‘Juice Is Out of Lemon,’ Iran Scandal Will Fade, Baker Says : But Democrats Call Reagan’s Speech ‘Sketchy’

White House chief of staff Howard H. Baker Jr. said today he thinks the Iran- contra scandal has been squeezed for all it’s worth--”the juice is out of the lemon”--and the affair will fade away this fall.

But Democratic congressmen complained that President Reagan’s Wednesday night speech on the issue was “sketchy,” failed to condemn specific actions and could have answered more questions.

The President’s spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, said Reagan found the response to his speech “gratifying. He feels the American people have been fair and understanding in their support. They want the President to lead and succeed. He will.”

Baker, in morning interviews with Cable News Network and NBC, said, “I think we’ve arrived at a break point.”

Over by Labor Day

“I do not see, after Labor Day, a resumption of the fascination with the Iran-contra affair that preceded us,” the former Republican Senate leader said.

Baker said he thinks the American people “have had enough of it. . . . I think they feel the juice is out of the lemon and they don’t want to keep working it over . . . unless there is something new to be discussed.”

He said that he thought the speech was a “signal that it’s all over and I think they’re probably glad of that.”

At the same time, Baker said “I guess not” when asked if Reagan had closed the book on the scandal.

“A lot of questions remain unanswered that only the President really could address,” Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), the chairman of the House committee investigating the Iran-contra scandal, said on NBC-TV’s “Today” show.

Some Questions Avoided

Nevertheless, he said, Reagan “went a long way in acknowledging his responsibility for the events that occurred.”

“The President dealt with the Iran-contra affair in a rather sketchy way, and in some degree avoided answering some of the questions,” House Majority Leader Thomas S. Foley, also a member of the panel, said on the same program.

Conservative activist and fund-raiser Richard Viguerie reacted with the most bitterness to Reagan, saying: “He should have had Ollie North write his speech, but instead, he’s on the defensive and his supporters are discouraged and losing heart. It was bland, bland, bland--boring, boring, boring.”

Reagan did not condemn North, the former National Security Council aide who managed the Iran and contra operations.