and the "Go Fuck Yourself, Evan Bayh, You Smug Bastard"The Bad: As has been placed in stark relief against the snow-smothered streets of DC, Congress is a game of numbers. Evan Bayh may have been a DLC douchebag and Blue Dog coward, but he was a number in the Democrats' favor in the Senate (see Harry Reid's powdering of Joe Lieberman's balls). That's simple math. The majority in the Senate sets the agenda. Pass it or not, right now the Democrats at least get to say what's "debated" on the Senate floor. In the unlikely event of a Republican take over of the Senate, you won't even see health care reform discussed, let alone have the shreds of hope that something will pass.
Worse, even if Democrats maintain the majority, Senate committee seats are divided by proportion to the party's representation in the larger body. So if it's 59-41, the committees are tilted more heavily Democratic than if the Senate's 51-49. Put that shit in your Supreme Court Justice nomination pipe and huff it.
The Good: Evan Bayh was getting more and more
conservative as time moved along. Formerly a solidly pro-choice Democrat, he
voted for the most restrictive abortion funding amendment in the Senate last December and against the omnibus spending bill. Even if he was such an
alleged deficit hawk, he hedged on whether or not he thought the Bush tax cuts for the top 1% of income earners should be allowed to sunset. He had voted for the tax cuts in 2003. Bayh was a worthless player when it came to health care reform and
opposed reconciliation, preferring instead to keep reviving the corpse of bipartisanship with the paddles of Democratic compromise. There was a chance that, even if the magical, mystical 60 Democrats had still been there, he was gonna vote health care reform down. He was just that kind of asshole.
So, truly, if we are losing a number in the Democratic caucus, at least it's a Republican-enabling tool of the wealthy like Bayh. And hopefully he will have to live the rest of his life in Indiana, for, truly, there is no worse fate.
The "Go Fuck Yourself":
Really, Evan Bayh? You were just fucking sick of the partisanship in the Congress? And where exactly were you during some of the battles of the Bush years? When you
voted "no" on the nomination of Justice John Roberts, one of 22 nays, all Democrats, was that being bipartisan? How about when you were one of 13 nays on the nomination of Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State? Or, when you criticized the Bush administration for the way it ran the war in Iraq, were you being bipartisan there? In other words, what is bipartisan, Evan Bayh? Are you only partisan when you know you're going to lose?
But "go fuck yourself" for
saying that "At this time, I simply believe I can best contribute to society in another way: creating jobs by helping grow a business, helping guide an institution of higher learning, or helping run a worthy charitable endeavor." That's just shorthand for saying that you got bored and want to make some cash money. You were tired of the Senate? Why? For living in your father's shadow?
Finally, where does this leave Bayh's seat? It's Indiana. Yeah, yeah, Obama won the state in 2008 by 1%. But, c'mon, the black turnout in 2008 was the factor in that intensely blue state. It's gonna go Republican. The Democrats who might run right now make Bayh look like Ted Kennedy.
If Democrats want to have a chance to hold onto the seat, then fuck it. Go Hail Mary. Try to
get John Mellencamp to run. The man lives in Seymour, Indiana. He knows the people and the state. He fights for progressive causes. Why not a rock star? We don't have problems with sports stars running for office. And you'd get past that whole "name recognition" thing pretty damn quickly.
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