"The central question is simply put: What did the president know and when did he know it?"

Politics

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Politics as articulated by Howard Baker. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Politics provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Howard Baker

Howard Henry Baker Jr. was an American politician, diplomat and photographer who served as a United States senator from Tennessee from 1967 to 1985. During his tenure, he rose to the rank of Senate minority leader and then Senate majority leader. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was the first Republican to be elected to the U.S. Senate in Tennessee since the Reconstruction era.

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More by Howard Baker

"We must examine then the concerns of the Government of Japan about the language of the treaty itself - of SOFA - and of the interim and further arrangements that have been made since 1995, and see whether or not we need to make any changes. Those are decisions I cannot make."

— Howard Baker
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"I think and hope and believe that the Japanese government and the people of Japan will be happy and content with the progress of justice in this case and that it will not become a great issue in the future."

— Howard Baker
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"You've got to guard against speaking more clearly than you think."

— Howard Baker
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"The most difficult thing in any negotiation, almost, is making sure that you strip it of the emotion and deal with the facts. And there was a considerable challenge to that here and understandably so."

— Howard Baker
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More about Politics

"War is what happens when language fails."

— Margaret Atwood
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"Government is either organized benevolence or organized madness its peculiar magnitude permits no shading."

— John Updike
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"One of the things about leadership is that you've got to show up. And if you want to be president of the United States you've got to make a case to the American people that Barack Obama needs to be dismissed from his position."

— Tim Pawlenty
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"I think there are certain folks in Missouri that don't trust government. And they haven't trusted government for a long time."

— Claire McCaskill
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