October 28, 2007

Gerald Ford re Bill Clinton: "He's sick — he's got an addiction. He needs treatment."

From "Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford":
Ford's wife, Betty, who founded a pioneering treatment center after her battle with alcoholism and drugs, agreed.

"You know, there's treatment for that kind of addiction," she told DeFrank during the same conversation in 1999. "A lot of men have gone through the treatment with a lot of success. But he won't do it, because he's in denial."
Ack. Those two were deeply invested in the business of seeing things as an addiction. Do we have any reason to think Gerald Ford's perceptions are "remarkable" — or even useful?
Gerald Ford... believed Clinton was charismatic, articulate, a "helluva salesman" and the best politician he'd ever seen - even better than John F. Kennedy.

But he considered Clinton a foreign-policy wimp, and sensed that he hadn't learned from mistakes in his personal life - allegations of womanizing that dogged him during the campaign for the White House.

That opinion was based on behavior Ford witnessed the weekend he hosted the Clintons in Colorado [in 1993].

"I'll tell you one thing: He didn't miss one good-looking skirt at any of the social occasions," Ford said later.
Ugh! I should listen to the opinions of a man who called women "skirts"? And what did he mean by "didn't miss"? Apparently, Ford "didn't miss" the "good-looking skirts" either.
"He's got a wandering eye, I'll tell you that. Betty had the same impression; he isn't very subtle about his interest."
And Ford isn't very subtle about making his "remarkable" observations. What exactly did Bill Clinton do that wasn't subtle? Be concrete. Don't just underline your assertions with verbal filler like "I'll tell you that" or trot out the lamest possible corroboration: your wife agrees with you.

Bill Clinton asked Ford for help when he got caught up in his impeachment problem:
"Bill I think you have to admit that you lied. If you do that, I think that will help - and I'll help you. If you'll admit to perjury, I'll do more," he said.

"I won't do that," Clinton told him. "I can't do that."

Ford was stunned by Clinton's lack of contrition. "It's a character flaw," he concluded.
Ford wanted him to confess to a crime? Clinton couldn't do that. It would have made far more sense to resign the presidency.

Pop quiz: Gerald Ford, alive or dead?

52 comments:

George M. Spencer said...

Ford was actually a pretty sharp cookie....admitted to Yale Law School...decided not to go because the girls were prettier at Michigan's law school. Helped him stay awake in class, so the story goes.

Moose said...

So what exactly is wrong here? Is Ford bad because he refers to attractive women like all men of his generation did, or that he didn't provide more details of what he saw?

And to that end, why is that bad? Is it because you want more dirt, or you think he's making unfounded allegations?

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JackDRipper said...

"Ack"...."Ugh!"....Holy smokes Batman!

Pop quiz: Gerald Ford, alive or dead?

"Thwack"...."Wump"........

So what's with the Gerald Ford bashing. He noticed that Clinton is a sex addict. You notice onion rings and carrots. Ford noticed Bill drooling over the attractive skirts in the room. You notice young chicks with heaving bosoms photographed near Clinton.

Ford's dead, Althouse is alive and very, very picky.

AllenS said...

"I'll tell you one thing: He didn't miss one good-looking skirt at any of the social occasions," Ford said later.

Most of the women, except Genifer Flowers, were not all that attractive. Paula? Monica?

Meade said...

Hillary?

Meade said...

"...Be concrete. Don't just underline your assertions with verbal filler like "I'll tell you that" or trot out the lamest possible corroboration: your wife agrees with you."

Remarkably, from the grave, Gerald Ford stirs up his own little vortex. Ms. Althouse, he's dead. You're tutoring a dead guy.

West Coast Independent said...

Ann

May I ask why was anyone surprised about Bill Clinton’s womanizing while he was president when Gennifer Flowers came forward back in 1992 to reveal their affair?

Ann Althouse said...

Gerald Ford, stirring up vortex from the grave. That scares me!

I did write that sentence before I thought: Wait a minute... did Gerald Ford die? You'd never have that question about Reagan... or Carter... or any other President. What does it say about a President that you can't remember his death?

