VACUUM CLEANERS
If there was a central theme to all the eulogies at the Ford funeral, it was that he was an honest, simple man. In political terms, simple means vacuous and power loves a vacuum. Incubating in the Ford White House were players that would, in 2006, topple America from it's moral leadership position in the world. The stage was set for the decline of America.
After the first plane struck the World Trade Tower, CIA agent's burst into Dick Cheney's chamber, ordered him into a fetal position, and ignominiously carried the shaken Vice President to his bunker deep beneath the White House. His boss was circling over the Midwestern skies when Cheney's call came asking for authorization (which he received) to shoot down civilian airliners heading for the centers of power --like the Capitol and the White House itself. The second plane hit the second Trade tower and the Pentagon was squarely hit, having lost a side.
In the greatest dereliction of duty case in US history, America's Number One and Number Two, who had been warned that US airliners would be commandeered by terrorists and flown into tall buildings, had been inexplicably caught with their pants down.
In all, five airliners were believed to have been highjacked by terrorists, and only three were accounted for. Cheney sent out his shoot down order, and when the fourth plane nose-dived into the Pennsylvania field, the Vice President believed he had shot down an American passenger jet.
These kinds of experiences can leave a lasting impression on anyone, and the Cold Warrior, Dick Cheney was no exception. He had cut his teeth during the Ford administration, when he and Donald Rumsfeld had effectively taken over the White House.
Gerald Ford's Veep, Nelson Rockefeller and Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger (borrowed from Nixon's tenure), were all that stood in the way of the Cheney/ Rumsfeld tag team, and they proved to be no match. Kissinger and Rockefeller were easily marginalized.
In the absence of a strong president, the dynamic duo staged a palace coup with White House Chief of Staff, Donald Rumsfeld replacing Defense Secretary James Schlesinger and Dick Cheney moving up from Assistant to the President to fill Rumsfeld's vacated position as White House Chief of Staff.
Further consolidating power, they later brought in George H. W. Bush (who found Rockefeller's brand of Republican Liberalism unacceptable) to head the CIA: a favor that was repaid when Poppy Bush became President and hired on Dick Cheney as Secretary of Defense.
Closure of the Ford vacuum didn't occur until the dark forces of the Republican party, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and James Baker (Secretary of State under Bush I) planted Junior Bush in the White House with Cheney as his vice, leaving Rumsfeld to head the military as Secretary of Defense for the second time in his career. Unfortunately, 30 years had transpired since Rumsfeld had become the youngest man to hold the position. The world had changed.
Now everything was in place for the anachronistic Cold Warriors to make the single-most catastrophic misjudgment in US history: to conjure up a nuclear sovereign state to retaliate against for the ad hoc terrorist crimes of 9/11.
Gerald Ford and George W. Bush were both simple men. Both were easily manipulated. Both were vacuous, leaving vacuums quickly filled by ambitious bureaucrats with outdated notions and hidden agendas. If our country descended into second class status with breathtaking speed, we have only the vacuum to thank. Vacuums are dangerous places: one only needs to consider Iraq after Saddam's ouster to know this. Weak presidents get their clocks cleaned.
When Osama bin Laden attacked the US, the pieces were all in place. And those pieces were present in the National Cathedral to honor, and bury, the legacy of Gerald R. Ford.
If there was a central theme to all the eulogies at the Ford funeral, it was that he was an honest, simple man. In political terms, simple means vacuous and power loves a vacuum. Incubating in the Ford White House were players that would, in 2006, topple America from it's moral leadership position in the world. The stage was set for the decline of America.
After the first plane struck the World Trade Tower, CIA agent's burst into Dick Cheney's chamber, ordered him into a fetal position, and ignominiously carried the shaken Vice President to his bunker deep beneath the White House. His boss was circling over the Midwestern skies when Cheney's call came asking for authorization (which he received) to shoot down civilian airliners heading for the centers of power --like the Capitol and the White House itself. The second plane hit the second Trade tower and the Pentagon was squarely hit, having lost a side.
In the greatest dereliction of duty case in US history, America's Number One and Number Two, who had been warned that US airliners would be commandeered by terrorists and flown into tall buildings, had been inexplicably caught with their pants down.
In all, five airliners were believed to have been highjacked by terrorists, and only three were accounted for. Cheney sent out his shoot down order, and when the fourth plane nose-dived into the Pennsylvania field, the Vice President believed he had shot down an American passenger jet.
These kinds of experiences can leave a lasting impression on anyone, and the Cold Warrior, Dick Cheney was no exception. He had cut his teeth during the Ford administration, when he and Donald Rumsfeld had effectively taken over the White House.
Gerald Ford's Veep, Nelson Rockefeller and Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger (borrowed from Nixon's tenure), were all that stood in the way of the Cheney/ Rumsfeld tag team, and they proved to be no match. Kissinger and Rockefeller were easily marginalized.
In the absence of a strong president, the dynamic duo staged a palace coup with White House Chief of Staff, Donald Rumsfeld replacing Defense Secretary James Schlesinger and Dick Cheney moving up from Assistant to the President to fill Rumsfeld's vacated position as White House Chief of Staff.
Further consolidating power, they later brought in George H. W. Bush (who found Rockefeller's brand of Republican Liberalism unacceptable) to head the CIA: a favor that was repaid when Poppy Bush became President and hired on Dick Cheney as Secretary of Defense.
Closure of the Ford vacuum didn't occur until the dark forces of the Republican party, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and James Baker (Secretary of State under Bush I) planted Junior Bush in the White House with Cheney as his vice, leaving Rumsfeld to head the military as Secretary of Defense for the second time in his career. Unfortunately, 30 years had transpired since Rumsfeld had become the youngest man to hold the position. The world had changed.
Now everything was in place for the anachronistic Cold Warriors to make the single-most catastrophic misjudgment in US history: to conjure up a nuclear sovereign state to retaliate against for the ad hoc terrorist crimes of 9/11.
Gerald Ford and George W. Bush were both simple men. Both were easily manipulated. Both were vacuous, leaving vacuums quickly filled by ambitious bureaucrats with outdated notions and hidden agendas. If our country descended into second class status with breathtaking speed, we have only the vacuum to thank. Vacuums are dangerous places: one only needs to consider Iraq after Saddam's ouster to know this. Weak presidents get their clocks cleaned.
When Osama bin Laden attacked the US, the pieces were all in place. And those pieces were present in the National Cathedral to honor, and bury, the legacy of Gerald R. Ford.
posted by R. Reynolds at 10:27 AM
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