How to read the news …

Two stories are being used to control perceptions today, one of them even somewhat spontaneous.

1. Capture of Taliban #2 man: If anyone reading this has ever heard of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar before today, do speak up. In television drama, this is known as “moving the story forward.” Afghanistan is a murky place, and we’ve never really given a good demon to focus our hatred on. But somehow we have to be ushered along, rooting for our team as they seek to defeat the villains.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is just some dude, and he cannot possibly lead to the capture of Osama, unless it is a fake Osama, as Osama probably died in 2003 shortly after he denied any involvement in 9/11.

There are military objectives in Afghanistan, and somehow it became an emergent situation in 2008 after it became apparent that patriotic resistance in Iraq had been beaten down. Whatever is going on over there, public opinion is being managed right now, and the occasional capture of the “number two” man is part it. Move that story forward.

Evan Bayh, presidential timbre, steps down. In case no one notices, Evan Bayh probably was facing a tough reelection battle, as he is a conservadem, a right winger, part of the cadre of Democrats who led the party down the conciliatory path that will lead to a well-earned disaster at the polls this year. A good thing.

His wife, Susan, has been politely called a “boardwalker”, serving on the board of numerous health care companies, including Wellpoint, since his election, and making boatloads of money. Bayh is compromised in total, useless now if ever of any use before.

So why is he being touted as a potential presidential candidate? Right wing democrats have automatic credentials.

So here’s how the read the story – he’s going down due to lack of popular support even though he has tons of money behind him. He’ll be resurrected at some point. Loser Republicans usually turn up at Heritage or American Enterprise. Bayh will most likely turn up at Wellpoint.

Susan Bayh may be out of work now, if she ever worked at all.

Footnote: According to John Amato, Bayh’s primary lead in Indiana was “insurmountable”, so he was not to be undone by a Democratic challenge. Perhaps it is the quandary that Harry Truman described, that given a choice between a Democrat who acts like a Republican, and a real Republican, voters will take the real thing every time.