’)Because not only did they vote against the President’s budget, they voted for the Republican budget from planet insane. On a defining document like that, to be against the ideology of what we’re trying to do here is just simple betrayal and a desire to put your own political capital ahead of fixing the country. I feel totally justified that my “Oh Hell No” sense went off the charts when Bayh was being bandied about by the media as a possible veep choice.
I remember, just a while back, seeing bumper stickers that said DISSENT IS PATRIOTIC.
Evan Bayh is a fiscal conservative and a bright guy (IU School of Business- Honors Program).
Obama would’ve done quite well to have chosen him. Would’ve saved him a lot of embarrassment, to be sure
“embarrasment” = winning by 10 million votes and having a 60% approval rating
I fully support the “now it’s time for BETTER Democrats” efforts of MoveOn and Kos to primary out as many Blue Dog, Fox News Dems as possible (despite the inevitable handwringing and pearl-clutching by both the milquetoast Dem leadership about such actions being “unhelpful”, and the screeching accusations from the right wing punditocracy about being evil thuggish SA Brown Shirts and terrorists).
I was referring to Joe Biden, Oliver.
“we need to cut entitlements”-Evan and Ben who make 174k
I think it’s become very clear as to why Bayh wasn’t the VP pick. Obama knows what he’s doing and who he’s dealing with. Unless, of course, Bayh is just pissed off that he wasn’t picked and this is a passive-agressive way of showing it.
Maybe, just maybe, the $6.5 TRILLION in new debt scared the bejeezuz out of ‘em.
Joaquin, your comment is a great example of confusing party allegiance with patriotism. Who is suggesting Evan Bayh voted this way because he thought it would be bad for the country? Oliver suggested that Bayh is doing it for personal benefit, but Oliver did not suggest that Bayh is doing it because he thought it would harm the country.
So yes, even Bayh’s dissent is patriotic. Just because we disagree on what is best for the country doesn’t mean we can’t both be patriots.
limulus – When Olives says “simple betrayal and a desire to put your own political capital ahead of fixing the country” is he not saying that the Bayh vote will harm the country?
BTW, I never thought those bumper stickers had anything to do with patriotism. The word patriotic was a mere convenient prop used for ‘cover’
I know I’m the ‘yay moderates’ drum-banger on this site, and I’m not that familiar with Bayh’s situation, but I’ll just lay out a guess and feel free to tear it to shreds.
If I recall from the election, Indiana is pretty purple. So if casting a no on this is inconsequential to the final tally and helps keep a dem (Bayh) in the seat where he can be w/ us on closer votes, then great, I don’t see what the big deal is. If we go for ideological purity and lockstep unity and keep killing Bayh, then we’ll shoot for everything and get nothing as a mushy Republican gets the seat later instead of a mushy Democrat.
Shhhdunno. Evan Bayh does have the ambiguously gay thing down, so he’d fit right in with the Cons, but at the same time we don’t want to start throwing rocks until they start getting up and making speeches for the Republicans (Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman both come to mind- granted, Lieberman sucked enough back when he was blaming violent video games and music for Columbine). Even people like us who voted for Obama need to question everything he does- he is the POTUS after all. Just food for thought.
When Olives says “simple betrayal and a desire to put your own political capital ahead of fixing the country” is he not saying that the Bayh vote will harm the country?
That is what Oliver is saying, but let me rephrase what I said before should my use of pronouns be ambiguous: “Oliver did not suggest that Bayh is doing it because [Bayh thinks] it would harm the country.”
Patriotism is a motive behind one’s actions, not the end result of one’s actions.
Bayh has nothing to worry about with his seat. Those 10 million votes were also for Biden and I’m sure Biden has twice the approval of Cheney.
“The word patriotic was a mere convenient prop used for ‘cover’”
Cover for what?
Cover for our EEEEVIL plot to destroy America, comrade.
joaquin, April 3, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I remember, just a while back, seeing bumper stickers that said DISSENT IS PATRIOTIC.
I remember, just a while back, when the Republican’t pResidential press flack said that “americans need to watch what they say and what they do” while referring to some other americans expressing their dissent of the administration at the time.
Funny how that all changes (for Republican’ts) when it’s not one of their own running the country…
Cover for our EEEEVIL plot to destroy America, comrade.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Ixnay on the omradcay!
Oh, be serious for chrissakes. He’s well known in Washington as a dimbulb even by the low standards of the Senate. And if having a business degree were a guarantee of intelligence then the administration of George W. Bush, MBA (Harvard, 1975) might not have been one of he most catastrophically inept in US history.
Helen Philpot has this to say:
Bye Bye Evan BayhFor several weeks now, we have watched as one idiot Republican spokesman after another has stepped up to the microphone and whined endlessly about how much they don’t like anything or anyone. It’s been embarrassing to say the least. I guess when you’ve been kicked in the ass, it’s difficult to lick your wounds. And honestly, watching Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh lick their wounds is more than my stomach can handle.
more here http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/bye-bye-evan-bayh/
Bayh would have been a great VP….It would have gotten his GOP ass out of the Senate!
Pablo:
Hell, no. Making him the VP would have made Bayh the candidate in 2016(He’d be 60 in ‘16). That is unacceptable.
Evan Bayh is in no danger of ever losing his seat. It was his daddied seat for life, and it’ll be his seat for life. He didn’t have to do this. He did this because he’s a conservative. Not a conservative Democrat, just a Conservative. We have a conservative party. This wasn’t about debt either, this POS voted to eliminate the estate tax for people with between 7million ad 10million dollars. That will cost way too much to be the mark of fiscal responsibility. Evan Bayh isn’t just conservative, he’s also a corrupt liar too.
A Republican isn’t always better than a Democrat. If we can’t get what we want with 58(9) votes, we don’t lose anything by only having 57. If it scares some of those 57 Democrats into voting with the party instead of with the monied interests, then having 57 unified seats si better than having 50 unified seats and 8 people who vote with Republicans. Thats how it works. Voting lockstep isn’t a bad thing unless what you’re voting for is. The Republicans didn’t really lose because they were unified purists, they lost because their policies were insane and causes irrepairable damage to America.
Calvin Jones: Hell, no. Making him the VP would have made Bayh the candidate in 2016(He’d be 60 in ‘16). That is unacceptable.
I get your point, but just how many VPs have won election as Pres lately?
Not Gore.
Not Quayle.
Not Mondale.
Not Ford.
Not Humphrey.
In the last 40 years only Bush Sr.