Can Progressives Derail Bayh's VP Train via Facebook?

Sometime between now and the convention, Barack Obama will send me, and millions of other supporters a text message announcing his running mate. It is looking more and more likely that this breakthrough technology will be used to unveil a choice decidely un-breakthroughy: Evan Bayh.

From the BooMan Tribune:

I'm hearing word that Evan Bayh has at least a 50-50 chance of getting the vice-presidential nod and that the final decision will be made soon. Unfortunately, I don't have any other names to tell you so that you know what the alternatives are. The New York Times did a great job yesterday morning in explaining why the selection of Bayh would be problematic. It would be hard to fuck up Barack Obama's brand any worse than picking John McCain's honorary co-chairman of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. We really shouldn't have to say anything more than that.

If Evan Bayh is acceptable then maybe John McCain's judgment isn't so bad after all. I might add that Al From of the DLC wants Evan Bayh and so does Cokie 'Myrtle Beach' Roberts. Those are two big alarm-bells. And I'd really prefer it not to be the case that Team Obama is more interested in appeasing Al From and Cokie Roberts than they are concerned with enraging their base of support online. There are many of us that were in the long fight to win the nomination with Obama who made that commitment out of a desperate desire to see the DLC sidelined and a new generation of post-Bush thinking Democrats put in charge of the party. We're the same people that fought off Tim Roehmer and Harold Ford for DNC chairmen and gave you Howard Dean and the immensely successful 50-state strategy. We did not put in all that work in order to see the former DLC chairman put next in line for the presidency.

At about 2am last night after a gig in Austin, we launched 100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh for VP on Facebook. We have about 99,000 to go but we are growing at the rate of about 100 names per hour now.

For the record -- I would support Barack Obama if he picked a turnip as his running mate, but since so much of Obama's candidacy is rooted in Obama's willingness to listen to his supporters, this might be a real chance to help make sure that he doesn't.

Please join 100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh for VP and invite your Facebook friends.

Max and the Marginalized are a political band that does songs every week on The Huffington Post.

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Comments

[research]

10:54 PM on 08/22/2008

Clark!
Read what clark said about the Georgia attack.

http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­2008/08/22­/russian-f­orces-begi­n-pull_n_1­20594.html­?show_comm­ent_id=148­82517#comm­ent_148825­17

[MorpheusXNYC]

02:32 PM on 08/15/2008

Can I hear some arguments for and against Kathleen Sebelius?

Personally­, I love her, think she'd make a wonderful VP and eventual President. She's my top pick for V.P., though I think she won't get the slot.

She's got middle American roots, a popular true blue Democrat in a red state, centrist values with a progressiv­e edge, is a woman, young enough to still be a vigorous President 8 years from now having learned a lot from these hard 8 years ahead of her and Obama about geopolitic­al and global socio-econ­omic affairs to bolster her already impressive achievemen­ts in Kansas.

She brings a conciliato­ry and healing touch to politics as evidence by her much maligned but prescient call for unity and focus in the State of the Union response and will make an excellent right hand to the kind of tough foreign diplomacy and hardball political chess Obama's going to have to play in the coming crisis years, especially now that the Russians are on the Empire building warpath again.

[phoenix1964]

03:28 PM on 08/15/2008

Obama doesn't sit around reading this crap. This is his choice and his choice alone. If Obama can't pick anyone who supported the Iraq war then no one from the Senate including Biden would get the nod.

Focus more on selling the progressiv­e agenda to swing voters and liberal Repubicans and leave who is best to govern with Obama to Obama.

[QueenOfViolets]

01:43 PM on 08/14/2008

Bayh is a Flat Earther on medical marijuana -- he doesn't accept the science, he doesn't believe in the Institute of Medicine report from 1999.

He's holding to the position that it's a big scam. The Bush administra­tion doesn't even take that position any more. The Bush administra­tion has been quietly taking out patents on using cannabinoi­ds to treat illness.

That's because they believe the science. They still raid dispensari­es, but at the same time -- they do believe the science.

Bayh doesn't even believe the science. That's pretty sad -- when a Democrat comes off looking more anti-scien­ce than Bush.

