You Won't Have Bayh to Kick Around Anymore.

[babylonsister]

OUCH!

You Won't Have Bayh to Kick Around Anymore.


The news of the day is that Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, who makes up for his principle-free ideology with a complete lack of charisma, has decided not to run for re-election. The best immediate reaction came from our friend Ezra, who said that Bayh "wants to spend more time scolding his family for moving too far to the left."

In his statement, Bayh spoke more like someone running for office, not away from it, as he listed all of the past glories of his career. What was striking, though, was what he had to say about the 11 years he has spent in the Senate. After speaking of his accomplishments as Indiana secretary of state and then governor, where he did things like "cut taxes," "balance the budget," and "create the most new jobs in any eight-year period," he didn't have much in the way of substance to point to in describing his time in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. He "worked with" some folks, "fought to make our nation safe," and was "a lonely voice for balancing the budget and restraining spending." Not particularly heroic.

This is partly Bayh's problem -- he literally has not a single significant legislative accomplishment he can trumpet -- but also partly the nature of the job. Being a senator isn't like being a governor. The only people you're allowed to order around are the few dozen people on your staff. If you want to actually achieve something, you have to get the cooperation of 49 -- or these days, 59 -- other people. You spend a lot of time sitting in boring hearings and casting boring votes.

If you feel strongly about issues, there's a reason to suffer through it -- you actually care about the outcome. But Bayh never seemed to care very deeply about much. As I wrote a year ago, centrism is the most cynical, substance-free ideology there is. The centrist doesn't know what he believes until you tell him what the left and right believe, so he can plant himself firmly in the middle. Few people embody this more than Bayh.

more...

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=02&year=2010&base_name=you_wont_have_bayh_to_kick_aro

[AllentownJake]

1. Evan Bayh is the worst democrat in the Senate

He has watered down every piece of legislation since 2009 and was a major part of the Bush capitulation team. He won't be missed.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. Bayh reminds me of hand soap.

Every time I see him, I feel like washing my hands.

[babylonsister]

3. LOL! "Gets the slime off." nt

[Tippy]

4. Bayh,,will run in 2012 against Obama

Moderate Senate Dems Launch New Group to Shape Public Policy
16 Democrats unite to pursue pragmatic solutions to nation’s problemsWASHINGTON – A diverse group of 16 Senate Democrats today announced the formation of a new moderate coalition that will meet regularly to shape public policy. The group’s goal is to work with the Senate leadership and the new administration to craft common-sense solutions to urgent national problems.

The Moderate Dems Working Group will meet every other Tuesday before the Democratic Caucus lunch to discuss legislative strategies and ideas. The Moderate Dems held their second meeting Tuesday to focus on the upcoming budget negotiations and the importance of passing a fiscally responsible spending plan in the Senate.

Leading the new group are Democratic Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana, Tom Carper of Delaware and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Both Senators Bayh and Carper were successful governors before coming to the Senate. Senators Lincoln and Carper bring bicameral experience to the group as former members of the House of Representatives. All three leaders are honorary co-chairs of Third Way, a progressive Democratic policy group, and Senators Bayh and Carper have led the centrist Democratic Leadership Council.

http://bayh.senate.gov/news/press/release/?id=b30d7f79-...

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. A Moderate Dems working group is the classic definition of "misnomer"

[babylonsister]

7. He won't be a Senate Dem in less than 10 months. Besides, he has

ZERO personality. I don't think he has it in him myself.

[AllentownJake]

15. Good luck with that Evan

In 2012, a liberal challenger might be able to pull 25% of the primary electorate. A conservative challenger will be lucky to get 10%.

[sandyd921]

6. Really puts his finger on it.

If you feel strongly about issues, there's a reason to suffer through it -- you actually care about the outcome. But Bayh never seemed to care very deeply about much. As I wrote a year ago, centrism is the most cynical, substance-free ideology there is. The centrist doesn't know what he believes until you tell him what the left and right believe, so he can plant himself firmly in the middle. Few people embody this more than Bayh.

[babylonsister]

8. Yes, describes Bayh to a T. nt

[RevCheesehead]

9. The real news is that outside of Indiana, nobody gives a shit about him.

Seriously, other than being Birch's son, WHAT HAS HE DONE???

[LiberalFighter]

10. Babylon make up your mind. Is it lack of charisma or zero personality?

I've lived in Indiana during the times that he has been elected. All of the rallies and conferences that I have attended and listened to his speeches he had less than stellar oratory skills.

Even having his wife by his side doesn't give him pizazz. I think more of him is rubbing off of him onto his wife and making her more drab.

[babylonsister]

16. Doesn't lack of charisma equate to zero personality, pretty much?

He's never impressed me.

[LiberalFighter]

17. He has never impressed me either.

And I made sure I expressed my opinion of Bayh when he tried running for President and when there was talk of him becoming VP. Making sure that I thought he was an empty suit.

