The Young Turks Cenk Uygur slammed good little war monger Evan Bayh for pushing for the United States to bomb Iran on this weekend's Fox News Sunday.

Via Think Progress -- Evan Bayh Plays Bill Kristol’s Role On Fox News Sunday, Says U.S. Should Bomb Iran:

Talk of Iran’s nuclear program has heated up in recent weeks with reports that the IAEA will soon release details showing that the Islamic Republic is developing an atomic weapons capability. And this week, Israeli media outlets have been reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is mobilizing support for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilites. The news prompted Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace to ask the show’s weekly panel for reaction. While leading neocon Bill Kristol usually fires off about attacking Iran, today he was a bit measured. “It seems to me the United States has an obligation to act and not leave it to Israel to stop this threat,” he said.

The real warmongering was left to former Democratic senator and member of the war charging Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, Evan Bayh, who boosted the right-wing claim that the Iranians are suicidal maniacs incapable of being deterred and added that, ultimately, the United States will have to attack Iran:

BAYH: The Israelis may be able to launch a one off strike on Iran but they don’t have the ability for the kind of sustained bombing campaign that it would really take to degrade their nuclear arsenal. … You’d have to bomb them for several weeks in a row. There’s only one country that has that kind of capability and that’s the United States. For Israelis it is an existential question. For us it raises the issue, is the Iranian nation a normal nation-state that’s belligerent and does things we don’t like but ultimately is not suicidal and can be deterred. Or are they really a suicidal theocracy that might actually use nuclear weapons even if it meant a nuclear retaliation against them. That’s a different case. … The odds are that they are not a suicidal theocracy. But the question is if you’re Israel can you afford to run that risk? Probably not. …

For us it may be better to try and stop that [proliferation] before it gets started by using limited force to prevent Iran from going nuclear when it gets right down to it. … We have to ask ourselves, is a nuclear Iran acceptable? If the answer is no, there’s really only one way to keep that from coming about and that’s the use of force.

While Bayh claimed that for Israelis, the Iran issue “is an existential question,” ex-Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy pushed back on this narrative last week, saying Iran is “far from posing an existential threat to Israel.” Read on...

Other articles mentioned in Cenk's segment include:

IAEA says foreign expertise has brought Iran to threshold of nuclear capability

Israel has now become a player in U.S. politics

Israel's Peres warns attack on Iran getting 'closer'

DOWNLOADS: (1070)

PLAYS: (913)

Embed

Another Sunday, another week where Bloody Bill Kristol proves himself to be wrong about everything. After some discussion on whether President Obama is going to have trouble being reelected and The Hill's A.B. Stoddard pointing out that he might unless he ends up being fortunate enough to run against someone who voted for Paul Ryan's budget plan, Bret Baier asks Kristol if the GOP would make make "reforming" "entitlements" into an asset. Kristol of course thinks that would be a winning issue for them.

And naturally he and Stephen Hayes refuse to admit that privatizing Medicare would be putting an end to the program as we know it and no one on the Fox News Sunday panel bothered to point out that Social Security is not responsible for any of the problems we have now with our deficit.

Jon Perr has been writing a lot about what was in Paul Ryan's budget for some time now and lays out very plainly why Hayes is not telling the truth on what his plan would do to Medicare and Social Security in one of the earlier posts he wrote on it here -- GOP Budget Proposes to Ration Medicare, Privatize Social Security.

Transcript:

BAIER: Bill, can you imagine any scenario where entitlement reform could be an asset to Republicans in 2012?

KRISTOL: Sure, because people understand, I think, and certainly the right candidate can help the American public further understand, that we need to fundamentally reform entitlements. We're $1.5 trillion in debt. Where's that debt coming from? It's coming from entitlements, which are 60 percent of the federal budget and which are going up much more quickly than the rest of the federal budget.

Despite President Obama's irresponsible domestic discretionary spending, it's entitlements that are at the core of the problem. So of course Republicans are going to run on entitlement reform, as they should, and I think they can do so successfully.

BAIER: Now, you have spoken out in favor of Congressman Paul Ryan getting in this race.Is there any development on that? Do you really believe that he's getting in?

KRISTOL: Well, the main development -- and maybe I can hold this up -- is I get sent this in the mail, a Ryan/Rubio 2012 button, which shows huge grassroots support for this effort. You know? People all over the country are having these buttons produced at their own expense.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (675)

PLAYS: (2252)

Embed

Oh boy. Looks like Fox found another "Democrat" besides Doug Schoen to bash Democrats for them -- Evan Bayh. We're all shocked, right? It appears he's also got himself a new lobbying gig as well.

