ITS GETTING UGLY HEREIN, let's remember

Actually, Ford irritated me less than most presidents I recall.

Ranking of presidents since WWII:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/23995/gerald-ford-retrospective.aspx

Ford was unlucky enough to follow a president who made being a Republican president unpopular with many who ordinarily would not hold it against him. I could never make up my mind about his pardoning Nixon. But I think I tended to support this more than not, although I was no fan of Nixon.

Yup.

even with Bush, save the several dumass things he did during his administration, there was not an entire spirit of rancor. The country was able to "laugh him off".

This time its seriously demented and no one's seemingly caring about how we're going to fare as a nation.

In retrospect, I thought the pardoning of Nixon was a masterstroke. Nixon's true punishment was the ridicule and contempt offered him by the nation. No small additional jail term would have been as bad as that. What Ford did was terminate the national nightmare. In one stroke, it was over and the government could get back to governing (which they did back then). And like a true leader, Ford knew ahead of time that it would be him who would pay that price to restore the balance in the nation and he paid it anyway.

Kudos for seeing through the fog, eng.

True enough. It was my intent to convey my personal impressions of the time and the fact I did not dislike Ford.

The discussions of this point were carried out in the early 2000's after the Bush/Gore election crisis. The "masterstroke" as was said by T Madonna (of F&M ) would only be apprecited after 1 generation had a chance to mull over the fact that Ford avoided a Constitutional Crisis and a looong embarrassment to the ntion. It would use up valuable political capital and start the divisiveness waay earlier.

Nixon was , somewhat rehabilitated by the same generational
"reconsideration".

I had several issues with Ford and his views on the environment n it did become just another devisive issue, when, if it were properly played, it could have been recognized as it is, another entire industry in which the US would lead the world for a while.

Not every country was quite so lucky.

and your feel good point is??

When you vote an idiot into office he doesn't just **** things up in your country, it's the rest of the World that really suffers. Bush's legacy is at work in the Middle East right now, it'll be a long time before they'll be able to laugh it off.

You got that right.

I think there was also the idea of protection. Presidents/politicians have each others back as much as possible or perhaps to the degree they can get away with it politically. I think any politician at a significant position would view jailing a president as a bad, er, precedent.

All gov'ts, but especially the US want to set a tone and they will not engage in anything that undermines the highest positions of authority. Nixon would have had to have been caught on tape strangling a kitten or something to have gotten jail time..

On the flip side, it's the same reason why Snowden will never get a pardon. Cannot set that precedent..punishment must be served as a lesson..I think this is power retention 101..though I'm not so sure its as they see it. I think there are other gains to be made by giving up certain powers..

Yes..

__________________

Till we have a proper post election autopsy , Id compare GW Bush more with JAMES BUCHANAN, whose brain dead inability to say "no" led to a goodly number of negative events in the US mid 19th
century. Buchanan had his "Cheney" (in fact several)
I think Id have to go outside the country to compare what"The regime of the Donald' may represent to the Republic.

Do you think the rest of the world laments when any negative happens in the U.S.? After 9/11, I sort of remember only the Brits showing any authentic sympathy, or did I miss something?

You missed a lot. Or chose to ignore or belittle it.

Aside from your obvious provincial knowledge regarding other countries, what I don't understand is what does others not caring about the US have to do with any given US citizen having feelings for the plight of other people outside of their own country?

We have empathy. When otherwise left to develop without the input of (too much) trauma or neglect, it is our 'natural' state. And once we have it, other than an active choice to ignore our world around us, we have no choice in feeling it (it would take a concerted effort on our part to reduce it).

And what does it cost us? In fact, in the long run, it is probably beneficial to our health.

Bottom line, I see no reason why someone I don't know didn't respond to my plight has any necessary influence on whether or not I feel for someone else's troubles. When I do this, I am making a statement that I control who I am and how I react, not others. And this precisely because I see no ill effects from my empathic feelings.

When I was young and told someone I liked their picture and later they were a jerk to me, I still liked their picture..

Separate things..

http://www.forbes.com/sites/othercomments/2014/10/15/u-s-gives-financial-aid-to-96-of-all-countries/#137ed9282170