Bayh's Anti-Obama Bloc Teams Up With Senate Republicans To Kill Cap And Trade

Indiana's Evan Bayh, as deaf to America's needs as ever

The Senate started voting on instructions for the conferees for Obama's first budget last night. There was a well-coordinated effort by the Evan Bayh anti-Obama bloc to team up with Republican obstructionists to trim President Obama's sails when it comes to the kind of change agenda he campaigned on.

The day after the president went to Iowa to campaign for his clean energy ideas, Mike Johanns introduced the instruction that would make sure anti-envirnomental Republicans could use the filibuster to kill climate change legislation. The vote was to prohibit the use of budgetary reconciliation when it comes to voting on Obama's cap and trade proposal that is anathema to Big Business polluters and the corrupt members of Congress they bankroll like, for example, the Republican Party. And more than a few sleazy Democrats.

Democrats only needed 50 votes-- out of the 58 seats they hold-- to pass this. Instead Bayh's bloc and a gaggle of other corrupt and reactionary Democrats (+ a contrary Russ Feingold and Amy Klobuchar) voted with every single Republican. The Democrats who killed any realistic chance for environmental progress this year were:

Max Baucus (MT)
Evan Bayh (IN)
Mark Begich (AK)
Michael Bennet (CO)
Jeff Bingaman (NM)
Roland Burris (IL)
Robert Byrd (WV)
Maria Cantwell (WA)
Tom Carper (DE)
Robert Casey (PA)
Kent Conrad (ND)
Byron Dorgan (ND)
Russ Feingold (WI)
Kay Hagan (NC)
Amy Klobuchar (MN)
Herb Kohl (WI)
Mary Landrieu (LA)
Carl Levin (MI)
Blanche Lincoln (AR)
Claire McCaskill (MO)
Patty Murray (WA)
Ben Nelson (NE)
Mark Pryor (AR)
Debbie Stabenow (MI)
Jon Tester (MT)
Mark Warner (VA)
Jim Webb (VA)

27 Democrats voted with the Republicans and 28 Democrats voted with the president and 3 Democrats were absent. And that's the end of cap and trade. That was followed by just a standard anti-Obama proposal that basically says George Bush understood how to run an economy and Obama shouldn't do anything fiscally different from what he would have done had he decided to stay for another 4 years.

On Wednesday the House Republicans tried the same kind of stunt-- all 173 plus 23 mostly reactionary Democrats, trying to undercut Obama's change agenda. But they failed 196-227. The bad Democrats were basically the usual suspects who can't wait to prance across the aisle and vote with the Republicans against Obama: John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN), Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog-IN), Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL), Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN), Suzanne Kosmas (FL), Betsy Markey (CO), Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID), Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ), Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA), Tom Perriello (VA), Earl Pomeroy (Blue Dog-ND), Tim Ryan (OH), Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC), Zach Space (Blue Dog-OH), Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS) and Harry Teague (NM).

Back to the Senate-- it must have been hard for the Bayh bloc to resist but all but one of them stuck with the Democrats and helped defeat it 54-40. Of course it was Ben Nelson, the worst rat in the Senate, who scurried across the aisle to vote with his reactionary buddies on this one. Every Republican voted with Gregg and Nelson. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) proposed an almost identical motion a few minutes later and it was defeated 56-38, Nelson, momentarily, back with the Democrats, playing the ridiculous game he and the clowns in his state love so well. Evan Bayh decided Obama needed another thumb in the eye, so he took Nelson's place with the GOP. Voinovich (R-OH), who hadn't voted earlier was back and he joined the Democrats in voting no, as did Susan Collins, though not, surprisingly, Olympia Snowe. Murkowski (R-AK) ducked out of voting this time.

There should be plenty more nonsense to come on this and the big one next week on whether Bayh's disloyal Democrats will also join the Republicans in killing health care reform the same way they killed cap and trade. If they do, it will be a much closer vote. Watch Obama explain what Bayh and his conspirators killed last night:



UPDATE: Will Blanche Lincoln Survive Politically?

Like reactionary Colorado Democrat Michael Bennet, Lincoln's polling numbers show tremendous vulnerability.

45% of voters support the job she’s doing while 40% say they disapprove of her work. Hurting Lincoln’s numbers are poor marks from independents, only 31% of whom say they approve of her performance while 50% rate her negatively. 73% of Democrats but only 22% of Republicans express approval.

And there are rumblings on the left that could hurt her with Democrats. She keeps voting with the GOP without gaining support from Republicans, although plenty of legalized bribes from Republican-type donors-- her votes are always for sale. I keep hearing that the SEIU may be in Little Rock canvassing for a potential Green Party candidate. If a Green candidate does as well against her as their candidate did last year against Pryor, Lincoln will have no chance of winning re-election. The poll results you see here (from Firedoglake), asked respondents about whether they would support a Green against Lincoln. Looks like by an overwhelming margin they would love to. Personally, I think it would be a lot easier to knock off Bennet; in fact, I'd say he has virtually no chance to be re-elected and I sure hope a progressive gets into that race before Democrats lose the seat to a Repug. Progressives didn't primary Ben Nelson last time and now we have him opposing Obama's agenda and even his nominees whenever he gets a wild hair up his ass.