Isn't that sweet and cozy?

And today, the Washington Post reports:

"Ford cited friendship in Nixon pardon: newspaper

By David Alexander
Reuters
Friday, December 29, 2006; 7:21 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Memorial services for former President Gerald Ford began on Friday as a newly published interview he gave The Washington Post suggested he pardoned Richard Nixon partly to spare his friend the stigma of a criminal conviction over Watergate.

In his 2005 interview with the Post, Ford went beyond his previous insistence he pardoned Nixon to move the United States beyond the partisan divisions of Watergate.

Nixon, facing impeachment for trying to cover up the scandal, ultimately resigned and handed over power to Ford, whom he had appointed to the vice presidency following Spiro Agnew's resignation in October 1973.

STRONG FRIENDS

"I looked upon him as my personal friend. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon because I felt that we had this relationship and I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma," Ford told journalist Bob Woodward in the interview.

Ford had long said he pardoned Nixon because he wanted to mend the divisions of Watergate. In his speech announcing the pardon, he acknowledged his friendship with Nixon but said his concern was for the country and not personal sympathy for the disgraced former U.S. leader."

And so it goes.