No one could have predicted (via Library Grape):
In 2010, Sen. Evan Bayh retired. Part of the reason, he told me, was that the corrosive effect of money in politics had left his profession looking corrupt. “You want to be engaged in an honorable line of work,” Bayh said, “but they look at us like we’re worse than used-car salesmen.”
On Friday, Bayh announced that he was joining Apollo Global Management, a private-equity megafirm, as “a senior adviser with responsibility for public policy.”
Trainrunner
And this cumfunnel with a haircut was on Obama’s VP shortlist.
Squidge.
Steeplejack
That says it all.
Metavirus
I wonder if Evan Bayh and Harold Ford can go on playdates now. A rousing game of “who can shit hardest on the DFHs” should be jolly good fun.
Brian S (formerly Incertus)
Maybe he figures that if he had to be looked at like he was worse that a used car salesman, then it’s only fair that he pass on that heritage to those who follow him.
In fairness, he does look worse than a used car salesman. I sold cars for about six weeks back in my 20s, and I still get bouts of self-loathing from it, but I’d do that before I became a whatever-the-hell Bayh is becoming now.
brendancalling
there are people who suck dick for crack who have more integrity that Evan Bayh.
At least the crackheads have an excuse: they’re addicted to drugs.
lamh32
Hey, dont’ be linking the Apollo Theatre to this asshat, even in jest…lol!
Doesn’t surprise me about Bayh.
Restrung
I’m not sad to see poofie’s like this one depart congress. But they do tend to get replaced by Republicans. Maybe it’s better for the D brand in ’12.
Violet
Hypocrisy with a haircut.
Lev
@brendancalling: Money and power can be as addictive as any drug. Understand this, and you have got about 4/5 of Washington neuroses figured out.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Cognitive dissonance; Evan haz truckloads of it.
As David Spade said: Buh Bayh!
Used car salesmen are more ethical than that bastard.
Restrung
slightly or not at all related, I thought this was funny:
MNGOP decides they won’t run against Amy
Stillwater
Well, I’ll give him this much: it’s more honorable to be buying votes than denying you got bought off.
Gus
Mendocracy, kleptocracy, whatever you want to call the system we have in place now in this country, words cannot express my disgust.
freelancer
Biggest DLC corporate whore in the Senate. Jesus. This is like Bill Fichtner as the mobster/bankster in the first scene of The Dark Knight.
“Criminals in this town used to believe in things. Honor. Respect. What do you believe in?”
You moron, criminals believe in crime, they’re ROBBING you.
General Stuck
Unless we ban corporate and private money from elections, and make them publicly funded, we are doomed. It is the one thing that can save this country from corps eventually running every aspect of our lives, and a type of puppet government as well.
AAA Bonds
You misunderstand. Bayh is disdainful of used-car salesmen because he considers them a low form of crook.
Bayh was a Senator.
Lolis
I really really really really dislike that man.
Elisabeth
What took him so long?
El Cid
The corrosive effect of money in politics for Bayh was that it wasn’t as easy to get as much money as quickly as he wanted in office than out of office.
lamh32
Okay,
I can no longer talk about Evan Bayh. I’ve got to watch some dudes who are true to themselves.
Off to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Martin
Well, if the public is determined to see you as a cumfunnel, might as well get rich doing it.
Michael D.
We seem to be missing a CHUCK open thread.
ruemara
@lamh32:
I’d watch that over Evan Bayh any day.
goatchowder
Brain explodes. I’m sorry, I just pulled a Scanners.
MattR
@Michael D.: I think you mean “have missed”.
I just discovered a few weeks ago that one of my best friend’s step-brothers wrote a half dozen episodes of Chuck.
lamh32
@ruemara:
I seriously love this show. As a woman who’s not a size 0, 3, or 9, these big beautiful boys are just lovely.
They are more beautiful than some natural born women I know.
Today is the Season 3 premiere, and I’m all in…LOL!
Anne Laurie
When does Alan Simpson announce that he’s taking the office next to Bayh? Just to “keep the seat warm” for Paul Ryan, of course?
Otto, Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@General Stuck:
I’ll go along with this. It also would be great to see some kind of ban on lobbying for former congressmen and senators, though I don’t know if what Bayh’s doing now is strictly lobbying. I don’t want to see them banned from taking any kind of work at all*, but there ought to be some way to keep them from using influence to, well, influence Congress.
*In some egregious cases, it would indeed be fun to watch sanctimonious assholes who ranted abut lazy jobless people whimper and whine while they had to make do living on their savings.
General Stuck
@Otto, Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Until corporate money is once and for all not a part of federal elections, to use a Jurassic Park line, money will find a way. It will take a constitutional amendment most likely, and that is a very steep hill to climb, at least until the general public gets clued in to what has been happening, and is about to get much much worse to their democracy with corporate money in politics, and that may well be too late to change things. But I always hold out some hope, small though that may be.
goatchowder
These are my two favorites to clean this filth our of the halls of our government: http://www.movetoamend.org, and http://www.publiccampaign.org
Jamie
It’s really getting to the point that after someone is in high office, none of their descendants should be allowed to run for office for at least 2 generations.
Shalimar
And we have a winner in the “Who did Senator Bayh really work for while he was in office” sweepstakes.
HeartlandLiberal
As a Hoosier for the past 26 years or so, let me just say that I take great pride in knowing that my many faxes to Bayh, with their mean, nasty, liberal criticisms of his actions (and many failures to act), contributed to his departure. He whined quiet a bit about how mean to him (and to his wife and her millions earned from health care industry) we were.
Frankly, as incompetent and evil as his Republican replacement Dan Coats is, I honestly doubt if we will be able to discern an iota of difference between his performance on behalf of us citizens of Indiana, and Bayh’s performance while Senator.