
A suicide.
schusterlehrling 2 years ago
OMG, Ford was awful debating! He looks like a robot, like a wacum cleaner!
cpinill 2 years ago
Ford was actually an excellent debater. This one gaffe damaged his reputation, but his performance in the first presidential debate was superb.
KabaneTheChristian 2 years ago
From what I've read, Ford was a decent guy and perhaps the last president respect by both sides. He certinaly wasn't as clumsy as Chevy Chase made him out to be. (He played football in his youth). I've heard he and Carter even became friends. He also narrowly edged out Reagan to become the longest lived president ever.
toddsmitts 2 years ago 3
"there is no soviet domination in eastern europe".
"thank you" mr. Ford from Poland
Loocas77 2 years ago
And we say that Bush was the worst President of all time...
mymatesurn 2 years ago
He was much better than Bush!
Enslaved10 2 years ago 6
Ford is an idiot. He didn't live at Poland, Germany or Romania. I'm speechless. Totally idiot.
coldatspot 2 years ago
Comment removed
BombasticTrooper 2 years ago
Dude, you're a fucking homo.
mtldemon6 2 years ago
He's not, but I am. x
Pommit 2 years ago
He was right about Tito in Yugoslavia, but Poland and Romania were definitely puppet states of Moscow.
lendmeurears 2 years ago 4
He was a nice guy, but he was an idiot. The 2 most significant things he did in his entire career were to cooperate with the manifestly fallacious Warren Commission, and to pardon the most reprobative piece of bilge to ever ascend to the Presidency.
HenryConway007 3 years ago
he had to pardon nixon, even if it makes me cringe to think about it. watergate had to end, it was a mess and nothing else was getting done. and he sort of redeemed hisself after his presidency. for years whenever a nation was having trouble with an election, they sent ford and carter down to straighten it out, or at least try.
tranurse 2 years ago 2
Maybe Im old-fashioned, but I believe that when someone commits a crime, they should be prosecuted, even if they are a former President. As I said, he was a nice guy, but given the 2 legacies he left behind that I mentioned, he doesnt hold a very favorable place in history.
HenryConway007 2 years ago