If you’re an Obama fan who believes there’s more political hay to be made on the left than the right, you might be less than overwhelmed by the idea of former DLC chairman Evan Bayh as VP.
“The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) is pleased to welcome Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) as an Honorary Co-Chairman. Bayh becomes the third U.S. Senator to join the committee after Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced their participation on January 28.
No doubt you fondly remember the CLI, where Bayh joined not only McCain and Lieberman but other well-known progressives such as Bill Kristol and “Mr. WW IV” Jim Woolsey, plus Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s top foreign policy advisor whose somewhat-former firm lobbies for Georgia.
Since then, Bayh has of course tried to distance himself from the war he supported before he opposed it. But Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic quotes Bayh:
You just hope that we haven’t soured an entire generation on the necessity, from time to time, of using force because Iraq has been such a debacle. That would be tragic, because Iran is a grave threat. They’re everything we thought Iraq was but wasn’t. They are seeking nuclear weapons, they do support terrorists, they have threatened to destroy Israel, and they’ve threatened us, too.
These are not incorrect statments, they’re lies. Iran has not threatened any such thing, and every honest person knows it. Bayh is a classic DLC warmonger. Do we need more of those?
If you don’t think so, you can take action. Or you can just join the Facebook group 100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh for VP.
Not that it’ll matter. Bayh fits the Obama campaign perfectly.
You're cynical, but I can't say you're definitely wrong. I hope that Barack Obama will know better than to completely destroy his entire basis for winning the nomination.
Posted by: Michael on August 13, 2008 10:20 PMLet's face it. Obama already destroyed all of the reasons the progressives voted for him in the primary: FISA, late-term abortion, oil drilling, withdrawal from Iraq.
Posted by: myth on August 14, 2008 3:20 AMNot to mention climbing on board the McCain train, recommending that we get Georgia into NATO. How dumb can you get? Or more realistically, how imperialist can you get? Are we ready for a shooting war with Russia over the pipeline that goes through Georgia? Clearly we don't give a damn about democracy, here or elsewhere. Our police exist to protect and serve our super-rich; our military exists to extend their empire.
A big reason the Roman empire went under was that controlling nearly all of Europe plus a good portion of the Middle East and northern Africa cost a lot of money. The rich were able to avoid paying taxes, as usual, so the burden fell on the middle class, as usual. Not surprisingly, this shrunk the middle class until there weren't enough of them left to pay for the army, at which point Rome was overrun by the barbarians they themselves had trained. Sound familiar?
Posted by: Chuck Dupree on August 14, 2008 7:08 AMNo, I don't think Barack Obama will start a war with Russia. I think by converting to green energy we do more than by fighting.
Posted by: Michael on August 15, 2008 12:51 AMBut whether we think he will or not, his announced position is that Georgia should be part of NATO, which by treaty obligates us to defend Georgia militarily. It's not a question of belief.
Posted by: Chuck Dupree on August 15, 2008 5:09 AM