Word: fords
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...FORD | INTERCEPTOR...
...just so happens that incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be launching her career as Democratic House leader the same week that the District hosted memorial service for Gerald Ford. That small twist of fate points up one of the capitol's cardinal rules: in Washington, you never run out of chances to make a first impression...
...After all, the Gerald Ford being honored this week is not the same man who tried to jolly America out of economic doldrums with "whip inflation now" buttons. He's also not the same person who came into the White House to begin with. Ford served as President for two and half years; he served in the House for 24 years. He arrived in 1949 as a surprise winner in his G.O.P. primary, who got to Congress largely because of his tenacious campaigning and charm. He was known as a congenial back-slapper and talented maneuverer among the House...
...Ford's minor claim on a presidential legacy came about in part because the skilled House gamesman was not prepared to manage expectations once he was elevated into the presidency. Observers assumed that he would tack hard to the side of openness and sunlight to escape Nixon's shadow. But he wound up relying on a coterie of insiders - Nixon's own shadows - from Henry Kissinger to the young Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who had no less zeal for the imperial presidency than their predecessors under Nixon...
...Pelosi's first challenge is similar to Ford's, and may provide the same kind of disappointment: To succeed, she needs to provide a solid counterpoint to the corruption and arrogance that doomed the G.O.P. Yet the Democrats' "100-hour agenda" already entails suspending the gauzy promise of bipartisan civility that moderate Democrats ran on. Rather, the Democrats will use House rules to prohibit opposition measures - the exact sort of "tyranny of the majority" that the former minority party has been railing against for years. Whatever the stage set (tea or Mass), the week ahead will likely be less...