After Leaving Senate Because Of ‘Too Much Partisanship,’ Former Sen. Evan Bayh Takes Job At Fox News:

When former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) surprised Washington one year ago and announced his decision not to seek re-election, he blamed “too much partisanship and not enough progress — too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving.” Bayh said that “what we need to do is come together as a people and solve the problems facing our country.”

Today, the Huffington Post reports that Bayh has taken a job at Fox News Channel:

Fox News is expected to announce Monday afternoon that former Indiana Senator Evan Bayh will become a contributor to the network, The Huffington Post has learned.

Bayh will be a commentator and political analyst across all of Fox News’ platforms.

[...] Bayh has indeed succeeded in creating jobs, for himself. In addition to his Fox News position, Bayh accepted a job at Apollo Global Management, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm, and also McGuireWoods LLP, a D.C. lobbying firm that engages on banking and climate change legislation, on behalf of “well-heeled” clients.

It's too bad that mean old Amato made him leave Congress, isn't it?? -- I guess it's my fault Evan Bayh quit Congress:

I was reading a column written by Jill Lawrence of Politics Daily and I learned that I helped cause Evan Bayh to quit his day job.

Evan Bayh and the Senate's Lonely Moderates: Bridge-Builders No Longer Needed

During the long, still incomplete march to pass a health reform bill, Democratic moderates – in particular Montana's Baucus and Nebraska's Nelson -- routinely took incoming from liberal bloggers for dragging the bill rightward. The left was especially critical of Bayh's take last month on Republican Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts. Bayh told ABC News that voters up there "just don't believe the answers we are currently proposing are solving their problems." He said Democrats would court catastrophe if they ignored the wakeup call. John Amato wrote at CrooksandLiars.com that Bayh was promoting Fox News talking points.

Yes, I am that mean and scary and Bayh just couldn't handle the heat from C&L, baby.

Read on...

Now he's finally getting paid by Fox to repeat them.

DOWNLOADS: (380)

PLAYS: (464)

Embed

It seems that ConservaDem Evan Bayh and Lindsey Graham have come up with a solution to try to "to ease the partisan rancor" in Bob Schieffer's words in Washington DC. Have the rich white boys club in the Senate to get together for some lunch. I feel so much better now. Schieffer didn't bother to ask Bayh or Graham if it meant the Republicans would stop obstructing everything the Democrats try to get passed that doesn't have to do with paying for the military industrial complex.

Somehow I doubt highly it's going to put a stop to this -- UPDATING OUR POLITICAL DICTIONARIES....:

Josh Marshall had a very short item the other day that I've been meaning to mention. He was helping readers understand the new political "lexicon."

"Jamming it through": to vote on a bill.

It got me thinking about how we should all update our understandings of political terms that had fairly straightforward definitions up until fairly recently.

"Obstructionism," for example, only refers to Democratic minorities opposing Republican proposals.

"Tyranny" is found when an elected Democratic majority passes legislation that Republicans don't like.

"Reconciliation" describes a Senate process that Republicans are allowed to use to overcome Democratic "obstructionism."

"Terrorism" refers to acts of political violence committed by people who aren't white guys.

Go read Steve's post for the rest of the list and the suggestions in his comments section. I could add a few more of my own like "Socialism" is passing a corporate friendly bill that could have been written by the Republicans a few years back. "Medicare" now equals Medicare Advantage. "Corruption" only counts when it's Democrats that are corrupt. "Freedom" equals invading and occupying another country. Feel free to add to the list here as well. The possibilities are pretty endless given the amount of bald face lying from the Frank Luntz crowd these days.

I'm sure those lunches will put a stop to all that though, right guys? It sure didn't stop Graham from using the phrase "ramming it down somebody’s throat" later in the segment when talking about the health care bill, or from lying about the use of reconciliation -- Graham Falsely Claims GOP Has Only Used Reconciliation With ‘Bipartisan Support’.

Transcript via CBS below the fold.

Continue reading »

Some Hoosiers (I'm assuming) have some fun at the expense of retiring moderate Democratic Senator Evan Bayh. Clever stuff.

So Bye, Bye, Mr. Evan Bayh

You're such a loser of a Hoosier

That you wont even try.

Your daddy was a hero, you're just some sleazy guy

Thanks to you, progressivism could die

Thanks to you, progressivism could die . . .

DOWNLOADS: (234)

PLAYS: (999)

Embed

Keith Olbermann dropped in on David Letterman and talked about the Olympics, Tiger Woods, the Tea Baggers and whether John Mellencamp might consider running for the Senate after Evan Bayh announced his retirement.