KCFleming said...

Ford writes like a man of his times, not a man of ours.

He's a boring writer telling how he noticed major character flaws in Bill Clinton up close, flaws now known to everyone.

He belongs to another generation, now dying. Yes, he would refer to pretty young things as skirts, but at the same time he would never strike, pursue, berate, or abuse them. Bill, on the other hand, mastered the art of pandering to women, and saying the right things, so he could use them.

One man has integrity, the other lacks it completely. Why women are drawn to the latter perplexes me still.

Frank Sinatra
What do I care for the skirts?
What do I care for the skirts
I'll make a face till it hurts.
Let them put up till it hurts

Ruth Anne Adams said...

What does it say about a President that you can't remember his death?

It means you don't remember what you write.

Bissage said...

Why women are drawn to the latter perplexes me still.

"I like everything about you. Your illness is part of you. It's like part of your character."

-- Hillary D. Rodham (on learning that her fiancé has been diagnosed with satyriasis)

bearbee said...

Having Paula Jones audited.....UGH!!!

Ralph L said...

It sounds like Ann believes Clinton isn't an addict, just spoiled and undisciplined. He's a political seducer, why wouldn't he be a personal one?
"Betty had the same impression; he isn't very subtle about his interest."
In Betty?

Laura Reynolds said...

In Betty?

Betty would have kicked him in the nuts.

Peter Hoh said...

What does it say about a President that you can't remember his death?

It says that he spent his retirement being relatively quiet, and he's not the kind of guy whose name people keep invoking.

Any Ford Republicans out there?

Anonymous said...

Speaking of "in denial," Althouse... How many of the Clintons' (plural intended) character flaws, and how much unethical behavior, can you admit and still vote for them? Unlimited? What does that say about you and your value system, or is that yet another question you'd rather not address?

Peter Hoh said...

As for describing women as "skirts," let me just say that I know/knew a number of men of Ford's generation, and none of them used that term to refer to women.

Freeman Hunt said...

The "skirts" reference didn't offend me. He wasn't saying, "I'll have one of the skirts in my office send it over," or "Many skirts attended the event." He's talking about another man being physically attracted to a bunch of woman as physical objects, and the use of "skirts" underscores that.

Ralph L said...

If you put the skirt quote in its full context, you'll find Ford was agreeing with Clinton's taste in the latest fashions and applauding his commitment to the cutting edge of design and his appreciation of superior craftsmanship.

Swifty Quick said...

So what exactly is wrong here?

The Fords nailed it, and that makes some people, like Ann, unhappy.

And the way I interpret skirt in this context is that Ford was referring to Clinton's attitude, the way Clinton womanized and otherwise objectified women.

I was never a Ford fan, but he got this one right.

former law student said...

Hello Ann -- Did you actually read the article? Gerald Ford didn't write any of this. He happened to have chitchatted about a variety of topics, and some NY Daily News "Journalist" wrote it all down. Then he waited for Jerry to die so that he could cash in.

I wouldn't have expected much more from casual conversation. And, if you've ever chatted with any elderly relatives, Jerry's recorded conversation sounds as articulate as Barack Obama.

And "skirt-chaser" used to be a popular locution for horndog. That's probably where the term skirt came from.

And Jerry died just last Christmas. Because Christmas is usually down time for me, news events that happen tend to stick in my mind. Other Christmas deaths I remember are Billy Martin's and Nicolae Ceausescu's.

Bob said...

It sounds as if you're less forgiving of Ford's choice of words in talking about Clinton's flaws than in Clinton's flaws themselves.

The Drill SGT said...

I think Ann still hold Gerry's U of M football against him. There are just some things that are unforgiveable. Sex in the Oval office can be, beating UW, never.

Unknown said...

Gerald also said Nixon knew nothing about the Watergate break-in.

former law student said...

LOS -- when did Ford say Nixon knew nothing about the Watergate breakin? Was he just repeating what the Attorney General had told him?

Unknown said...

