It's really kind of too bad about Gerald Ford. He was a really nice person and the Republicans turned him into a comedic fall-guy. Of course, someone who didn't have his pesonal charm would never have been able to pull it off.

               He came into the presidency through the back door, not having ever been elected to anything but a House seat in Michigan, and then he pardoned Nixon.

               Frankly, I think he had to pardon Nixon. The public trial of a former president would have torn the country apart. I think Obama is in the same boat with the prospect of prosecuting former Bush Administration members for torture. It could develop into civilian shootings in the streets, and probably would.