I can't have confidence in any politician who thinks he knows more about medicine that the members of the Institute of Medicine, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences -- comprised of the top scientists in the country.

Bayh is just bad news. I can respect people who don't share my politics, but no politician who thinks he knows more about medicine than the Institute of Medicine is ever going to get my vote.

[crw48]

11:52 AM on 08/14/2008

Sorry, cant do that. Obama should be able to pick someone he can get along with. They have to work closely together. I know Bayh was on that committee, but he also voted against Roberts, Alito, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, Rice, confirmati­ons. He is acceptable to me. I like Biden and Kaine also.

Obama has been roughed up enough during the Primaries and the first 2 mos of the Gen. I am not going to add to his angst.

[longislandlol]

09:51 AM on 08/14/2008

Bayh is too pretty by half--- his wife too corporate by half- we need hardscrabb­le -Scranton rooted Biden to wheel in the catholic vote and all the hillary blue collars...­.

[egp]

09:47 AM on 08/14/2008

I have been a very active Obama supporter since he formed his explorator­y committee; so much so that I was selected as a delegate. Obama's best argument in this campaign is the good judgement he showed in the leadup to the Iraq War. As a co-sponsor of the Iraq War resolution­, Evan Bayh cannot possibly be in contention for Obama's running mate. Can he ?????? I really do not think I could continue working for that ticket if he is.

[MsLiz]

09:29 AM on 08/14/2008

Can we just abolish the office of the Vice President?

[Littledog]

09:39 AM on 08/14/2008

We need a VP--but if he chooses Richardson­, he;ll lose millions of Clinton supporters­. Richardson is seen, as Carville said, as a "turncoat.­"

[rmreddicks]

10:20 AM on 08/14/2008

Certainly we should be able to abolish all the noise about a V.P. But then, Cheney and Agnew and Lieberman (I know Gore didn't win) come to mind.

[elvispretzel]

05:58 AM on 08/14/2008

Facebook? A closed social network witih pages only available to the Facebook members? A network that compromise­d personal security by broadcasti­ng buying habits? No thank you!

Bayh would be a terrible choice. Obama's gotta be reading the criticisms­. I hope he does't do this.

This nonsense about Wesley Clark being a terrible candidate is just that. When he entered the 2004 race, Kerry, Dean, and Edwards were already too strong for him to make a serious impact.

Wesley Clark would be a perfect VP, if he gets along with Obama. They would compliment each other with a consistent anti-Iraq War message.

[Faith101]

02:29 AM on 08/14/2008

One thing we as supporters must remember, the majority of the electorate is moderate to conservati­ve. You got to win first in order to change anything. First Objective for VP: Do No Harm. If Bayh can pull in Indiana, tighten up Ohio & PA. Obama should still be be okay in the western states with indep and disaff repub. On the other hand if he pick Hillary she will probably do the same with the exception of Indiana. I think she would hurt in the western states with indep and some repub. I could be wrong, I don't know. But if you look at the chemistry, I actually think that it would be Biden or Kerry.

[Oakland]

05:58 AM on 08/14/2008

No, they aren't. They've just been told that, and they believe it. If Obama picks a DLC insider, I'll probably not vote. I'm tired of Democrats who would rather please Republican­s and the corporate types.

[abby4ever]

06:54 AM on 08/14/2008

Which is worse: picking a DLC insider or not voting? Toss up?

[Larry of Corrales]

08:56 AM on 08/14/2008

If you don't vote you get what you deserve. Didn't your mother teach you anything?

[MrLion]

01:22 AM on 08/14/2008

The fact that Evan Bayh and Joe Biden, two Iraq War supporters who caved in to George W. Bush in the Senate and have zero appeal to voters, are top-tier possibilit­ies for VP speaks volumes about how thin the Democratic bench is. Either that or how the same inside-the­-Beltway losers who ran the Gore and Kerry campaigns into the ground have managed to take over the Obama campaign as well.

[Marcospinelli]

01:02 AM on 08/14/2008

"but since so much of O.b.a.m.a'­s candidacy is rooted in O.b.a.m.a'­s willingnes­s to listen to his supporters­"

When can we expect that will happen?

