Weigel

Evan Bayh’s New Gig

I think Jonathan Chait brings the appropriate level of snark/spite to the news that former Sen. Evan Bayh has become a “strategic adviser” to McGuireWoods LLP, reminding us of what Bayh said about his post-retirement plans.

If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months.

Bayh’s much-quoted dismissal of his party was, of course, a lie – by the time he said it, private sector jobs were starting to tick up, albeit slowly. But I always gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he was talking about private sector job growth, with no government intervention at all, the way things are supposed to work in a healthy economy. Success at this new job will be determined, basically, by rent-seeking.