Favorite Lines from President Ford Eulogies

In our nation's farewell to President Gerald Ford, we've heard several good eulogies from people like President George W. Bush, Tom Brokaw, Donald Rumsfeld, and others.

Here are my two favorite quotes. The first is from former President George H.W. Bush:

"History has a way of matching man and moment. And just as President Lincoln’s stubborn devotion to our Constitution kept the union together during the Civil War, and just as FDR’s optimism was the perfect antidote to the despair of a great depression, so, too, can we say that Jerry Ford’s decency was the ideal remedy for the deception of Watergate."

The second is from Ford's former Chief of Staff and now Vice President Dick Cheney:

"This President's hardest decision was also among his first. And in September of 1974, Gerald Ford was almost alone in understanding that there can be no healing without pardon. The consensus holds that this decision cost him an election. That is very likely so. The criticism was fierce. But President Ford had larger concerns at heart. And it is far from the worst fate that a man should be remembered for his capacity to forgive."

UPDATE: Considering how Ford's State funeral was filled with Christian language, it's ironic--writes Edward Whelan--that it was Ford who appointed to the Supreme Court someone who consistently opposes any government accommodation for religion.