In Betty Ford Tribute, E.J. Dionne Claims Her Socially Liberal Statements Helped Gerald Ford… Win?
It's a laudable thing to mourn the loss of First Lady Betty Ford, but on Monday's Washington Post op-ed page, Post columnist E.J. Dionne is so kind he argued against reality. He praised Betty Ford for telling an interviewer that it would be no big deal if her 18-year-old were having an affair and neither was youthful exploration of marijuana. Dionne claimed: “That can drive political consultants crazy, but in Betty Ford’s case, it had a positive effect on the country and, I’d argue, on her husband’s political prospects.” Dionne can't have forgotten the actual 1976 election results? He didn't really have “prospects” after that. Dionne's probably saying it wouldn't have been as “tick tight” a win for Jimmy Carter if the Fords weren't such social liberals. But it allowed a lot of conservative Christians to feel that Carter was the better “traditional values” pick. Dionne claimed the Fords weren't about being polarizing. This is somehow what liberals say when Republicans polarize themselves away from the conservatives and embrace the Left.
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on July 11, 2011. Filed under