Basie! interviews Sen. Birch Bayh

I'm jealous of this one. I've been trying to get in contact with Sen. Bayh but have been very unsuccesful in getting a reply from him. I've gotten two interviews up here and I'm trying to get more up in the future.

Read the interview here. An excerpt is below:

Bayh: People tend to say that. I'm not sure that it's right. You have to put my votes in the environment in which they were cast, and I don't think many of his votes would have been any different.

You look at the whole Human Rights questions, I happened to be there at just the right time when the country was awakening -- this goes to the first question you asked -- the whole country was awakening to a hundred years of injustice that hadn't been resolved yet. I was on the Judiciary Committee and actively involved in the Civil Rights movement.

I had the good fortune to be able to right an injustice that I thought was being heaped on young people by lowering the voting age, where you had young people that were old enough to die in Vietnam but not old enough to vote for their members of Congress that sent them there. That's just one reason to lower the voting age, not the only one.

And Title IX coming along there. I don't think Evan would have done any different than I did. I was fortunate to be there at a time when that was right.

I notice he's interested in father's responsibility, which I think is a long overdue issue that ought to be addressed. Fathers that sire children then often don't take care of them I think ought to be subjected to some sort of penalty. People are concerned, here again, about life, and haven't given a whole lot of attention to how you make fathers responsible for the lives they bring into the world.

I don't want to interpret where he is or whether we're from different wings of the party. Obviously that might help him...

Both: [Laughter]

Bayh: I don't want to pooh-pooh that.

I don't think he would vote to repeal Roe v. Wade. As Governor, he did come out against late term abortion, but as strong of a supporter as I am of choice, I tell you I find that choice to be almost reprehensible unless the life of the mother is involved. If the life of the mother is involved, I vote for the mother. But I just don't know where he is on those issues.