Ford really really disliked Carter, he couldn't fathom having lost an election to such an incompetent. Once they both became ex-Presidents, they started to gravitate toward each other.
Their mutual attitude toward Reagan is akin to that of the runners up in the vote for Homecoming Queen.
Ford never understood the power of ideas and didn't understand how Reagan's rhetoric was as important as the defense buildup. He also totally misunderstood symbolism, especially in 1975 when he and Kissinger refused to meet Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn because it might upset the Kremlin. That was a clear signal to Moscow that the U.S. wouldn't stand up for dissidents.
Their mutual attitude toward Reagan is akin to that of the runners up in the vote for Homecoming Queen.
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So; what you're saying is that Ford and Carter behaved like a couple of bitchy teen-aged girls?
I'd forgotten about that incident; what a disgrace it was.
Historians will debate how much this was true for GWB as well. The question in my mind is whether W fails to grasp the importance of rhetoric or is simply incapable of execution.