Friday, August 22, 2008
Drudge is flashing Bayh
[FINAL (?) UPDATE: MSNBC reports that Bayh and Kaine are out of it, so this business does indeed look like a big head fake. Good for Team Obama! As I wrote below, let's hope that if Obama is elected he can deploy that same misdirection in foreign policy.
Does this mean it is Biden?]
There are apparently Obama/Bayh bumper stickers and other paraphernalia in production, and based on that Drudge is flashing Evan Bayh as Barack Obama's running mate.
Evan Bayh, meanwhile, is "focused on providing hardworking Hoosier families with the tools and opportunities they need to succeed today."
MORE: Reading Bayh's Wikipedia entry, for which editing is restricted on account of vandalism. We note that he managed to get into Golden Gate University School of Law notwithstanding having been the son of a United States Senator and a graduate of the St. Alban's School in Washington. I think it is fair to say that when it comes to lawyering, anyway, Evan Bayh is no Louis Brandeis. Or Barack Obama.
Not to be a law school snob, or anything.
If Bayh is the pick, the more ideological of the lefties are going to be very unhappy. He is all for capital punishment, and was an early supporter of George W. Bush's Iraq policy. He has expressed strong support for Israel, contempt for Yasir Arafat, and supported legislation imposing sanctions on Iran. All in all, I would prefer him on the top of the ticket, non-Harvard law school notwithstanding.
MORE: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has lots more noodling on the rumor, and agrees with my thought that the "netroots" will not be happy. Lefty Marc Ambinder, though, takes in the semiotics of the sticker and pronounces it "too ugly" for the rumor to be true. Style matters!
THE LINKS DON'T STOP! Apparently the Obama campaign is saying that it had materials printed for various possible VP selections, presumably either because (i) the candidate kept his staff guessing or (ii) the campaign wanted to misdirect us to prolong the suspense. Pretty sneaky. I hope that if given the opportunity Barack Obama directs his talent for misdirection to foreign policy.
5 Comments:
By 
Larry Sheldon, at
Fri Aug 22, 09:09:00 PM:
Just about to the end or my list of "regulars" that I read from time to time, and nobody yet has called "head fake".
So I will.
By 
, at
Fri Aug 22, 09:30:00 PM:
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 12:56:00 AM:
TH:
We note that he managed to get into Golden Gate University School of Law notwithstanding having been the son of a United States Senator and a graduate of the St. Alban's School in Washington. I think it is fair to say that when it comes to lawyering, anyway, Evan Bayh is no Louis Brandeis. Or Barack Obama. Not to be a law school snob, or anything.
TH, it would appear that you messed up.
The current Wikipedia version on Bayh that I just read says that he received an HONORARY law degree from Gold Gate University. It states that he got his law degree from the University of Virginia.
Here is what Bayh’s US Senate biography says:
Bayh was born in Shirkieville, Indiana. He graduated with honors in business economics from Indiana University in 1978, and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1981. After clerking for a federal court judge and entering private law practice in Indianapolis, he was elected Indiana's Secretary of State in 1986, the first of Bayh's five statewide victories.
While Wikipedia’s accuracy is not universal, I doubt very much that Bayh’s US Senate biography would mess up on this.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 12:05:00 PM:
Yes, that's right about Bayh getting his law degree from U.Va. I remember that detail because I went to grad. school at U.Va., and 10 years ago I was living in Indiana and voted for Bayh in the Senate race.
By , at
Sat Aug 23, 12:09:00 PM:
Oh, but I forgot... what I wanted to say is that if the Obama campaign went to this kind of effort to produce and provide misinformation (by paying for Obama-Bayh bumper stickers), it shows that the only "new" thing about Obama's politics is how boldly devious it can be.
