Sammon: Like Nixon pardon, Iraq invasion may look better in future
During the "All-Star Panel" segment on the January 2 edition of Fox News' Special Report, panelist and Washington Examiner senior White House correspondent Bill Sammon, reporting that many at former President Gerald Ford's funeral service had accepted as correct Ford's decision to pardon former President Richard M. Nixon, speculated that President Bush's decision to invade Iraq might also be viewed as "right" in the future. Sammon said that, at the funeral service, he "heard people saying ... 'You know, maybe Ford was right about the pardon; the press and the Democrats all said he was wrong at the time.' " Sammon continued: "[Y]ou can't help but wonder if, a quarter century or whatever from now, people are going to say the same thing about George W. Bush -- maybe he was right to try to democratize the Middle East and liberate 50 million people."
Sammon's musings echo Bush's own view. At the end of a December 20 press conference, Bush said he discounted "short-term" views of his presidency:
[T]he true history of any administration is not going to be written until long after the person is gone. It's just impossible for short-term history to accurately reflect what has taken place. Most historians, you know, probably had a political preference, and so their view isn't exactly objective -- most short-term historians. And it's going to take a while for people to analyze mine or any other of my predecessors until down the road when they're able to take -- watch the long march of history and determine whether or not the decisions made during the eight years I was president have affected history in a positive way.
Bush has also reportedly compared himself to former President Harry S. Truman. According to Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Bush said during a meeting about Iraq that, "Harry Truman, with the Truman Doctrine, came up with the right doctrine, the right approach, to fight communism. It wasn't popular. He left office not as popular as he once was, but history showed he was right."
From the January 2 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:
HUME: Is it fair to say that Ford, successfully or not, fought to restore some of those powers?
SAMMON: Well, I talked to Cheney about this, and he says that the powers reached a low point during the Ford administration because of the aftermath of Vietnam, because of the aftermath of Watergate, and all of these restrictions were put into place to weaken the power of the presidency, the executive authority. And Cheney and Bush have very consciously tried to use their years in office to swing the pendulum the other way. Some would argue that it's gone too far. But you know, Brit, I was -- two and a half years ago I was in the National Cathedral for [Ronald] Reagan's funeral, and I remember looking down at the five -- at that time, five ex-presidents -- now it's down to three -- and I remember all the pundits saying "Well, maybe Reagan was right about, you know, 'tear down this wall' or the 'evil empire,' and maybe we were wrong about him." And now, I can't help but be struck -- I was at the funeral service over the weekend at the Capitol rotunda, and I heard people saying, you know, as we heard today, "You know, maybe Ford was right about the pardon; the press and the Democrats all said he was wrong at the time." And it -- you can't help but wonder if, a quarter of a century or whatever from now, people are going to say the same thing about George W. Bush -- maybe he was right to try to democratize the Middle East and liberate 50 million people.
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HARSHLY, for what he's done to this nation, and what will have to be UNdone in the decades to come.
But, there are two years of oversight, hearings, and investigations coming. Bush might still be seen uniquely in history as the first president to be imprisoned for crimes against humanity.
Either way, not only do I concur with your judgement of Bungle, but even more emphatically, I might reconsider my generic opposition to the death penalty for this special case.
However, I am still amused by the irony in the hypothetical of Bush throwing himself at the mercy of the International Criminal Court in order to avoid the death penalty under U.S. law for violations of the Geneva Conventions.
You still fantasizing about them Democrats putting Bush and his cronies on trial even though the Dem leadership has already said it won't impeach?
It's just a dream....it's not going to happen....please wake up and smell the corruption.
He's the same putz who wrote a book about the Florida recount in 2000. In it he detailed all the dirty tricks the Democrats supposedly tried to pull. When asked if the Republicans had done anything questionable, he replied, "Absolutely not."
So much for the value of his opinion.
History will show that the prospect for a new american century was misguided at best and greed gone wild at worst.
In 25 years, none of us really know how this or anything else, for that matter, will be. History always has a way of shaking things down and offers a clearer, better perspective of past events, than any of us see now.
So, Bush's popularity not withstanding - or regardless of Sammon's pontificating, let's hope he is correct. That all the mess and gloom we see in that part of the world will be better off in 25 years..........as Americans, we all should hold out for that hope.
And one day historians might say that Hitler invading Poland was a good thing. Dream on.
I knew WW-II was right in real time. I don't need 25 yrs. to know Clinton was right to stop ethnic cleansing.
I served our country in Vietnam and I didn't need 25 years to determine that we should not be running hellfire around the planet forcing Democracies on Vietnam or on Iraq, as it applies today. I'm backed up on this point by former President Ford (Republican).
Former President Ford has spoken from his casket, loud and clearly. He denounces the Bush war and said he would not have invaded Iraq. Gerald R. Ford also said he does not believe we should be running around the world hellfire bent on freeing people from different governments. He was denouncing the Bush Doctrine to spread Democracy to the region. Ford should have shared his vision years before he died.
