R.I.P. Betty Ford

[+ glutes]

As those that visit the Politics / War / Religion forum know that I am no Republican, but some people cross the divide. Betty Ford died today, and she was a true Lady. She tackled tough issues and made good by bringing attention to breast cancer and drug/alcohol addiction.

RIP Betty Ford, I wish there were more of you...

[+ purplekow]

She was able to face her own demons and then turn around and try and help others do the same.

[Diverdan]

She and her husband were both remarkable individuals and true "public servants". I was upset when President Ford pardoned Mr. Nixon, but in retrospect, he did the right thing. The country could not have handled months or years of trials of the terrible things that Mr. Nixon did while he was President, and Watergate was only the tip of the iceberg. Betty Ford was a real trail blazer in dealing with alcoholism treatment, with breast cancer and so many other things in her life. I long for the days of folks like her and her husband in public life. Neither of them were perfect, as none of us are, but they were role models that unfortunately have been forgotten and discarded by our current "public servants".

[gcursor]

She left behind a great public legacy in all the clinics that have been set up. She has helped and will continue to help many people throughout the years. Many of us should count ourselves truly blessed to have known her for the brief time that we are here on Earth.

[+ Charlie]

Her accomplishments were more lasting than her husband's.

[+ deej]

Her accomplishments were more lasting than her husband's.

 

Very true.

 

It could be argued that she had a lot more time to make it so. After all, the White House was the end of his career but just the start of hers. But still, she's left a legacy few will ever match.

 

She brought breast cancer out of the closet. It had previously been a subject You Just Don't Discuss. Thanks to her very public treatment untold thousands of women were suddenly getting mamograms. There's no telling how many lives she may have saved.

 

And again with her battle with addiction, it was a subject You Just Don't Discuss until she shined a bright spotlight on it.

 

She also campaigned tirelessly for women's rights without ever raising her voice.

 

All of it with class and dignity. A remarkable woman.

[Guest Rich.]

Are you guys really going to eulogise a poster girl for self indulgence? Betty Ford swigged from a bottle of gin and demanded the world see it as a disease? LMFAO. I lived through an actual disease you couldn't discuss. If you tried to speak out, you were told to shut up, and if you didn't, you were gagged. A statue to that President was just erected in Grosvenor Square, here in London.

 

Thank fuck for HRH Diana, The Princess of Wales.

 

Honestly, are you guys expecting the rest of the world to be sympatico towards your First Lush, who convinced people it was important to look at her world through the bottom of a rose-tinted glass.

 

Really?

 

Richard

[Guy Fawkes]

I find it rather distasteful to have to apologize for a twit that is both vulgar and disrespectful to one of the bravest women of this century. I'm sure if I were the Queen I'd say: "Off with his head!"

 

However we live in a more tolerant time where the proper way to treat imbeciles is to give them their due:

 

 

http://www.indepthinfo.com/raspberries/images/raspberry-tongue.jpg

 

Are you guys really going to eulogise a poster girl for self indulgence?

[Bosguy]

Are you guys really going to eulogise a poster girl for self indulgence? Betty Ford swigged from a bottle of gin and demanded the world see it as a disease? LMFAO. I lived through an actual disease you couldn't discuss. If you tried to speak out, you were told to shut up, and if you didn't, you were gagged. A statue to that President was just erected in Grosvenor Square, here in London.

 

Thank fuck for HRH Diana, The Princess of Wales.

 

Honestly, are you guys expecting the rest of the world to be sympatico towards your First Lush, who convinced people it was important to look at her world through the bottom of a rose-tinted glass.

 

Really?

 

Richard

 

That is without a doubt the crudest post I have seen since becoming a member of the Forum. To make statements such as those about a woman who was held in high esteem WORLD WIDE is going way beyond the boundaries of common descency. I am truly embarrassed for the members of the Forum in the U.S. and abroad.

 

Bill K.

[Guest Rich.]

I find it rather distasteful to have to apologize for a twit that is both vulgar and disrespectful to one of the bravest women of this century. I'm sure if I were the Queen I'd say: "Off with his head!"

 

However we live in a more tolerant time where the proper way to treat imbeciles is to give them their due:

 

 

http://www.indepthinfo.com/raspberries/images/raspberry-tongue.jpg

 

No Daddy. The bravest woman of the century? LMFAO. The Queen of the Isles watched as foundation was used as a 'treatment' for the lesions of AIDS. I lived through the days when a 'cure' was a complete blood transfusion or chemotherapy. I watched as dozens-and-dozens of my friends died.

 

Diana, The Princess of Wales, took off the gloves, both literally and metaphorically. She hugged and kissed children who were infected, and later admitted she wasn't sure at that time that AIDS wasn't contagious. That was bravery. And changed the world.

 

By all means eulogise your American lush. But Bill W. was The Man who changed everything in relation to addiction. He made a difference. Not Betty. You guys should be proud of him. Not a Presidential Over-Blown PR puff piece.

 

Some of us expect better of you, Daddy "the bravest woman of the century"?

 

Joke.

 

Richard

[BaronArtz]

I agree that Bill W and AA were/are probably more effective in dealing with alcohol addiction than the Betty Ford clinics. However, that doesn't mean that Betty needs to be referred to as the 'First Lush' - especially not now that she has passed. Let's be dignified about her passing. Although the term 'First Lush' got me laughing quite a bit.

 

P.S. I always thought that Jacqueline Kennedy was the true 'First Lush', was she not?