"WHAT DID THE PRESIDENT KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT"

[Doug MacIVER]

Sen. Howard Baker, Nov 15, 1925- June 26,2014.

 

[Bobbin]

Mum and he were the same age. He asked the important questions. He held Nixon's feet to the fire.

I was in 8th. grade and remember watching the hearings. The best thing I watched on TV that year was Secretariat's Triple Crown victory.

(I miss The Can, too. But I understand why it's "gone". Stray too far into "controversial land" and the overworked moderators hit "overload". wanna talk about "loud pipes"? lol)

 

[Doug MacIVER]

Who cares? The current is much worse. Putin is a much better leader.

I do, a senator could ask that question in those days and bring down a President for looking for political fodder.

 

[BrotherBart]

What Baker actually said was "“My primary thesis is still, what did the president know, and when did he know it?” during John Dean's testimony in an attempt to insulate Nixon from the testimony of Dean who had just went turncoat. And to support the idea that Nixon didn't know what his aides were up to.

Baker was a good Congressman but that line has been misunderstood and misused every since then. He was Nixon's boy on that Senate panel.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Now they can just say the computer crashed, emails are lost, so sorry.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

What Baker actually said was "“My primary thesis is still, what did the president know, and when did he know it?” during John Dean's testimony in an attempt to insulate Nixon from the testimony of Dean who had just went turncoat. And to support the idea that Nixon didn't know what his aides were up to.

Baker was a good Congressman but that line has been misunderstood and misused every since then. He was Nixon's boy on that Senate panel.

it is how it is most commonly quoted and most commonly remembered. your thoughts lead off in other directions .

 

[BrotherBart]

My thoughts lead off into how it went down while I was watching the Ervin commission investigation. And what Baker actually said and why. And it would have worked if shortly after that the Oval Office tapes hadn't become known. And as they say, after that the rest is history.

He wasn't a bad guy and he was a member of one of the last Congresses that had members that knew the country runs on compromise and he was great at getting them done.

But lionizing that one line is horse pucky.