Tonight I will pay respect to Gerald Ford in Palm Desert.

[David Zephyr]

Through the prism of today's current Republican leadership and that of its potential Presidential candidates, former President Ford seems like a giant to me now. His wife, Betty, is a hero of mine, too. Together, they stood unwaveringly for the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, had low regard for the religious nuts that eventually took over the Republican Party, courageously showed that chemical and alcohol addiction is a disease not a "moral" problem, and well, this couple did far too much for me to begin to mention here.

Am I aware of Ford's participation in the Warren Commission? Yes. Do I believe he knew the deception that Allen Dulles fostered upon the nation at that time? No. I do not.

Was I upset when President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, Prescott Bush's puppet? Yes, I was really angry at the time and I believe that it was part of a pre-arranged deal before he ever became Vice President. But, because I lived during that period, I know how terribly divided the country was and how he did, in his quiet way, begin to steer the nation back from the very brink. He also walked into an administration still filled with vipers like Henry Kissinger (who we now know he demoted and who we now learn that he disliked).

A few here have unfairly faulted Gerald Ford for outing the kind man that saved his life. Nothing could be further from the truth. And the truth is that the Fords a sent letter of sympathy for Oliver Sipple when he died. Gerald Ford publicly stated that the federal government should treat gay couples the same as married couples, including providing equal Social Security and tax benefits. How many Republicans in the House or Senate would say that even today? Indeed, how many of our very own Democrats in Congress would dare say that today?

I believe, like President Carter, that Gerald Ford was a good man and tried his best to uphold and defend the Constitution, heal the nation, and that he loved the American people and our country.

For that, my partner and I will pay respect to him this evening in Palm Desert. May the current resident of the White House ponder the obvious: Gerald Ford was a far better man than he or his father ever were.