Mark Bixler, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (2-22-05):

Former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter survey the nation they once led and frown at its split into red and blue states. They say they have never before seen such bitter division between Republicans and Democrats.

They have forged a 25-year friendship that defies the partisan rancor swirling around them. Historians say they are closer than any former presidents since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. It's unusual because Carter, who defeated Ford in 1976, is a Democrat and Ford is Republican.

Ford said it would please him if the relationship reminds people to put country ahead of politics, to stand up for their political beliefs without tearing down those who see things differently.

"It's in the best interests of the country," Ford said in a rare interview.

Carter called Ford "one of the most admirable public servants . . . and human beings" he knows. "He's one of my political heroes," Carter said.

The former presidents co-authored a 1983 Reader's Digest article criticizing Israel, a 1988 governing blueprint for President George H.W. Bush and a 1998 New York Times op-ed piece urging Congress to censure former President Bill Clinton. They lobbied for the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 and against initiatives in 1996 to legalize drugs in Arizona and California.

Many times the two have ridden in the same limousine, Carter said, and they usually hate that the ride has to end.

At 91, Ford has limited his travel on doctor's orders. He did not join Carter, 80, and the other ex-presidents at the recent dedication of Clinton's presidential library or at President Bush's inauguration.

Ford and Carter said their relationship puts mutual respect before partisan passion.

"The extreme partisanship today creates a stalemate," Ford said.

Carter agreed.

"I doubt that there's ever been in history a more sharp and sometimes vituperative and acrimonious division between the Democrats and the Republicans," he said....