Part of Ford's problem was, while he is an ethical and good man, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Things like appointing Nelson Rockefeller VP. I don't know why the GPO always believes it must appease its left wing. The Democrats literally ran its right wing out of the party.
And, to prove the soundness of that judgment, old Rocky "died in the saddle".
Things like appointing Nelson Rockefeller VP. I don't know why the GPO always believes it must appease its left wing. The Democrats literally ran its right wing out of the party.
Ford could have flown around the country in a red cape fighting crime and he still wouldn't have won reelection. He was too damaged by Nixon's pardon and the fallout of Whitewater to beat Carter.
"The Democrats literally ran its right wing out of the party."
Mmmmm. Not completely. There a few of us left. But a threatened species to be sure.
I think the issue was more one of conservatives in the Democratic party being attracted to the Republican party and then leaving en masse. The radical left in the Democratic party was more than content to hold the exit door open as the conservatives walked out.
I think in the long run, that exodus of conservatives from the Democratic party has proven to be a disaster for conservatives. Conservative Democrats did, and to a limited extent still do, act as a counterbalance.