Posted on 12/27/2006 7:53:39 PM PST by tobyhill
Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.
In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney — Ford's White House chief of staff — and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his Pentagon chief.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Ford also spent alot of time disagreeing with Reagan. He was the epitome of a moderate. So be it. A good man nonetheless.
Don't know why anybody heeds a word this Woodward guy says. He had his glory days back in the 70s, and he keeps trying and trying to get them back.
I also understand that Gerald Ford had some "strong" opinions about Hillary Clinton.
Did Woodward publish this "quote" BEFORE Ford died?
Woodward has been accused before - of putting words into a dead man's mouth.
Semper Fi
Now that Ford has passed over, more revelations will be forthcoming.
Easy to say after the fact. But since the Dems had turned Ford into a "nobody" years earlier, it would not have made a difference, I guess.
President Ford was a cut and run Republican just like a lot of the congress now. I just about gagged when I heard the MSM claiming Ford began the ending of the Cold War but Reagan and Bush just happened to finish it.
Guess he never heard of the oil-for-food scandal...sanctions--yeah, that's the ticket...
Now that is a crock of shiite if I've heard it. Ford cringed at Reagan's (accurate) depictions of the USSR and the commies.
LMAO, the MSM is so crazed with Bush hate and enabling of terrorists in Iraq they will turn ANY story into an opportunity to attack Bush and the Iraq effort. I swear, next they'll report on how James Brown was against Iraq. These people are pathological. There is no story they can report without filtering it through the Iraq lense. They're report a freeway car chase with an Iraq War angle.
Woody doesn't have much credibility with me. I'll want to hear the audiotape or see the videotape before I'll buy any of this crap. Only an idiot will take a liberal at their word. A smart person will always demand proof.
What a creep!
Gee, Dubya must have lost his WWGFD bracelet.
Woodward could have at least waited until after the funeral. What a creep, indeed!
He was a Ford, not a Reagan.
The things about Ford I remember most were his Sphinxian silence when the Democrat Congress cut off military aid to the Republic of Viet Nam, and the evacuation of Saigon, and the desertion of people who trusted us, on his watch.
And then he wasted no time in getting it out. Less than 24 hours after Ford passed away.
Liberals are reprehensible.
I like the former President and as I have read he was hawk during the Viet Nam 60's. I don't agree with these views, if they are indeed his though. But, until I hear more, I wouldn't classify him as a cut and run Republican. I would be more likely to classify him as someone whose world view stopped at the Cold War.
Yeah, and I've said a lot of stuff too. Big deal. It don't mean a hoot.
I can't remember how Bobcat Goldthwait set up the joke but the punchline was:
"Ummmm...Bob Woodward said that Bill Casey's last word was 'Rosebud.'"
Ah, yes... leave it to Woodward to continue to put out hit pieces on the administration.
Liberal.
He'd better be able to prove it by producing the tape and that tape had better not have 13 minutes missing.
Woodward is such a classless troll. His timing is truly bad form.
Ford was a bit before my political awarness. I do remember him being a great "Moderate" during the clinton years. RIP
"..the ending of the Cold War.."
This is an expression I could never endorse.
The visible cold war may have ended but the reality is that communism was not defeated but went underground and showed up as today's democrat party. We are still in the mutually assured destruction (MAD) mode and, with a guy like Putin with his finger on the nuclear trigger, we'd better stay alert.
In fact, things have only gotten worse - whereas we had to deal with the USSR at one time, we now have our hands full with the Russians and the Muslims.
He was on Larry King tonight, and they aired this piece of audio tape. Ford allegedly said in the tape "Given the knowledge that was publicly available at the time, I would have not attacked Iraq, I would have pursued other options...".
I was intrigued by the "publicly available" part and wonder what he said about information on Iraq NOT publicly available. Woodward has the advantage of being to edit his tapes all he wants, and can take statements out of context.
Additionally, I think Woodward's greed is vile. He's working on overtime to cash in before the President's body has even been laid to rest. What a slime.
I am so tired of Bob Woodard. He thinks we believe every tale he spins. I just wish he would go to CNN and stay there.
More of my thoughts at Washington Post: President Ford “Strongly Disagreed” With Iraq War
Given Woodwards strong opposition to President Bush, the War and Republicans in general, I have a difficult time accepting this at full face value.
This one will likely prove to be a quote out of context. I heard the story today on the radio. The quote has a qualifier that begs for the rest of the thought and what was said.
I am guessing that Woodward did not take this quote out of context but instead made it up all together.
If a tape of this does exist it needs to be played for all the hear.
Like Rush always says, Ford came from the Bob Michel "permanent minority" millieu of Republican politics that was in full bloom in the '70s. I don't know if Ford, like Michel, ever got over being the dog under the Democrat table, begging for scraps. A lot of long-time Republicans ended up like that.
Precisely correct. Additionally, the communists STILL control the State Department.
The sick and attention driven Woodward could not wait a week, until after the funeral ceremonies to put this information out.
Woodward has been and always will be a stinking clown.
wrong
That's odd, because I was watching a very important public figure on tv last night saying that he was speaking to Ford with some others about international affairs when Ford was 91 (two years ago) and this figure said that Ford was very detailed with his questions and very closely involved, cogent, and concise in the conversation.
The sick and attention driven Woodward could not wait a week, until after the funeral ceremonies to put this information out.
Woodward has been and always will be a stinking clown.
****
LOL
A lot of people voted for Jimmy Carter because, being a Southern governor, even JIMMY appeared more conservative than Gerald Ford!
The great Party of Moderates, including Nixon, G. Ford, McCain, Guilianna, GWH Bush & son have just about put on end to any pretense of a Conservative Republican Party. IMO...a spineless bunch of political losers who are little better than DemoRat-lite! Thank these posers for giving us Jimmah Carter, Bilbious Clinton and now even a HildeBeast is a possibility...jeez!
Whatever one believes about Woodward's Ford interview, it is believable that Ford would say such a thing...he is & was a squishee Moderate and failed in most areas as a Temp President a lot like GWHB.
He sounds all right on the tape; old, of course, but all right.
And just why the heck is this garbage being heralded by the media? Because it gives them more ammunition. Ford should have just kept his mouth shut. Geez, even the former GOP presidents are doing their level best to criticize the current regime. I thought former presidents were supposed to keep this mouths shut!
And just why the heck is this garbage being heralded by the media? Because it gives them more ammunition. Ford should have just kept his mouth shut. Geez, even the former GOP presidents are doing their level best to criticize the current regime. I thought former presidents were supposed to keep this mouths shut!
You KNOW, being Nixon, he was looking for something..
We NOW KNOW that the democrat party is a wholly criminal enterprise..
But THEN(Nixons time), we only suspected..
I wonder..
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