Posted on 03/09/2011 5:20:44 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
Just a minor historical footnote, but arguably an interesting one . . .
A man whose Watergate reporting made his career and led to Richard Nixon's downfall has declared that Pres. Gerald Ford did the right thing in pardoning Nixon.
Carl Bernstein made the--to me at least--surprising statement on today's Morning Joe, in the course of a discussion of Jeff Greenfield's new book about various what-ifs in history.
View video here.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
Surprising? Bernstein says Ford right to pardon Nixon. Ping to Today show list.
Bernstein is no reporter. He’s a PR agent for the democrat party.
Many of the talking heads say that Ford’s pardon of Nixon cost him the re-election. But look at the electoral map of 1976. The South deserted the GOP for what it thought was one of their own..Jimmy Carter. We lived to regret that decision and voted overwhelmingly to defeat him four years later.
Carl's old....he wants a clear conscience
Ford’s pardon of Nixon was a loser with the traditional/Rockefeller wing that wanted Nixon lower than he was in 1962 after the gubernatorial defeat in CA. Your comment on losing the South is absolutely on target. Together, it was a one-two punch combination. Wiping the slate clean and going with Reagan would have been the smart move but it seems the 70s were just made to be the Lost Decade for the US.
It was the right thing to do because it kept our former President from having a trial and possible jail time. Never in America do we want a President in jail.
Hey, someone dredged up Carl to talk about Watergate again. Who is going to satisfy the burning public interst in Watergate once this old dinosaur dies?
ML/NJ
That guy looks like a cross between Jimmy and Billy Carter.
Speak for yourself.
I would like to see Obama serve time, or at least made to answer, for the fraud he perpetrated upon this country along with those who aided and abetted the fraud.
ML/NJ
Just curious: why don’t you find Bernstein’s comment surprising?
Ford was correct in pardoning Nixon.
Bernstein can stick it.
Very good point.
Revisionist History (put out there as further Dem justification for letting Slick Willie wriggle off of the impeachment hook)
Liberal media getting us prepared for President Biden’s pardon of The Anointed One in the not too distant future.
No, never in America does NAPSCOORDINATOR want a President in jail.
Cuz Lazamataz sure does.
There was no reason it couldn't have waited until November 15 of that year.
As much as I despise LBJ to this day and think Ford was an honorable and good man with good intentions, I have to agree with LBJ's assessment of him: He played football too many times without a helmet.
SoFlo: Bernstein agreed with you—he also said pardoning Nixon was the right thing to do.
Who said it was surprising? My point was that it was wrong. I believe that a President must be made to answer for his illegal actions; and Ford's pardon established a precedent that they do not.
ML/NJ
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.