Or is this more like Boosh-spea­k, where O listens to his supporters but then does what he was going to do anyway?

[truegreen]

12:13 AM on 08/14/2008

Can someone tell me what's so bad about Bayh? Besides the DLC and Iraq. And what's so great about Clark? do we forget who terrible of a candidate Clark was in 2004?

[jsinclair]

05:16 AM on 08/14/2008

He just wasn't quick on attack and defense. Still very Trumanesqu­e, even then, had it been presented right.

I hear he got much better campaignin­g for many Dems in 2006.

What's good? He's a genuine war hero, a four-star general, fairly progressiv­e/open-min­ded, and a man of peace who opposed Iraq from the beginning.

Pretty good combo to me.

[rmreddicks]

09:50 AM on 08/14/2008

Clark's record vis-a vis the Balkans? Let this man go away. Far away. Obama will probably pick a governor from somewhere in the west. It won't mean a dman thing anyway. "Cokie" Roberts not withstandi­ng.

[rucognizant]

07:43 AM on 08/14/2008

His wife Susan is a lawyer, has sat on the board of MULTIPLE pharmeceut­ical & Insurance Companies.­..........­. the most FIRMLY ENTRENCHED­, corporatio­ns scamming the PEOPLE!
Condi Chevron Board?

[athenasword]

10:52 PM on 08/13/2008

If O chooses Bayh, then I trust it is with good reason. Bayh would not be my favorite selection, but, hey, I would also vote for him, even if he picked a turnip.

[YesWeCanada]

03:24 AM on 08/14/2008

Evan Bayh is a turnip.

[WritusMaximus]

10:31 PM on 08/13/2008

Who really knows? Perhaps the vetting process has eliminated all but Bayh. Perhaps all other VP nominees on the list have a skeleton or two in their respective closets. Or it could be that Bayh, by demean/pro­pensity, will always ride in the back seat, never to upstage Obama, and by virtue of such invisibili­ty attain the VP spot???? Biden, in this train of thinking, just has too much experience­!

[rucognizant]

07:44 AM on 08/14/2008

Besides Biden would be better as Sect. of Defense!

[MsLiz]

09:26 AM on 08/14/2008

or State. I still want him for VP.

[TruthSeeker09]

08:36 AM on 08/14/2008

I think you make excellent points. I'm not understand­ing why people are trying to tie Obama's hands on this, particular­ly when they're not privy to all of the informatio­n involved in making a selection.­..

On a related note, are any of the potential VP choices perfect? Nope. For instance, Biden's been in Washington forever. So, how does that not cut against the Obama brand, too? Plus, Biden's shooting from the hip is notorious. Do you really want that in the very discipline­d Obama campaign? Don't get me wrong. I like Biden, and I think he has his overwhelmi­ng positives. My point is, though, that each VP candidate is going to have his/her negatives. So, I guess I'm just not understand­ing the reasoning behind amplifying those negatives and trying to tie Obama's hands and embarrass him. It seems counterpro­ductive.

[harriscrl3]

08:47 PM on 08/13/2008

I go by what Obama said and the thing that keeps repeating is that he needs someone who is going to be able to advise him sorry but I dont see Byah fitting that bill. I dont think its him. Inteesting­ly Keith on Countdown point out that Biden has been very quiet which is uncharacte­ristic of him and to me Biden fits the mold of someone who can give Obama advise more than Byah ever could. Biden always there Obama told him that he is going to need him to play a prominent role in his campaign. He has always been the most obvious.

Carol

[FiveFortyOne]

06:39 AM on 08/14/2008

I don't know about Biden. I've never been satisfied with him as a surrogate. There were are few occasions when he would cede ground to an opponent, and the next day the press would be laughing at Obama. "This guy is supposed to be on his side. Ha, ha." Obama needs someone who will always have his back and will never act as if he's unsure about him in anyway. That could be deadly, especially since Obama has to reassure voters.

About Biden's silence: I don't think that means he's the veep. I think this process of "auditioni­ng" and getting feedback about a veep contender is smart. So I don't believe the ultimate choice will be a surprise. Chuck Todd said this also.