Gerald Ford, always a bit of a plodding communicator, gives better quotes from the grave. It’s not just the refreshing candor or brutal description. It’s the authority.George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Henry Kissinger - no partisan critic ever hit them nearly this hard.

It’s as if they gathered for the reading of a beloved uncle’s will, then left with nothing except their tails between their legs.

When the historians ponder whether Bush the younger was the worst American president ever, and whether his invasion of Iraq was the worst presidential folly, Ford’s words will get the process started.