Bryon Dorgan is one of those Senators I frequently spot on the losing and right end of votes of, say, 94 – 5 — not relevant enough to be purchased whole-sale by those corporate conglomerates that form the Great Bi-Partisan Consensus.  So it’s not too surprising to see his quotes from the passing of a key 1999 Banking de-regulation (better to say “re-regulating”, as I don’t know that “de-regulation” exists in affecting these rules of the game) bill now bouncing about the Internet:

”I think we will look back in 10 years’ time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930’s is true in 2010,” said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. ”I wasn’t around during the 1930’s or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980’s when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness.”

I never trust Triumphantalism of any sort, and tend to think any politician proclaiming a “New Era of Freedom” to be selling us Snake Oil.:

”The world changes, and we have to change with it,” said Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, who wrote the law that will bear his name along with the two other main Republican sponsors, Representative Jim Leach of Iowa and Representative Thomas J. Bliley Jr. of Virginia. ”We have a new century coming, and we have an opportunity to dominate that century the same way we dominated this century. Glass-Steagall, in the midst of the Great Depression, came at a time when the thinking was that the government was the answer. In this era of economic prosperity, we have decided that freedom is the answer.”

 — likewise I don’t believe in the “Silver Bullet” of a solution.  A quote from Bryon Dorgan not seen in this news account of interest in re-considering President Bill Clinton.:

“this bill will also, in my judgment, raise the likelihood of future massive taxpayer bail-outs.”

The Great Accomplishment that shines forth from the fans of President Bill Clinton, particularly in light of his predessors and successor, is his Balanced Budget and Emerging Surpluses.  Can we unequivocably say that, in light of “raising the likelihood of future massive taxpayer bail-outs”?  Clinton looks worse for wear right now.

This past month, the institution of the “Democratic Leadership Council” (hurling us to that scene in 1999) mysteriously was amplified as Evan Bayh (former head of said organization) announced a redundant Senate Caucus of, like a quarter of Senate Democrats and “three or four” mystery meat participants.  Their purpose appears to be to provide a right – plank for the Democratic President.  Harry Reid lent credence to them in stating this about the “left plank”:

He disapproves of liberal lobbying groups running advertisements targeting moderate Democratic senators trying to get them to support President Obama’s budget.  MoveOn.org and Americans United for Change have launched separate ad campaigns designed to pressure House and Senate Democrats to line up behind the administration’s ambitious fiscal plans. “These groups should leave them alone. It’s not helpful to me. It’s not helpful to the Democratic Caucus,” Reid said.

Case in point, Evan Bayh’s donors list — $123,000 from Goldman Sachs between 2003 and 2008; $1 million from securities and investments firms in donations from 2003 to 2008 .  An unhelpful point these activist ads would be bringing up.
… Gingerly?

A little odd because Obama is not much to stray from orthodoxy, for good and bad, and it might not do well to take another gander at his donors.  For Bayh and company, what policy propsoals are there to restrain?

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