I read the news today that President Ford passed away. My condolences to the Ford Family, especially his wife Betty. The media seems to be working overtime to remind us that President Ford was the only unelected U.S. president and that his pardon of President Richard Nixon may have cost him the presidency in 1976, a debatable contention. A couple weeks ago, the media turned South Dakota’s U.S. Senator Tim Johnson’s courageous fight to survive brain surgery into a balance of power struggle in the U.S. Senate. What a shame.
It’s a shame that the media always seems to find a political angle to every story, even when lives are at stake and deaths are involved. President Ford, a Republican, deserves to be remembered as a U.S. President, without asterick or caveat, just as much as the other 42 men who served in the office. Likewise, Senator Johnson, a Democrat, deserves the dignity to be left out of politics while he recovers from surgery. No one should focus on the balance of power in the U.S. Senate and whether it will tip in favor of the Republicans or Democrats–Senator Johnson deserves a chance at full recovery. Democrats should not be rooting for him to live in order to pass bills, and Republicans should not be wishing the worst to befall him. The business of Congress can wait. The media should focus less on making a political story out of human tragedy. Matters of life and death should not be politicized.