Former Whatever:,
The author of the book being discussed (DeFrank) was on Meet The Press today and they played the tape of Ford saying exactly that.

Unknown said...

DeFrank also said Ford thought Reagan a a great salesman, but pretty much a dummy.

blake said...

Dames. Some babe with a law degree wants to pick on how a dead guy used to talk about da broads.

As for Clinton's doll's, some of them were real cupcakes.

Unknown said...

Blake,
What would YOU do without Bill & Hillary Clinton?

The never ending OBSESSION...

dick said...

Strange. She complains about his mentioning skirts but how about all the time people talk about the suits coming in or having a meeting. Much the same thing IMNSHO. Discriminating against men is OK but not against women?

Unknown said...

Ann,
Considering you obsession with Greenwald...why nothing on this:


A bizarre, unsolicited email from Gen. Petraeus' spokesman
An email I received this morning from Col. Steven Boylan is heavy on petty insults but extremely light on the issues that actually matter.
Glenn Greenwald [2007-10-28]

Unknown said...

your

rhhardin said...

I remember Ford dying. The service was at a Ford dealership in Michigan.

Ann Althouse said...

"obsession with Greenwald"

You're assuming I read him. I don't.

"It sounds as if you're less forgiving of Ford's choice of words in talking about Clinton's flaws than in Clinton's flaws themselves."

Oh, suddenly I'm getting credit for being sympathetic to Clinton. Wha???

Cedarford said...

peter hoh said...
As for describing women as "skirts," let me just say that I know/knew a number of men of Ford's generation, and none of them used that term to refer to women.


Not true. Ford was a combat Vet of WWII. The literature and culture of that generation is replete with references to "skirt-chasing". It may sound a bit archaic to our ears, but was a hell of a lot more tactful than the coarse black euphemisms used now...."looking for pussy", "Bitch patrol", "need a 'ho with some back to her"...which, 60 years from now, may not rest comfortably on the ears of those speaking the hybrid Latin Spanish-English language they will use...

Allens - Most of the women, except Genifer Flowers, were not all that attractive. Paula? Monica?

As Bill Clinton said to Vernon Jordan, as recounted by Jordan (who was shot after going "one white woman too far"), at a golf course "To us pussy chasers, there is no such thing as bad pussy. As long as they leave it at that, just good sex, and don't follow you around, who cares?"

Spoken like a charter member of the horndog club.

But in truth, Clinton's "covey of quail" included 4 Miss Arkansas, of which Elisabeth Ward Gracen was one. Walter Mondale's daughter Eleanor, who was a 5'11" blond stunner. And a black TV weathergirl who Bill helped land a White House journalist pool job 10 years after he stopped banging her. Another Miss Arkansas, Lencola Sullivan, moved up the peker order to be Stevie Wonder's concubine after her two trysts with Clinton in the 80s.

I think he preferred the high class ones with looks, but saw the Paula Jones, Lewinsky's as "easy pussy in a pinch".

I think the White House was hard on Clinton. Hillary had eyes and her feminista pals all over the place. Far less opportunities to chase pussy than he had as Governor without people around him seeing him put the moves on some little quail he spotted...He had no Peter Lawford type working as a "talent scout". Most powerful man on the planet, he was reduced to Hillary! or jerking off unless he got lucky.
Must have been hell for him.

blogging cockroach said...

you know it's hard to be a cockroach
and try to say mostly nice things in clean language
when jumping into a thread like this
if what i write seems weak and wimpy
after what you see above
just consider it a glass of sauternes
after you've been chugging tabasco sauce

i agree with what some people have said about pres ford
he talked like a man of his time
plus when he used 'skirts' it sounded a lot like
he was criticizing clinton for treating women as objects
'chasing skirts' is a fine old phrase that's supposed to say
something about the person doing the chasing
not the person doing the saying
pres ford didn't use modern weasel words
-- ugh don't remind me of weasels --
but what he said sounded about right to me
also what's wrong with quoting your wife
to get a woman's view of a guy with a don juan complex
and also because she knew a thing or two about addiction
maybe they were wrong to see addiction
when there was just a weasel --ugh--

