Why should a liberal Deomocrat support Evan Bayh?

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nickshepDEM
Junior Chimp

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	Why should a liberal Deomocrat support Evan Bayh? « on: April 06, 2005, 01:56:27 PM »
	« edited: April 06, 2005, 01:59:57 PM by nickshepDEM »

Article written by Bill Earl. A liberal Democrat who supports Evan Bayh in 2008...

Why should a liberal Deomocrat support Evan Bayh?

Good question.

It is true that there just might be more liberal candidates in the running for 2008, such as John Kerry who feels he deserves another shot for coming so close last time, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), maybe U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DL), and of course U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). All five of those Senators have a much more liberal record than Evan Bayh.

As you know, I personally am a liberal Democrat from the left wing of our party. My dream candidate a few years ago would have been the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN). I've always gravitated toward the most liberal candidate on the primary ballot from McGovern to Church to Kennedy to Mondale to Biden to Harkin to Bradley to Dean.

Why am I supporting Evan Bayh instead of, say, Hillary or Feingold? Or my 1988 choice, who's running again 20 years later now for 2008, Joe Biden?

Because us liberals have been on the outside looking in too long. We have seen the social justice programs of FDR and LBJ get chipped away until even Social Security and the 40 hour work week are in danger---grave danger. (As Jack Nicholson once said, "Is there any other kind?")

We may see Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia as our next Chief Justice of our U.S. Supreme Court replacing Rehnquist. (Deep Throat?) Perhaps THIS year. We have seen a man who should have been allowed to assume his presidency, Al Gore, deprived, despite his popular vote win, because of the U.S. Supreme Court stopping the ballot counting in FLA.

Us liberals can stand firm by our convictions and back the most liberal candidate each time. I know I did. Each time, too. But where has this idealogical purity gotten us?

That's where Evan Bayh comes in. Evan Bayh is looked upon as a moderate, or, to even some, a conservative Democrat.
But those of us who personally remember his father, Birch Bayh, know that an acorn does not fall far from the tree.

The secret us liberals who are supporting Evan Bayh know? Bayh, as President, will be a lot more liberal than most people think.

Birch Bayh was a pillar of liberalism. He wrote the ERA. He wrote Title IX. Evan knows what his father stood for.
I don't think Evan will want to disappoint his dad. Evan believes in fatherhood too much to ignore Birch's ideals and dreams he knows his son can carry out.

That's why a liberal, like me, can say, hey, it's okay to support Evan Bayh. Because Evan Bayh can WIN. And unless we nominate a Democrat who can win, we will be on the outside looking in for another decade while the Religious Right turns our country into an evangelical fundamentalist regime as Cheney/Bush Jr./Dobson/Robertson are doing now.

We could run Feingold or Hillary in 08. Or John Kerry again. Another liberal. Or, how about Mr. Liberal himself. Yep. We could go whole hog. I'll come out and say it. We could nominate U.S. Senatory Edward M. Kennedy (D-MASS) in 2008 for the pinnacle and cap of his career, and a ray of hope back to Camelot.

But a nomination does not win an election. Look at the map on our AFB.com website home page. Look at all those red states. This isn't 1960. It's 2005. We need a man who can make electorate connections in that vast solid red area. Evan Bayh knows how. He's done it for five elections in a row in Indiana. More votes than Cheney/Bush Jr. got in Indiana in 2004, in fact.

I will never stray from my liberal roots. I took the political compass test and scored:

>Economic Left/Right: -8.50
>Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.85

That's almost off the left side of the grid.

But I've been here since November 10th (and actually, on record, before) because I want a win in 2008.

And THIS TIME we found a man who can win red states, Republican votes, and GET ELECTED. My heart may say Hillary or Feingold. But my head says Evan Bayh.
I urge all liberal Democrats to join your brother liberal from California here, and work for the nomination and election of Evan Bayh for U.S. President in 2008.

Remember our secret? It's okay to pass on to other liberals. We know that the Bayh name will never sell out FDR, LBJ, The New Deal, or The Great Society. Us liberals can feel good about, perhaps, President Birch Evans Bayh III's "The Renewed Deal", beginning in 2009.

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BiLL EARL is a periodic feature of AFB.com and The National Bayh! Network...NB!N

http://www.americansforbayh.com/

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