Wednesday, April 25, 2012 — The following item ran in our “Admiral Fowle’s Piscataqua River Tidal Guide (Not for Navigational Purposes)” for this date:
“1984 — Asked if he’s ever been to a communist country, James A. Baker III replies, ‘Well, I’ve been to Massachusetts.'”
In just three days, James A. Baker III will celebrate his 82nd birthday, proving yet again that only the good die young. In addition to insulting the cradle of American democracy, Mr. Baker has:
• helped elect George Herbert [Hoover] Walker Bush to Congress;
• helped re-elect Richard M. Nixon president;
• helped Ronald Reagan cheat in campaign debates against Jimmy Carter;
• assured Saddam Hussein’s Foreign Minister, after the gassing of the Kurds, that the U.S. still wanted to “strengthen the relationship” between the two countries;
• reassured Hussein himself, as Secretary of State, through Ambassador April Glaspie, that the U.S. would not object to his invasion of Kuwait;
• developed the Bush #43 strategy to win the White House by way of the Supreme Court; and,
• watched the 9/11 attacks occur while attending, along with members of the bin Laden family, an annual Carlyle Group conference.