Is Mike Pence pulling a Gerald Ford or a Spiro Agnew?

[DonViejo]

FRIDAY, JUN 16, 2017 01:19 PM EDT

Is Mike Pence pulling a Gerald Ford or a Spiro Agnew?

Pence is either getting ready to become an incoming president or an outgoing vice president

MATTHEW ROZSA

Vice President Mike Pence’s decision to hire his own lawyer for the special counsel investigation into alleged ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government can mean one of two things — or perhaps even both things at the same time.

Either Pence is concerned that he may face charges of his own, or — believing that he is innocent — he wants to separate his own legal fate from that of a president whose innocence he (for good reason) doubts.

If the latter prospect is true, of course, it’s doubtful that Pence will ever admit this publicly. As the Watergate scandal began to swallow up Richard Nixon, and Vice President Gerald Ford was confronted with the prospect that he would be thrust into the presidency, Ford nevertheless maintained his public defenses of the president. This was both politically necessary (Nixon was a fellow Republican, after all) and morally astute (it would be unseemly for the man who might benefit from Nixon’s downfall to seem to contribute to it).

Although Pence should avoid defending Trump so vehemently that he winds up looking complicit, it is best for him to refrain from seeming over-eager at ascending to the White House himself. That said, if he has sound reason to suspect that Trump is about to take a mighty fall, it is wise for him to determine how he can best protect himself from a strictly legal standpoint.

This, by necessity, means he must at least partially decouple his fate from that of the president he serves.

more
http://www.salon.com/2017/06/16/is-mike-pence-pulling-a-gerald-ford-or-a-spiro-agnew/

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. I predict there won't be enough evidence on him to convince Republicans to impeach him....

...but just enough evidence to haunt him through 2020.

He take a shower, but he won't rid himself of the Trump stink.

[hatrack]

2. Pence is 225 pounds of Greek Jesus-yogurt, with silvery hair on top

Gerald Ford, as I recall, didn't feel the need to hire lawyers while he was still VP.

[dchill]

3. It's not going to be his choice.

Somebody's going to dump on him.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. One big difference between Pence and Ford

is that Ford became VP in December of 1973, after Agnew resigned upon pleading no contest to charges of tax evasion and money laundering when he was Governor of Maryland. Previously Ford had been Speaker of the House, and was regarded as pretty squeaky-clean. Since he didn't become part of the Nixon administration until late in 1973, well after the events associated with the Watergate burglary and subsequent investigation, he never got tainted with that scandal, and there never was any evidence that he was involved in any way.

In contrast, Pence is already carrying some of the stench of Trump's presidency. It is not yet known to what extent he knew what was going on with the Russians and Flynn and Comey and the whole mess, but he was the chairman of the transition team and has been around for everything that developed since, so right now he's under a big cloud. Even assuming he escapes from the Russia investigation unscathed and becomes president (with the authority to pardon Trump), unlike Ford he will not have much of a reservoir of good will going into the job.

[irisblue]

7. Clear & accurate analysis. nt

[exboyfil]

8. Both Ford and Truman

were compromise picks for VP knowing that the President wasn't going to serve out his term. Ford was Minority Leader of the Republicans. If history follows then it would be either Speaker Paul Ryan or Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. I don't think any Senator would have a chance.

Governors?

[tableturner]

5. Maybe both.....

[dembotoz]

6. ford was the least awful gop president since ike...please do not tarnish him

i still have great respect for him

[TrogL]

9. He's poison fruit

If there were irregularities with Trump's election, he was on the same ticket.

Constitutional crisis anyone?

[Leith]

10. I Think Pence Is Involved in shitgibbon's Crimes

by being complicit. He may not have committed them himself, but he knew of them and went along.

He's planning on sailing through the sludge by keeping himself as clean as possible, then rising as the savior to bring the country back to normalcy.

So, it looks like my short answer is "neither."