Woodward Chants Up a Ford Zombie

Last night we saw that Wonkette couldn't wait for the funeral to start bashing Gerald Ford.

Here comes Bob Woodward, who can't wait until Ford is cold to start using him to bash Bush. Very nice. But irrelevant. He had his own tough decisions to make in his time. Bush's own father isn't crazy about the Iraq War, either. Neither is Jimmy Carter, who fumbled the Great Jihadi Wars kickoff 25 years ago, or Bill Clinton, who wanted to go after Saddam in the worst way but couldn't get it up for more than a few missiles.

Disappointing that Ford agreed to attack a sitting president's decisions on condition they not be aired until he is dead, despite the distinct possibility that would be within the sitting president's term. Disappointing that his arguments are so simplistic, at least in this presentation, and fail to address the real threat to U.S. national interest that Saddam presented and the corruption and collapse of 12 years of sanctions that was underway at the time of the invasion. Disgusting that Woodward lacks the decency to sit on this at least until after the funeral.

Curt at Flopping Aces notes that Cindy Sheehan is losing it ... I mean, more of it: Iraq is Gerald Ford's fault.

To get that bad taste out of your mouth, here's Don Surber on Ford's Profile in Courage Award for pardoning Nixon, when he had the guts to spare the nation further trauma.

Here's Bush on Ford.

UPDATE: Another quarter heard from re Ford's view on Iraq. Thomas DeFrank, NY Daily News Washington Bureau Chief:

Ford was a few weeks shy of his 93rd birthday as we chatted for about 45 minutes. He'd been visited by President Bush three weeks earlier and said he'd told Bush he supported the war in Iraq but that the 43rd President had erred by staking the invasion on weapons of mass destruction.

"Saddam Hussein was an evil person and there was justification to get rid of him," he observed, "but we shouldn't have put the basis on weapons of mass destruction. That was a bad mistake. Where does [Bush] get his advice?"

Ford was predictably defensive about Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, his two White House chiefs of staff. Asked why Cheney had tanked in public opinion polls, he smiled. "Dick's a classy guy, but he's not an electrified orator."

But he didn't like Bush's domestic surveillance program. "It may be a necessary evil," he conceded. "I don't think it's a terrible transgression, but I would never do it. I was dumbfounded when I heard they were doing it."

Apparently Ford's message was somewhat more nuanced than Woodward presented. I still think former presidents should be seen and not heard, however. Unless they plan on camping out with Cindy in the ditch. (h/t ed driscoll)