Phony Tony: Did not interrupt his Florida vacation to attend the state funeral for his "closest ally's" former President.

January 3, 2007 -- The ABC affiliate in Washington, DC panned the mourners at the funeral of President Ford yesterday at the National Cathedral and mentioned the presence of "foreign heads of state."

For the record, the following were the foreign dignitaries attending Ford's funeral and none of them are "heads of state":

Canada: Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Ambassador Michael Wilson
Britain: Ambassador Sir David Manning.
Austria: Ambassador Eva Nowotny.
The Netherlands: Minister of State Max van der Stoel, the foreign minister during the Ford administration.
Thailand: Ambassador Virasakdi Futrakul.
Germany: Deputy Chief of Mission Johannes Haindl.
Hungary: Environmental and Water Affairs Minister Miklos Persanyi and Ambassador Andras Simonyi.
Sweden: International Development Cooperation Minister Gunilla Carlsson.
Finland: Ambassador Pekka Lintu.
Japan: Former Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.
Norway: Former Foreign Minister Thorvald Stoltenberg.
Chile: Ambassador Mariano Fernandez.
Russia: Ambassador Yuri Ushakov.
Phony Tony: Did not interrupt his Florida vacation to attend the state funeral for his "closest ally's" former President.

And the Prime Minister of America's "closest ally," Tony Blair, did not interrupt his vacation in Miami Beach to attend Ford's funeral. Although Ford was the oldest living former president and many of his foreign counterparts have left the scene, the paucity of foreign leaders at the Ford funeral is fallout from the low esteem the rest of the planet now holds for the United States. Something else the Bush Crime Family can be proud of.

Wayne Madsen Report