i hate to say it because i'm a guest here
and professor althouse has said kind things about me
-- thank you thank you thank you professor --
but i think professor althouse's boomer antipathy
toward members of the 'greatest generation' is showing
and you've gotta admit
if you're a boomer
pres ford was a lot like your father

i remember when pres ford died because
tommy's trumpet teacher
who's in the air force band
had to go play at the afb in michigan
when they brought the body of pres ford
back from washington dc
-- tommy is the kid whose computer i use --
anyway tommy missed a couple of lessons
which was too bad because he only gets worse
during the week and he plays much better
for a day or two after a lesson

Unknown said...

Ann Althouse said..."'obsession with Greenwald'.

You're assuming I read him. I don't."

Wasn't there a fairly extensive Greenwald-based thread recently...?

Unknown said...

cedard ford says"As Bill Clinton said to Vernon Jordan, as recounted by Jordan (who was shot after going "one white woman too far"), at a golf course "To us pussy chasers, there is no such thing as bad pussy. As long as they leave it at that, just good sex, and don't follow you around, who cares?"

Link?

Unknown said...

"What exactly did Bill Clinton do that wasn't subtle?"

A better question would be: "What exactly has Bill Clinton done that was subtle."

The man was getting blowjobs on the Oval Office carpet during the daytime, and he didn't seem all that concerned about where it spilled.

Is that subtle enough for you, Ann?

And the American public's gonna put him right back in there for 8 more years of skirt chasin'.

Democrats .... LOL.

Ann Althouse said...

"Wasn't there a fairly extensive Greenwald-based thread recently...? "

I think that was one of a few examples where I saw that he was attacking me and I responded. I notice who links to me, even when I don't follow that blog.

Ann Althouse said...

"Wasn't there a fairly extensive Greenwald-based thread recently...? "

I think that was one of a few examples where I saw that he was attacking me and I responded. I notice who links to me, even when I don't follow that blog.

Ann Althouse said...

Slim, Ford's comment was based on the way he behaved when visiting Ford in Colorado, things Ford supposedly witnessed.

Ann Althouse said...

I'll do the Trooper York routine:

Oh you shouldn't do that
Don't you know you'll stain the carpet
Now don't you know you'll stain the carpet
And by the way have you got a dollar
On no man I haven't got the time-time
Too busy sucking on a ding-dong
She's busy sucking on my ding-dong
Oh she does just like Sister Ray said

Ralph L said...

Ford's younger son was in my sister's high school class of '74. Steve dated a girl (named Ann) who lived about 5 houses away from us for several years, and I'd often see him drive her home in a 68 Mustang (still my favorite Ford) when I was riding my bike home from school. When his father became VP in 73, Steve felt obligated to play the (much enlarged) field and dumped her.

Ford's birth name was Leslie King. Like Clinton and Gingrich, he took his step-father's name. Could he have had a political career with his original name?

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trooper York said...

I'm a scared Norton.
(Ralph Kramden, The Honeymooners)

Anonymous said...

Ann,

Billy-boys got a problem, all right... but I dont fault him for wantin' ta git laid. However, I do agree with Gerald Ford that it is a problem... and he aint got no excuse for his hypersexuality. At least, as a survivor of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), I gots an excuse for mine. For hypersexuality is one of the many certain possible side-effects of TBI -and I got it in spades... to my great embarass- ment at times. But I would never want not to have it.
In addition, with Hillary as a wife, what else can Billy-bob do.
Hillary likes girls, as I'm sure you know. Has she sampled your belly 'n thigh yet, dear Ann...you know, in the lesbian enclave of Park Slope where you and Ellen Degenerese shack up ?
Ask my old friend, former Yonkers Mayor -and opponent to Hillary last year in the race for one of NYS's US Senate seats- John Spencer about Hillary's lesbian credentials. Or ask Helen Degeneres what Hillary was like in bed... how many times she sighed in pleasure as Helen toyed with Hilary's private parts ?
Oh...see below for some of your problems, Ann. For I am a better psychiatrist -better educated and far more experienced in the mind and body and their interactions than all psychiatrists put together.

