Going to the grave anonymously

Okay, leaving aside the idea that a president should have, you know, an inauguration before he gets a state funeral, what is up with this?

Two senior Congressional officials familiar with the plans for the services said these would include the full military honors that accompany a state funeral. But the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the plans called for a less elaborate ceremony inside the Capitol and leading up to the service than the proceedings for Reagan.

Condition of anonymity? We're not talking about imminent policy decisions, state secrets, or even whose blood Dick and Lynn Cheney have been drinking lately. We're talking about a goddamned funeral.

And, oh yeah, another full week of hearing how Gerald Ford (a former president we haven't heard a thing about for thirty years) "gently led the U.S. out of the nightmare of Watergate." Watergate wasn't a nightmare. It was a criminal enterprise. A criminal enterprise for which Richard Nixon got off scott free. Gerald Ford lost the election in 1976 because he didn't seem quite up to the job, and pardoning Nixon was part of the reason for that impression. Watergate was a sign that our system of government worked and Ford circumvented it.

Don't get me wrong, Jerry Ford always struck me as a mensch. A good guy with a normal family and a very cool wife, but let's not go overboard with the national mourning thing.

And seeing how he was responsible for the career advancements of both Dick Cheney and Chevy Chase, he's still got some 'splaining to do.