1976 election...

[Reaganfan]

I wonder what kid of vice president Dole might have been? If Ford had won, it would have most likely been:

37-Nixon/Agnew/Ford
38- Ford/Rockefeller/Dole
39- Dole/Bush
40- Bush/Sununu

History would have changed!!! No Reagan!!!

[MarkDel]

I voted for Ford even if it would have meant no Reagan. I would vote for Howard Dean before Jimmy Carter. I would vote for Al Sharpton before Jimmy Carter. Most of you people are way too young to remember the Carter years...I WAS THERE...he was the most inept bastard to ever reside in the White House.

[Justin]

I would have voted for Ronald Reagan on a write-in ballot.

[© tweed]

Jimmy Carter...before he screwed the country over.  Then you go to John Anderson.

[Gustaf]

With retrospect or not? If not, definitely Carter. With, probably not Carter...but I'm not too sure about Fird either...since Carter means we get Reagan quickly enough, I'm not sure whether it evens out or not.

[MarkDel]

With retrospect or not? If not, definitely Carter. With, probably not Carter...but I'm not too sure about Fird either...since Carter means we get Reagan quickly enough, I'm not sure whether it evens out or not.

Gustaf,

I would sacrifice Reagan to not have Carter. When that man was President, it was like the Dark Ages in the United States. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, went wrong on the domestic and international front. With a few more Presidents like Carter, the United States would have ended up about as powerful as Canada on the international scene, and the economy would be...well...we'd have unemployment like your basic Western European (France/Germany) nation and inflation like your basic Latin American country.

[Gustaf]

With retrospect or not? If not, definitely Carter. With, probably not Carter...but I'm not too sure about Fird either...since Carter means we get Reagan quickly enough, I'm not sure whether it evens out or not.

Gustaf,

I would sacrifice Reagan to not have Carter. When that man was President, it was like the Dark Ages in the United States. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, went wrong on the domestic and international front. With a few more Presidents like Carter, the United States would have ended up about as powerful as Canada on the international scene, and the economy would be...well...we'd have unemployment like your basic Western European (France/Germany) nation and inflation like your basic Latin American country.

With a few more presidents like him, yes, but that's now what happened. Instead, you got a wake-up call and elected Reagan. That might have been better than having some middle-of-the-road guy like Ford in office.

[© tweed]

"Eastern Europe is not and never will be in sovet Control in a Ford Administration"

LMAO

[Reaganfan]

Don't bash the guy, he was almost killed twice in the same month.

[© tweed]

Don't bash the guy, he was almost killed twice in the same month.

That was so funny.

[Reaganfan]

Miami if you think any President dying is funny, you have issues and need serious help.

[dazzleman]

Miami if you think any President dying is funny, you have issues and need serious help.

Speaking of attempted assassinations, Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme received life imprisonment, with no possibility of parole, for pointing a gun at Pres. Ford.

John Hinckley now has unsupervised visits from the "hospital" where he lives, despite the fact that he seriously injured Pres. Reagan.

The handling of the Squeaky Fromme case is the way it should be.

[Reaganfan]

Got a point Dazzleman.

[© tweed]

I wasn't saying his assassination attempt was funny, his gaffe in the debate was.

[TheWildCard]

I would have voted for Ronald Reagan on a write-in ballot.

I tend to agree with that.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Without question, FORD.

[dazzleman]

At the time, I would definitely have voted for Ford.

But in retrospect, I'm ambivalent because a Ford victory in 1976 probably would have meant a Democratic takeover in 1980.  That would have left the Democrats in control during the crucial years of the 1980s, and I think the results of that would have been disastrous.

I think Carter was a dreadful president, and he continues to be a problem even 23 years out of office.  But while his presidency was a short-term disaster, it would have been far worse to have the Democrats in charge when Soviet aggressiveness reached its peak in the early 1980s.  The Democrats would have accomodated the Soviets, buying them more time to continue their aggressions, and the Democrats' economic policies would have led to continued stagflation.

So in a way, it was good in the long run that Carter won, even though he gave us a scary 4 years.

[© tweed]

I don't see why you bash Carter now.  He was a terrible president, but is by far the best ex-president America has ever seen.

[dazzleman]

I bash him now for a number of reasons.

Leading up to the 1991 Persian Gulf War, he personally lobbied members of the United Nations to vote against the resolution allowing use of force against Iraq.

I think that is definitely over the line, and probably in violation of the Logan Act, which prohibits private citizens from conducting foreign policy.  Forgetting that, it's a major breach of faith with a successor to take that position.

His conduct with respect to the current world situation is also a disgrace.  He is an ignorant and arrogant man.  Those are the traits that got him into big trouble as president, and his behavior since has shown that he learned nothing from his hellish performance as president.

With his foreign policy record, Jimmy Carter is about the last person in the world I would listen to on foreign policy and defense.  He should maybe consider the old saying, "never speak of rope in a house where a man has hanged himself" and stay away from pontificating on issues on which he failed so badly as president.  Then again, that wouldn't leave him much to talk about.

If Carter's qualified to give advice and pass judgment on how successor administrations handle defense and foreign policy, then Herbert Hoover was qualified to give advice and pass judgment on the economic policies of his successors.

Carter should stick to building houses for Habitat.  That's about what he can handle.

[© tweed]

If he is so terrible, ignorant, and arrogant, why does he spend his time building houses for the homeless?  Because he is self-centered?

[dazzleman]

He is a do-gooder know-it-all.  I think it's wonderful that he builds housing for the homeless, and he should stick to it.

That doesn't make him qualified to pontificate on issues about which he obviously has no judgment, and proved it for four years as president.

[© tweed]

That doesn't make him qualified to pontificate on issues about which he obviously has no judgment, and proved it for four years as president.

I wn't argue that point.
He was our last honest president too...

[dazzleman]

If the disasters that occurred during his presidency are the price of an honest president, I'd rather one who's corrupt and crooked.

[© tweed]

If the disasters that occurred during his presidency are the price of an honest president, I'd rather one who's corrupt and crooked.

Like Reagan?

[Dave from Michigan]

Ford Dole