We all know now that George lies every time his lips start moving. His newest lie is that all hell will break loose if we re-deploy our troops out of Iraq to the Real War on Terror.
We pulled out of Vietnam and it was correct and good. We must now pull out of Iraq. It will be correct and it will not transfer the war to our country. His statement is absurd and insults our intelligence. He’s been lying about everything for a long time now. Even his wife is busy explaining how great things are going in Iraq. Even Conservatives discount her statements as being totally untrue and out of touch with reality.
With our votes in November, we made a huge statement and George has ignored us. Our only remaining option now, is to cut the War Budget, and Impeach George. We must do it NOW before any more of our troops die in vain. Read the Book “State of Denial”. George is in total Denial. IT'S ALL ABOUT HIS LEGACY AND HIS NEW WORLD ORDER.
It will be the same as when we left Vietnam. We had the same scare tactic consequences of leaving Vietnam. I’m a Vietnam Veteran and in those days it was called the Communist domino theory. If we didn’t win in Vietnam the whole world would become Communistic. It was BS then and it’s BS now as applied to Iraq.
We would not be in this Bush orchestrated mess if the main produce of Iraq was Bananas or Watermelons.
If you want to pardon George for damaging our country and give him 25 years to work on improving his legacy, that’s up to you.
I don’t need your 25 years. I know right now that we need to start pulling out of Iraq. Ford is correct.
If Sammon is right, and history looks AS fondly on Bush's reign as they now "seem" to be doing about Ford's pardoning of Nixon ... that suits me fine.
Ford is an asterisk to history, a man who claimed he had America's best interests at heart as he granted absolution to a Republican criminal. In the thirty years since, Ford is still seen as having done an evil thing, even if SOME might claim it was a "necessary" evil for the "healing" of America. Maybe, maybe not, but will FORD ever be seen as a "good" President? Never, ever. Forget it.
If that's Bush's fate, and the best one Sammon can imagine, that's OK by me. Bush can join Ford and Chester A. Arthur as the absolute lowest points of the American Presidency, due equal parts scorn and ridicule.
MAY come down with a machine that delivers unlimited energy, a cure for cancer, bring peace to the world and usher in a Golden Age. Neither of these scenarios is likely. I just dont see how a president lying to take us into a war of dubious morality at best will be looked at kindly by history no matter how hard the right works at rewriting it.
Much will depend on whether the Democrats have the balls to open this can of worms and dump it on the table. I suspect that the lying, corruption, profiteering and graft associated with this ill-advised foreign adventure will astound even those of us who opposed it from the start.
I do know one thing. He will be blamed for any and everything bad that comes forth by the use Terrorism in the USA by those that dislike him. Even 100 years from now.
got a problem with personal accountability? yeah, typicah meat-headed repuke knee-jerker
Typical comment from one of this 'persuasion'.... senseless
is like comparing a grenade to marshmallow. You can't equate the decision to pardon a felonious president to the decision to preemptively start a war with a country that did nothing to us that has caused the deaths of thousands of people. There were no deaths due to Watergate although the constitution was assaulted. That said I think Ford did the right thing. Now if Nixon had caused the deaths of people based some neurotic obsession I might feel differently.
I don't think Sammon is comparing the two at all. His point is how history has a way of judging events and things differently than the way it is viewed at it's present time.
Sammon of course is a Bush cheerleader so he gushes to make the analogy. Right now he looks all wet, but only history will either prove him right or wrong.
if he isn't trying to draw a comparison between the two events, then exactly what is he doing? or maybe your dictionary has a different definition of compare.
Well i'ts nice to praise Gerald R Ford Lynn because he was far and away a better human being and man than Richard(I'm not a crook)Nixon.
Former President Ford has spoken from his casket, loud and clearly. He denounces the Bush war and said he would not have invaded Iraq. Gerald R. Ford also said he does not believe we should be running around the world hellfire bent on freeing people from different governments. He was denouncing the Bush Doctrine to spread Democracy to the region. For his vision on this matter I praise him for being correct.
May god rest his soul and pardon him for pardoning Nixon. I think Lynn that you enjoy the majority opinion on the pardon, but I and many others still believe it was wrong. The most powerful man in our country, more than anyone else, must be held accountable for crimes they commit.
The Ford pardon of Nixon's crimes was a precedent that has given a signal to Bush and Cheney that they too are above the law.
But when I balance everything about Ford out, he was just one heck of a good guy.
