Betty Ford RIP.

[applecorped]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/lady-betty-ford-dead-93/story?id=3348308

"Betty Ford, wife of former President Gerald Ford and the founder of the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and addiction, has died at age 93.
In public, she was one of the most visible and outspoken first ladies in history. In private, she triumphed over serious personal adversity.
She was married to Gerald Ford for 58 years. Shortly after becoming president in 1974, Ford said, "I am indebted to no man and to only one woman, my dear wife."


http://www.snpp.com/guides/lyrics_list.html



[In the Betty Ford Centre]


Criminal: I'm checking in.
All: He's checking in.
Criminal: I'm checking in,
All: Checking Checking In,
Criminal: No more pills or alcohol, No more pot or Demorol, No more stinking fun at all, I'm checking in.
All: He's checking in, He's checking in.
Doctor: No more looking pale and thin, No more bugs beneath your skin.
Criminal: Hey, that's just my aspirin.
All: Check it out, you're checking in!

[casebro]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/lady-betty-ford-dead-93/story?id=3348308
...In private, she triumphed over serious personal adversity.
She was married to Gerald Ford for 58 years....


Do any editors read this stuff?

[Hutch]

Like her husband, I doubted she ever planned to be in the White House, and I probably would not have agreed with her politics, but she seemed to be a decent, gentle woman who tried her best to do positive things.

That's good enough for me.

[TheNooch]

Sadly, Gerald and Betty would be cast out of today's Republican party, on their ears. In fact, she might have been way to the left of most of the Democrats today. Can you even imagine a pro-choice Republican 1st lady? Or one that was publicly in favor of some sane gun control? I didn't think so.

I remember back in the day, it was considered odd to have someone publicly announce they were an alcoholic, or an addict, forget about the 1st Lady doing it. My dad used to joke about it, and of course, he called Carter "the Peanut Farmer".

She was one that I remember being responsible for changing the names of some psychiatric hospitals into "treatment centers" in southern California, where people could get help instead of shame.

93 years, wow.

In the voice of Jean Stapleton and Carrol O'Connor, "Those were the Days"...

[Tricky]

I am so sorry to see Betty leave us. She is a person I respect far beyond the bounds of politics. Her bravery helped millions of people admit and cope with their own addictions. She did something I've never seen any first lady do, which was to publicly disagree with her husband (on women's rights). More than Gloria Steinham or Betty Friedan, she is the person who, with style and humility, made feminism palatable to middle class, conservative women.

Thanks mostly to her, Gerald Ford is the only Republican I ever voted for. I wish I still had my "Vote for Betty's Husband" button.

[Darth Rotor]

Ya done good, Betty.

[Antiquehunter]

I raise my glass in honor of your memory!

[MG1962]

Some people seem to be able to transend politics but still use the power to create something good in the world.

Betty - the world is a better place for having you in it

[Sledge]

Do any editors read this stuff?

Sadly, that was what jumped out at me as well.

[TheNooch]

Well, here's a surprise, NOT...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church has announced plans to picket this week’s funeral services for former first lady Betty Ford in California and Michigan.

The website of the Topeka, Kansas-based church said the fringe group will demonstrate at Ford’s funerals because she divorced her first husband William Warren prior to marrying the late president Gerald R. Ford.

They truly are missing out on a lot of outrage if they are dropping the bar to "divorced".