Molly Ivins is dead. The good die young, people.
“We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, ‘Stop it, now!'”
Metaphor 
You forgot Hitler, who had to kill himself because of ineptitude in his administration. And Caesar, whose staff was more capable. But I'm curious what Ford did to get his poor self on this ignominious list.
I've never understood why the assasination attempts on good guys succeed (two Kennedys, MLK, Lincoln, Lennon, Malcolm X) and on bad guys fail (Reagan, Ford, Wallace, Larry Flynt). The data seems biased, the gunsights skewed. If it's by an unseen hand, the Guy's an asshole.