Howard H. Baker Jr., a three-term Tennessee Senator whose trademarks were integrity, honesty, and a refusal to allow partisanship get in the way of what he believed was the right thing to do, died today.  The Republican leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky,  called him “one of the Senate’s most towering figures.” How ironic, or perhaps just insincere. If McConnell understood and admired the qualities that made Baker “towering” he couldn’t possibly be the divisive, petty, ultra-partisan hack that he is. Then again, comparing Baker’s career and character to the scrimy, petty, self-centered and ethics-challenged dwarves that make up all of McConnell’s colleagues  in both Houses and on both sides of the aisle reveals such an obvious disparity that even the sorry likes of McConnell couldn’t deny it.

Howard Baker stands especially tall in my memory as I watch the disgraceful conduct of House Democrats, doing all they could to derail the I.R.S scandal hearings and to prevent the uncovering of facts surrounding the executive branch’s abuse of power, because they have chosen political loyalty and expediency over transparency, fairness, duty to country, and trust. Contrast this horror show with the principled stance of Baker during Watergate, seeking uncomfortable truths rather than throwing obstacles in the way of efforts to uncover them, treating abuse of power and attempted cover-ups from his own party’s President as he would the same from a Democrat, asking the famous question, “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”

Had Baker possessed only the hyper-partisan, integrity-starved principles of Rep. Cummings and his gang, Nixon might well have escaped the consequences of his efforts to defy the law and rig the democratic process. Spiro Agnew might have been the next President of the United States, sent to the White House rather than prison. For his part, Baker’s own political aspirations were never realized: the conservatives didn’t trust him after Watergate. Too reasonable. Not a team player.

Human beings like Baker have never been able to become President. They aren’t ruthless enough. (Being short and stumpy doesn’t help either.) Their presence on the political scene is essential, however, in maintaining high standards of integrity and honesty in leadership, so that at least the politicians who choose a darker path know what it is they are rejecting. There is no one like Howard Baker today, in Congress, or anywhere close to the levers of power.

Indeed, I half wonder if the despicable display by the Democrats during the House Oversight Committee hearings on the I.R.S. scandal and dumped e-mails didn’t kill Baker. I can see him in my minds eye, watching C-Span with tears streaming down his face like the Frenchman in the iconic WW II photo, watching the Nazis goose-step into Paris. “How could this happen to the country I love?” I can imagine him shouting. “How can the government of the people, by the people, for the people have come to this?”

How indeed.

You can read about the life and career of Howard Baker, Ethics Hero Emeritus and a worthy addition to the list, here.