I can certainly understand your views. I was about 15-16 at the time of Nixon's departure so my political views pretty much came from my parents. My parents could not stand Nixon and they wanted him to go to jail. They were outraged at the pardon and I was outraged because they were outraged. It also definitely colored their feelings about Ford; the Nixon pardon coupled with the fact that Ford was a Republican forever put him on their bad list. Although later my mother began to realize that Ford wasn’t a bad man at all. Looking back at 1974 from 2007 and having a better understanding about all that was happening at the time and I truly believe it was best that we as a country did not get bogged down in legal proceedings that could have lasted for years, diverting money, attention, and effort away from more pressing matters. Some feel that Nixon didn't suffer enough for what he did. I think his name has been tainted forever in history; imagine a man who obsessively craved greatness dying with the knowledge that the world knew he was anything but. Devine punishment may differ considerably from what we mere humans think it should be. I also have a better understanding of Ford the man, I think he was a fine decent human being and I for one think that's a pretty great thing to be and history will remember him as such.
At the time Ford pardoned Nixon I was in agreement with your mom and dad. I saw the pardon as Republican damage control to save them from total destruction. I still believe that today.
Then by the time of Daddy Bush I was with you and your mom on the Ford pardon. I liked the way Bush Sr. collected world approval before his war with Iraq. Too bad his son didn't learn anything from the administration of that war.
I was still haunted by that pardon though.
Today, George W. Bush has me back with your dad, passionately hating the very idea of pardoning the crimes of the most powerful man on Earth.
Due to that pardon, George knows that he too will be pardoned just like Nixon was.
I will be the first who is willing to suffer through whatever hearings, committees, impeachment proceedings that it takes to get ourselves a good man or woman in the White House.
A President like G. Ford, like H. Clinton, like B. Obama, like J. Edwards and the list goes on and on.
And it's so very important to hold GWB accountable for the crimes that has caused 3000 of our best to be dead and still dying in vain.
I served in Vietnam where even more of us died in vain. And now the nightmare is alive again. I will just politely disagree with that pardon and hope it doesn’t happen this time around.
Vietnam comes to mind. Wrong then. Wrong still.
Unless we suddenly discover WMD, or a link to 9/11 & Saddam, then I can't fathom how history will view Bush's invasion of Iraq as anything more than a colossal mistake.
Even IF [and it's a big if] Iraq someday is stabilized I hardy think historians will agree it was worth the bloodshed or the money.
Sammon is just another Bush apologist.
And in a sick way, it's really funny, that Bush & Cheney, still think that the War in Vietnam was a just war. I'd be willing to bet that they're not the only ones who think this way.
has been using the death of Ford to bring up his unpopular decision and compare it to Bush's unpopular war. They miss one important point, Ford brilliantly ended a crisis for our nation, Bush ignorantly started one.
Though Nixon avoided criminal prosecution for his transgressions, his actions were not completely without consequence. Justice was at least served in part when he resigned. In that light, Ford's decision seems the wiser action.
As for Bush, everyone but Bush is paying for his transgressions. Bad poll numbers alone don't strike me as justice served.
This is the cultural phenomenon that Sammon is counting on.
He is projecting his hope that with enough whitewash and the haze of time, people will forget just how wrongheaded the idea was and let it slide knowing that the mistake, however grievous, is far beyond undoing.
If memory serves me right no one died when Ford pardoned Nixon.
And, he probably saved the taxpayers money by pardoning Nixon. Just think what could have been accomplished with the money Bush is wasting in Iraq. National Healthcare? Cancer research? Education reform? Real Anti-Terrorism programs? We'll never know.
The Pardon of Nixon emboldened all future Presidents to believe they are free to commit crimes against our country.
GWB has 3007 of our best people dead and still dying in vain. Thousands have been permanently injured and thousands are dead and still dying. GWB's lies that got us into this Mess are CRIMMINAL.
Case in point:
Republican (OR) Gordon Smith - - "And I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. IT MAY EVEN BE CRIMINAL. I cannot support that any more.
So yes, your correct, at the time of the pardon, nobody died, but look at the results of that pardon today.
We now have a dictator in the White House who doesn't give a damn what the Voters or the Generals and many others have called for. He's confident and emboldened by that pardon of Nixon to escalate his war. He has lost this war and now he’s desperate to save his sorry legacy.
That escalation will also be a CRIMMINAL ACT. The death rate of our poor miss lead troops with spike way up and we know now that the only remaining solution is a political one. The Generals and most experts agree with that.
I don't agree with you that no one died because of that pardon.
Ah, yes. Yet another myth brought to us by the Republican Party. The Myth of Distance. As if it is a prerequisite that things can only be understood once a certain token amount of time has passed, that there is such a thing as the myopia of the moment because, shucks, dumb folks (read: anybody who disagrees with the policy in question) aren't attuned to the Big Picture or endowed with preternatural prescience like the smart people (read: anybody who agrees with the policy in question) are.
Just the other day I was ruminating on a meal I ordered 25 years ago, and it’s only now that I can fully appreciate the decision to have the veal cutlet dinner instead of the spaghetti with meat sauce platter.