Howard Baker’s 1976 platform:
In 1979 Baker made a bid for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination. As a perennial opponent of big government, he ran on a platform of limited government controls. He promoted a four-year plan to cut income taxes, and he staunchly opposed wage and price controls for industry. He favored cutbacks in federal spending and the imposition of spending limits for the federal government, and he supported a “windfall profits” tax for oil companies to pay on excessive profits.
By March of 1980 it was clear that former actor and California Governor Ronald Reagan would win the Republican nomination, but Baker was under consideration as a vice-presidential candidate on the Reagan ticket. He never did receive the vice-presidential nomination, but a landslide victory by Ronald Reagan in the election of 1980 brought with it the added benefit of a Republican majority in the Senate. Baker won reelection as the Republican Party leader, to become the Senate Majority Leader in 1981. Two years later he was elected once again. He served as Majority Leader of the Senate until he retired from the legislature in 1985.
http://www.bookrags.com/Howard_Baker
And more:
An informal, rumpled, unthreatening man, the 61-year-old former Senator made a career out of being a conciliator, bringing together disparate factions and cajoling them into agreements that led to legislation. It was this quality that led to his election in 1977 as Senate Republican leader and his elevation to majority leader in 1981, when the Republicans won control of the Senate.
His skills were sorely tested. Mr. Baker reconciled the liberal and conservative wings of his party and then reconciled the President’s goals with those of the Senate Republicans. At the same time, he won the respect and affection of Democratic leaders of both the House and Senate. He was fond of putting opponents in the same room for all-night sessions and was instrumental in orchestrating the President’s many victories on the Hill.
‘’He’s a genius at finding the compromise point and pushing it through,’’ said Senator Jim Sasser, Mr. Baker’s Democratic colleague from Tennessee.
President Reagan frequently acknowledged Mr. Baker’s role. ‘’I’m frank to say that I don’t think we could have had the successes that we’ve had up there without his leadership,’’ the President once told a reporter.
Although the two men were not socially close, Mr. Baker considered himself the President’s lieutenant on Capitol Hill. He said today that he made a conscious decision ‘’that I would be Ronald Reagan’s spear carrier in the Senate.’’
‘’Anytime there was a matter on which we disagreed, where I felt very keenly, as a matter of conviction and philosophy, I let him know that, and someone else handled it,’’ Mr. Baker said. ‘’But that was very rare.’’
Indeed, although Mr. Baker’s gave the impression of being politically moderate, his voting record was conservative even before he became President Reagan’s man on the Hill and helped arrange the curtailment of dozens of social programs.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6DC143CF93BA15751C0A961948260
The Huckabee folks should stop disparaging good men who did a great service to the conservative cause just to build up their own guy.
Most likely, they know nothing about history, and just spew made-up nonsense to back their boy.
Can’t Huckabee stand on his own record and not tear down and smear others to make himself look good?
I have a lot of respect for Baker. But like many (including Fred) Reagan grew on them — To the point where even many democrats esteem Reagan. However, that gives no right for Fred to rewrite his own history and question Huckabee.
Thanks for the reminder that Howard Baker was a good man and a good leader.