PrintThe Baucus drunken tirade
Max Baucus, Senator from Montana, has certainly been squandering his 15 minutes of fame. His babbling, incoherent slurring speech in Senate debate on December 23 is perhaps the crowning achievement in his fall from respectability. Surely the Democrats will circle the wagons and declare that Baucus had a "reaction" to medication or suffered some medical condition that affected his speech and behavior. Don't buy it.
Somehow Senator Stumblebum managed to produce a health care bill from the Senate Finance Committee after more than a year of dithering. There might be a few Americans who consider this a positive achievement.
In the middle of his determined effort to pass some form of health care reform, it was revealed that Baucus had been on the receiving end of huge contributions from the health care sector, including insurance and pharmaceutical companies:
"From 2003 to 2008, Baucus received $3,973,485 from the health sector, including $852,813 from pharmaceutical companies, $851,141 from health professionals, $784,185 from the insurance industry and $465,750 from HMOs/health services, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.[42][43] A 2006 study by Public Citizen found that between 1999 and 2005 Baucus, along with former Senate majority leader Bill Frist, took in the most special-interest money of any senator."
Once Baucus's compromising position was revealed, he declared a temporary moratorium on accepting new donations from the industry (July 1, 2009.) He did not, however, agree to return any of the money that at least had the appearance of being tainted. Incredibly enough, in the face of public scrutiny, Baucus didn't even bother to adhere to his own pledge:
"A watchdog group found that in July 2009 Baucus took more money from the health care industry in violation of the self-defined terms of his moratorium, leading Baucus to return the money." (ibid Wiki)
Then in December of 2009, it was revealed that Mad Max had nominated his girlfriend, Melodee Hanes, to the vacant position of U.S. Attorney from Montana. Her nomination was only withdrawn by Baucus after a newspaper threatened to disclose his perfidious nepotism.
Now we are subjected to his apparently drunken ranting on the floor of the U.S. Senate. See the disgusting video here.
This can't possibly be the kind of person the people of Montana want representing their interests in the U.S. Senate. After Baucus's serial demonstration of his lack of moral fiber, one can only ask:
Who does he think he is, a Kennedy?
Ralph Alter blogs at Right on Target www.rightot.blogspot.com