Tom


jewsyonkersislam # 428 Ann Althouse: Closet lesbian ? Poor thing... and its all the fault of feminist nonsense.

Below is a series of postings by me on Ann's blog. Anybody who doesn't know Ann should check her blog. She is a Profesor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and is living in Brooklen Heights ( the lesbian mecca of NYC ) as she tries to write a book. It is my contention that she has fallen in love with me ( see my "rigorous" analysis of such... the proof lies mainly in her words to and about me). In additition to her words, there are comments by some of her readers about what I have written and done that are instructive and enlightening.
However, I am here replying to the comments of James.
He awards me points for my jyi # 427, but asks something to the effect that my life must be "miserable" if all I can do is post things that I know will be removed as soon as Ann sees them. So let me enlighten him a bit as I ask him what more he wants me to do.
For I have been permanantly and totally disabled frtom 13 years old when I was hit by a car, fractured my neck, lay in a coma for 40 days and awoke to find I was completely paralysed... For I have seen the face of "God" and lived (indeed, that "face of ' God ' " is with me always ). In addition, I managed to become a lawyer, I practiced law for nearly 20 years in the (south) Bronx and Westchester Counties... as a general practitioner with a concentration in Family and Criminal defense work, I am a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army, Defense Intelligence Agency, I
have traveled the world -the Far East ( I spent a lot of time in China, Japan, Korea, the Phillipines...), the Mid East, Europe, South America ( Chile, Peru,
Bolivia...), North America... been to the Tropics and the Arctic... and, if you'd read my blog ( jewsyonkersislamiii-tc.blogspot.com ), you'd see what else I'm doing now.
As far as Ann, herself, she was a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Leonard B. Sand, probably around the time when Judge Sand was playing bully in Yonkers, forcing his social engineering ideas on Yonkers in the desegration suit. ( See jewsyonkersislam-legal/actions.blogspot.com )





1) Postings by me (tc) on :
Althouse "The divine Ms. Althouse." � Terry Teachout " "Formidable law blogger Ann Althouse." � Slate "
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
a) Back in New York, back in the work week


tc (me) said... Hey Ann, What work do you do -other than ruining the whole
world ? See below. Tom ( and I posted jyi # 426; for the rest,see my blog: jewsyonkersislamiii-tc.blogspot.com )
jewsyonkersislam # 426 " The Problem With No Name" by Betty Frieden:
Women

b) ( see below, for just as always before, my postings are removed shortly after I post them - but not before a few comments were made - including from the blogger herself, Prof. Ann Althouse from the Univ. of Wisconsin Law School who has inexplicably (femininely) fallen in love with me:)

tc said... (as noted above) This post has been removed by a blog administrator
( Ann Althouse herself, see below) 5:20 PM

Ann Althouse said...
What a dilemma! I have a policy of deleting everything tc writes, but that question: "What work do you do -other than ruining the whole world ?"

I'm trying to write a book, and I have writer's block, but that ... I want to write a book with that as a title!

( tc says... " What did I tell you...all women are crazy (cyclical). All you have to do is attack them often enough and they wind up loving you ". ) 5:37 PM

rhhardin said... What work do you do -other than ruining the whole world
I was always partial to ``Somebody Stole My Underwear,'' the cry of little brothers. 6:01 PM

Trooper York said... I would buy the tome: "The Girth in the Balance", Diet Tips from Albert Gore Jr. 6:11 PM

Ron said...
Whenever the Flying CooCoo Birds attack that should be our coded catchphrase: "sigh...oh Ann. You're ruining the whole world."
6:31 PM

c ) tc said... ( in a further posting relevant to the above)

To Ann - and any others who may read this before Ann removes it,

I posted my jewsyonkersislam # 426 ( " The Problem With No Name" by Betty Frieden:Women, etc.) and Ann has fallen in love with me (see below) and I dont think I've ever seen her. Of course, I'm on TV a couple of times a month before the Westchester County Board of Legislators and the Yonkers City Council so maybe she has seen me... And maybe that is why she has moved from Wisconsin to New York ?

