http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/bayh_as_veep_he_cochaired_wing.phpBayh As Veep? But He Co-Chaired Neocon Committee For The Liberation Of Iraq With McCain!
By Greg Sargent - July 16, 2008, 6:03PM
Senator Evan Bayh's appearance today with Barack Obama at the "21st Century Threats" summit has stirred a lot of talk in the press about the possibility of him being on Obama's Veep short-list.
But we're not sure that's such a viable idea. That's because in 2003, Bayh was an honorary co-chair of the neocon pro-war Committee for the Liberation of Iraq -- a group he joined along with none other than John McCain and Joe Lieberman, according to a press release from during the run-up to the invasion. Check this out, from the group's press release on February 14th, 2003 (via Nexis):
The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) is pleased to welcome Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) as an Honorary Co-Chairman. Bayh becomes the third U.S. Senator to join the committee after Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced their participation on January 28.
The Committee is a neo-con group that was formed to propagandize the country into war. It boasted such illustrious neocon members as Bill Kristol, former CIA director James Woolsey, and even McCain senior foreign policy adviser and Chalabi-bamboozler Randy Scheunemann, whom Josh has been blogging about. Bayh would, to put it very charitably, muddle Obama's message. It's true that Bayh was said to have subsequently removed himself from the group. But Obama's campaign is partly about -- and rightly so -- the judgment he made, and others didn't, in the run-up to the invasion.
The McCain campaign and the Repubs would have a grand time mocking the choice. Indeed, the McCain camp is already trying to make an issue of Bayh's past.
"We know Obama isn't interested in the facts on the ground in Iraq, but one would think he'd at least be interested in the facts about those rumored to be at the top of his VP list.," McCain spokesperson Michael Goldfarb emailed us about Bayh. The Obama camp didn't immediately comment.
"A lot has changed since 2003," Bayh communications director Eric Kleiman told TPM's Eric Kleefeld. "And Senator Bayh has acknowledged if we knew then what we know now, he wouldn't have cast that vote."
Not sure that'll be enough.
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