Lynette Fromme, Woman Who Tried To Assassinate President Ford, To Be Freed From Prison

CNN.com:

The president she tried to assassinate has been dead for nearly three years, and her longtime idol and leader, Charles Manson, remains in prison.

However, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme is about to get her first taste of real freedom in more than three decades.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Fromme, now 60, is set to be released on parole August 16.

Fromme is housed at the Federal Medical Center at Carswell, Texas.

For years, she was one of Manson's few remaining followers, as many other "Manson Family" members have shunned him. A prison spokeswoman would not say whether Fromme continues to correspond with Manson.

Fromme was convicted in 1975 of pointing a gun at then-President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California. Secret Service agents prevented her from firing, but the gun was later found to have no bullet in the chamber, although it contained a clip of ammunition.

In a 1987 interview with CNN affiliate WCHS, Fromme, then housed in West Virginia, recalled the president "had his hands out and was waving ... and he looked like cardboard to me. But at the same time, I had ejected the bullet in my apartment and I used the gun as it was."

She said she knew Ford was in town and near her, "and I said, 'I gotta go and talk to him,' and then I thought, 'That's foolish. He's not going to stop and talk to you.' People have already shown you can lay blood in front of them and they're not, you know, they don't think anything of it. I said, 'Maybe I'll take the gun,' and I thought, 'I have to do this. This is the time.' "

She said it never occurred to her that she could wind up in prison. Asked whether she had any regrets, Fromme said, "No. No, I don't. I feel it was fate." However, she said she thought that her incarceration was "unnecessary" and that she couldn't see herself repeating her offense.

Instead of being treated like the adults that they were, liberals constantly make former Manson followers out to be innocent, doe-eyed kids, irresponsible for all their hideous crimes. It goes back to TIME's 1975 cover of Fromme (top), painting her as a "girl", when in fact she was in her mid-20's when she pointed a gun at President Ford. Even worse is the fact that Fromme has never shown any remorse or regret for her actions and continues to go on record praising Manson.

Gerald Ford Quote Of The Day!

"I think Jimmy Carter would be very close to Warren G. Harding. I feel very strongly that Jimmy Carter was a disaster, particularly domestically and economically. I have said more than once that he was certainly the poorest president in my lifetime."

- The late President in an interview conducted in 1981 with his hometown paper. Ford insisted that the interview only be published after his death.

Gerald Ford R.I.P.

1913 - 2006

No matter which side of the political fence you're on you had to admire the dignity and strength Gerald Ford brought to the Presidency. It sure makes our current crop of politicians pale in comparison. He never intended to seek that high of an office and yet he, probably better than any of his fellow Presidents, managed to balance public service and private life.

And how great that he and his wife have been able to help so many people, especially Hollywood types, through their tireless efforts at the Betty Ford Clinic. A great guy and, even if nobody ever voted for him to hold the office, one of our most underrated world leaders.