What’s Wrong With This Picture?
30 October 2009 12:07 am by Taylor Marsh
“… Nancy Pelosi, to her credit, has been left to round up votes for a tough public option without much help from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. You know, the idea that the President could have maybe come in and said, you know what, here’s ten guys that I can sway. If the President of the United States calls it’s tough to say no. We’ve kind of been left to do this on our own and you really need the full-throated support of a president at a moment like this when we’re having a big national debate. … But really, I don’t think we can close this out unless the President really helps us.” – Rep. Anthony Weiner
The above stinger of a quote came earlier this evening on Rachel Maddow’s show. It needs no analysis, because we all know this has been what’s going on or not going on as the case may be.
In another venue, TheStreet.com’s Eric Jackson (via Memeorandum) absolutely peels Sen. Evan Byah’s wife the day the senator from the good state of Indiana found himself flopping like a fish on the dock after getting hooked. Mr. Bayh thought he could pull a Joe Lieberman, but it didn’t go over so well, especially when it drew attention to his wife’s insurance company ties that allow her to keep the family living in style, but only if the status quo is kept. You’ll get it after reading this:
Susan Bayh’s corporate directorships provide a significant chunk of the Bayh family income. In addition to the $2 million she’s received from WellPoint since 2003, she has received likely double that from additional corporate boards she has sat on. Last year, for example, she sat on four other boards besides WellPoint’s.
She collected $656,062 in cash and stock for all her board work last year, but half ($327,000) came from her WellPoint directorship. Because she first started taking work as a corporate director in 1994 (when she was 34 — when Sen. Bayh was still Gov. Bayh), she has served on 14 boards.
She’s actually cut back on her directorships in recent years. In 2006, she served on six corporate boards and received just under $1 million in total compensation for the year. That year, Evan Bayh received the standard $165,000 annual salary for serving as a senator.
Joe Conason lays out Joe Lieberman, who’s got his own wife troubles when it comes to insurance companies and caving on health care.
Howard Dean also asked tonight on “Countdown” why the House bill has a co-opt in it. Take a guess. It’s not hard.
The Democratic party has real problems that the health care debate is revealing fully. There’s no leadership and too many members that know it and are going their own way, regardless of what’s the best road on health care, as well as cost effective. It’s not an impressive performance by anyone at the top, which continues to concern me looking down the road when it comes to convincing anyone why they should vote a Democratic majority back into power in 2010.