Tom


Ann. You're ruining the whole world." 6:31 PM

Ralph said...
tc, don't feel like you have to empty your mind at us. Keep a little for yourself.
Most people like a conversation, not a monologue.
9:00 PM
Meade said...
..... Who else but God gave man Love that can spark mere dust to life! Poetry, uniting All-One! All brave! All life! Who else but God! "Listen Children Eternal Father Eternally One! Einstein, 1939, after Nazis & Commies united, proposed spacebombs that destroy all, unless we finally teach the Moral ABC's the real Rabbi Hillel taught Jesus to unite all in All-One-God-Faith. As teach astronomers Abraham - Israel - Moses - Buddha - Hillel - Jesus - Spinoza - Paine - Sagan & Mohammed, inspired every 76 years, 6000 years by the Messenger of God's Law, the sign of the Messiah, Halley's Comet: "WE'RE ALL ONE OR NONE!" "THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD!" "TEACH LOVE THY ENEMY!" "LISTEN CHILDREN ETERNAL FATHER ETERNALLY ONE!" Israel-Moses-Buddha-Jesus-Mohammed: ONE! ALL ONE! 9:55 PM



2) Posting on/at:
Althouse"The divine Ms. Althouse." Wednesday, October 24, 2007
For the Common Good.

a) tc said... Ah Ann, Lets see how long this piece of work survives (jyi #427). According to your last posting about me (see your own posting), I can see that you've fallen in love with me ( dont deny it, for no woman would believe it ).
As to the Clintons, I find it hard not to like Bill. But Hillary -as President- I detest. Tom
jewsyonkersislam # 427 silly, selfish and childish women; West. B.O.L,10-22-07, Hezi Arris Radio Show on WVOX FM,New Rochelle,etc.
(see jewsyonkersislamiii-tc.blogspot.com for the rest )

b) The above noted (#427) was posted and Ann removed it. So I posted it again and some comments about it follow:

James said...
Points to tc, .....
Something tells me this guy is probably supporting a republican candidate other than Wacko Ron ( if he means me [tc], I back no one but myself ) . Man, do you really have such a miserable life that you have to go around posting your bullshit on blogs, knowing it will be deleted immediately upon the administrator's return ( to tell you the truth, James, if you'd read my blog [jewsyonkersislamiii-tc.blogspot.com], you'd realize that everything I do has a purpose; and I do a lot, including reading, writing, singing, writing poetry, public speaking/singing, acting...) ?
I think I have the flu. I bet you it's the fault of those gay-loving feminists, eh tc ( I think its the other way around: women like gays because gays can talk to them like a woman does while still seeing the male point of view because they are confused by feminism -fucked up, down..., using the back door rather than the front, as they should ) ? 7:12 PM

As noted, I posted my # 427 once again and Ann removed it within 1/2 hour. But it is very funny. It is as James (above) opined, "Man, do you really have such a miserable life that you have to go around posting your bullshit on blogs, knowing it will be deleted immediately upon the administrator's return".
For my stuff IS "deleted immediately upon the administrator's ( Ann Althouse) return". But my purposes are so far beyond what James could conceive that... Besides, Ann Althouse has fallen in love with me...and that is worth the aggravation.


c) tc said...Ann, tsk, tsk, For your own good, you might as well admit that you love me. This is the third (fourth ?) time I'm posting my jyi # 427...and, very shortly, I'm sure, you will be removing it. You see, I've gotten under your skin and you cant get me out of your head. Tom

Revenant said...

What does it say about a President that you can't remember his death?

Well, he died the day after Christmas. Most people aren't paying attention.

Kirby Olson said...

It takes one to know one.

Chip Ahoy said...

Remarkable. It was remarkably frank to a person not expecting unprotected straight-forward remarks that are negative from a person known for their irrepressible good-nature.

Skirts. He was projecting Clinton's attitude toward women, not using his usual vocabulary. Honestly.
~
I'm loving your photography.