I really hated it whenever he referred to Hoosier family values or common sense when they are no better than other states in most cases. Especially, considering that people move in and out of states and wouldn't necessarily be Hoosiers. I sure as hell ain't one and never will be.

[southernyankeebelle]

11. DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT

[donheld]

21. Actually I'd love to see the door hit him

[salin]

12. and he only got worse and worse after he reached the senate.

wasn't a bad governor. Terrible senator.

[upi402]

13. "wants to spend more time scolding his family..."

:rofl:

[hfojvt]

14. that is pretty funny

"scolding his family for moving too far to the left"

I am not sure that is fair about centrism though. It may be true of the cautious political centrists, but centrist voters probably have more defined beliefs. But they are centrists beliefs.

For example - abortion.

Some people are anti-choice zealots. They are ready to kill or die to make abortion illegal. If you disagree and try to discuss it with them, they scream, call you names and thrust picturs of dead babies at you. That's one extreme side. Then other people are pro-choice zealots. They are ready to kill or die to make sure abortion stays legal. If you disagree and try to discuss it with them, they scream, call you names, and thrust pictures of back-alley abortions at you. A centrist is in between those two extremes. Not because they decided to just pick the middle ground but because they don't have a strong position on the issue and can see points on both sides.

Another example - capitalism.

Some people are devoutly anti-capitalist. They hate capitalism and they hate corporations. Others are devoitly "free market". They love capitalism and hate regulations and taxes. Centrists are in the middle, seeing some problems with capitalism and some problems with regulation and trying to strike the best balance between socialism and laissez-faire.

I also strongly suspect that some non-centrists will respond with some venom to what I just wrote.

[cascadiance]

18. I would argue that centrists like Bayh care more about what their financial backers care about...

I am not sure that is fair about centrism though. It may be true of the cautious political centrists, but centrist voters probably have more defined beliefs. But they are centrists beliefs.

For example - abortion.

Some people are anti-choice zealots. They are ready to kill or die to make abortion illegal. If you disagree and try to discuss it with them, they scream, call you names and thrust picturs of dead babies at you. That's one extreme side. Then other people are pro-choice zealots. They are ready to kill or die to make sure abortion stays legal. If you disagree and try to discuss it with them, they scream, call you names, and thrust pictures of back-alley abortions at you. A centrist is in between those two extremes. Not because they decided to just pick the middle ground but because they don't have a strong position on the issue and can see points on both sides.

I would argue that centrists pick the side that are more likely to get them votes and not try to get caught being extreme in their views to avoid losing votes. Not because they "spiritually" believe in the middle. AND, issues like abortion are issues that corporate America really doesn't have a stake in, other than using it as an issue to distract Americans from the issues that they care about and have a minority viewpoint on.

Another example - capitalism.

Some people are devoutly anti-capitalist. They hate capitalism and they hate corporations. Others are devoitly "free market". They love capitalism and hate regulations and taxes. Centrists are in the middle, seeing some problems with capitalism and some problems with regulation and trying to strike the best balance between socialism and laissez-faire.

Most of the time centrists AREN'T in the middle on this issue, but if you read between the lines on how they vote, they vote *FOR* free market ideologies and to reward their corporate backers. This is why the "centrists" are voting in the corporatist minority position on destroying health care reform, even though most of their constituents have the REAL "centrist" position that sides with the left on getting at least a public option, if not a single payer option available to Americans. They MASQUERADE that they care about middle America, but their voting record reveals otherwise. Kind of like how Liebermann votes first and campaigns heavily with Harkin to shut down the fillibuster a year or two ago, and now is the focal point of the filibuster against substantive health care reform, which he also has flipped flopped on to serve his corporate masters like a good so-called "centrist" does.

Real centrists, like Paul Hackett, who sided in the middle on things like gun ownership, but who was more populist on issues that set him against corporate interests get flushed out of the system pretty quickly, to avoid exposing the so-called "centrists" that are actually corporatists for what they are.

If Bayh really cared that "people in the middle" with certain "non-extreme" views are represented in Indiana by "centrist" Dems, and not Republicans, then why did he pull out a week before deadlines for getting on the Dem ballot are coming up, making it almost impossible for a Democrat to get his seat. Methinks he wants a corporatist Republican to win to help his buddies and solidify him a "Tauzin-style" job offering when he leaves, and screw over the party he never was really a part of.

[hfojvt]

20. I think I said that

Bayh is not a centrist, he's a politician trying to sell himself to centrist and right-leaning voters. It was the voters I was talking about. "Centrist" politicians are trying to win elections by pretending to agree with most voters and also by sucking up to the money changers so they can get money to print fliers and run television ads.

[JoeyT]

19. Because respecting a woman's right to

do as she wishes with her body is exactly the same as demanding women do as you wish with their bodies.

I'd say the assessment of centrists is pretty much spot on. I'd also add that they tend to try to create middle ground even when there isn't one. On many issues there just isn't a middle ground.

Edited to add: This isn't venom. It's pointing out that compulsive centrism is an exercise in futility.