In a soaring tribute to a modest man, Gerald R. Ford was remembered on Tuesday as bringing the ordinary virtues of decency, integrity and humility to mend a broken government after the pain of war and scandal.

“Amid all the turmoil, Gerald Ford was a rock of stability,” President Bush told the gathering of generations of Washington’s powerful at Washington National Cathedral. “And when he put his hand on his family Bible to take the presidential oath of office, he brought grace to a moment of great doubt.”

The cathedral’s grand setting and the pomp of a state funeral provided a counterpoint for the unassuming character praised by the eulogists.

President Bush’s father called Mr. Ford “a Norman Rockwell painting come to life”; Tom Brokaw, the former television anchor, described “Citizen Ford” as a “champion of Main Street values”; and Henry A. Kissinger said the man he served as secretary of state “had the virtues of small-town America.”

Henry Zeus - 1/4/2007

Perhaps, you were watching the wrong news channel coverage of the funeral.
Haig was, indeed, there. Schmoozing with Carl Bernstein when I saw him.

Insofar as Banqo's ghost, as you refer to Henry Kissinger, his eulogy
clarified Ford's place in history in exacting terms. While you might not politically agree with him (that is patently obvious), one would think that historians would appreciate the accuracy in his speech.

I now see why so many historians these days seem to be following in the footsteps of Eusebius.