Cenk does a great job of reflecting how I feel about the media's treatment of Evan Bayh and his retirement from the Senate. They never bring up all the money his wife has made working for WellPoint -- Evan Bayh's Wife Reaping The Benefits Of Health Care Reform. And they continually call these ConservaDems who are corporate Democrats "centrists" which drives me as crazy as it does Cenk.

Cenk also points out that unlike the main stream media the HuffPo was willing to ask Bayh if there's one job he won't rule out after leaving office and they got their answer here -- Evan Bayh Won't Rule Out Becoming A Lobbyist After His Term Ends.

And for more here's Cenk's post on the subject at hand -- The Media's Billion Dollar Ad for Evan Bayh:

The mainstream media has been giving Evan Bayh a big fat sloppy wet kiss for the last 24 hours. Every single story is about how moderate and centrist and independent he is. Golly gee willikers, Evan Bayh is such a pure and innocent person and he just couldn't take the corruption of Congress anymore. He was so fed up with the partisanship and like any great man decided he must strike out on his own and leave DC.

Come on, are these people this naïve or do they have a stake in this? Do you really think Evan Bayh only has pure motivations and was the last good man in Washington? This is absolutely absurd, and on many fronts it's the exact opposite of the truth. No one made a deal with corporate lobbyists faster than Evan Bayh. He wasn't sick of the problems of DC, he was the problem of DC. Read on...

As Cenk notes, like about half of the people who leave Congress, Bayh is just another name on a long list who might be looking for a big payday after their retirement from "public service". All of this might be just slightly easier to stomach if these assholes weren't lining their pockets while the rest of the country rots beneath them.

Scarborough uses this interview with Evan Bayh to attack bloggers on the left for being too mean to his buddy Evan Bayh and play more of this can't we all get along game Bayh's been singing since he announced his retirement.

Bob Cesca hit the nail on the head with this "half a loaf" nonsense out of Bayh today:

Bayh is really pathetic. While chickening out because being in Congress is so hard and people argue about important issues, he scolded the left by suggesting, "Some progress is better than none." And, "Half a loaf is better than none."

Well, first, I would argue that half a loaf is better than none, only if the goal is to always shoot for for the full loaf (damn I hate the "loaf" metaphor, by the way). Bayh, on the other hand, routinely aims for just the half a loaf.

Exactly. He's done nothing but undermine the agenda of the Democratic Party. "Half a loaf" for progressive Democrats who want some actual reform is the public option, since single payer would be the whole loaf. And of course in the clip above when Katrina Vanden Heuvel tries to ask Evan Bayh about the real problem with the Senate which is the filibuster and the money influencing its members, Joe and Mike make sure the segment ends before she can do any follow up. Scarborough needs to just move on over to ClusterFox where he belongs.

Chris Matthews apparently finds no irony what so ever in bringing in two lobbyists to talk about what's wrong with the United States' Senate. Matthews tells his audience the former political positions held by John Breaux and William Cohen, but fails to mention their lobbying gigs for Patton Boggs and The Cohen Group.

DOWNLOADS: (602)

PLAYS: (982)

Embed

Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd in another one of their false equivalency arguments throw Grover Norquist, unions and the netroots into the same batch and claim they control the Congress. And Chuck Todd interprets Evan Bayh's speech today on why he's not running for office again to say he was saying there's no room in the Senate for "centrists". "Centrist" is nothing but code for another corporate controlled politician. Since Senate millionaires club is made up of little else but, I don't know what the hell he's talking about here. It makes absolutely no sense.

The activists might get a response from these politicians when it comes to their campaign rhetoric, but at the end of the day their donors are who they're answering to when they govern and Matthews and Todd know it. Matthews of course will never let that stop him from getting his shots in on the netroots though. Todd also seems to be giving Norquist a lot more credit for his shift to the right than he deserves since Norquist has been around for ages pushing Republicans on these tax purity tests, even though he acknowledges the shift has come with a primary challenge from the right winger Hayworth.

MATTHEWS: OK, let’s talk turkey here.

CILLIZZA: ... ran for president...

MATTHEWS: Let’s go to Chuck Todd on the big picture here. Just a year or so ago, Arlen Specter of my state quit the Republican Party, saying there’s no room in it for centrist politicians like himself.

CHUCK TODD: Right.

MATTHEWS: Is this a sign that there’s no room in the Democratic Party for centrist politicians like Evan Bayh? He seemed to be saying that today.

TODD: No, I think what Evan Bayh is saying is there’s no room in the Senate for centrist politicians, period. You know, the fact is he said he doesn’t love Congress. It was an amazing, blunt attack on Congress. You know, frankly, there’s 70 percent of Americans agree with him on that statement. Nobody loves Congress right now. Very few seem to like what’s going on there.

Continue reading »