The media never paid much attention to our 38th President except to poke fun at him in one way or another.   After he left office, they seldom sought him out to voice an opinion about anything - something he probably wasn't willing to do anyways.   The only time his name ever came up was when there was something involving his wife or the pardon of Nixcn.   He was destined to be a mere blip on the political radar until ... the Woodward interview!

Ford passed away after a long and productive life.   Most of the media did what they always do when an ex-president dies.   They gave a synapsis of how he came to power and what he did that was noteworthy.   They told us over and over again that he was the only unelected P-O-T-U-S.   Then they explained that he pardoned Nixon which caused him to lose the next election to Carter.   Then they spent an inordinate amount of time discussing things related to the pardon.   That was pretty much going to be it until today when the Woodward interview surfaced.   Ford authorized it to be aired only after his death.   And, of course, aired it will be.   That's because he disagreed with Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq, or did he?

Ford said:

"I don't think, if I had been president, on the basis of the facts as I saw them publicly, I don't think I would have ordered the Iraq war.   I would have maximized our effort through sanctions, through restrictions, whatever, to find another answer."

But that answer wouldn't have come so then what would he have done.   Sanctions were meaningless thanks to Kofi and his boys.   But Ford said something else related to the Iraq War.   he also said:

"Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq.   They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction.   And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do."

That is really the crux of the matter.   The administration should never have placed such an emphasis on weapons of mass destruction.   They could have included it in their concerns but they should't have made it The Centerpiece of the criteria justifying going to war.   The political lesson in this is never give your enemies something to hang their hat on.   Gerald Ford grasped that fact.   For that he'll be remembered.