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The Spectacle Blog
A link to a YouTube video taken from C-Span 2 appeared on the Drudge Report the other day. In it, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) is seen addressing the Senate in what seems to be a drunken state: gesturing wildly and slurring his words. His subject is the current healthcare legislation. His staff has repudiated speculation from the GOP that the Senator was indeed drunk on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
For the past couple of days I’ve kept my eye on the Montana media and cannot find a reference to this anywhere. I’ve followed the Billings Gazette, the Bozeman Chronicle, New West, the latter ignoring my e-mail inquiries. And a Google search (“Max Baucus drunk”) turns up no Montana links at all (such as the Missoulian, Helena’s Independent Record, etc.). The aforementioned state papers and websites are mostly Max-friendly (an ongoing paradox in Red State Montana), but did the blackout originate with the Senator’s media people? It’s very thorough.
All this is interesting because last August’s Flathead Lake alcohol-related nighttime boating accident involving Montana Congressman Dennis Rehberg (the Republican sustained a broken ankle, and four other passengers were injured, including Montana Senate Majority Whip Greg Barkus, who was driving the boat and faces DUI-related charges) was front page news in those very same newspapers and media sites, not to mention exhaustive television coverage.
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Eric| 12.30.09 @ 2:00AM
Actually, the Baucus story was THE big story on the Gazette's front page, and is currently the second "hot topic" on the front page at this very moment.
Pingback| 12.30.09 @ 3:48AM
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Franktalk| 12.30.09 @ 6:55AM
I have also been watching the local news and can not find a mention of it. Emails also not returned. Methinks the fix is in!
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Kathy| 12.30.09 @ 12:28PM
Two quick observations: Wouldn't it be a little embarrassing to be a senator whose mannerisms and speech leave people constantly wondering if you're drunk, whether you are or not? And what is more disgusting than the possibility that Baucus might have been tipsy, is the fact that most of what he was saying was lies about the Republicans. Talk about taking orders from the party leaders ...Baucus's rantings were straight out of the Pelosi/Reid handbook which says lie on every occasion because the friendly press will pass it on as truth without question.
JetMech72| 12.30.09 @ 12:30PM
I think people need to watch more Baucus videos then they would start to realize this is the way he is, all the time. I was extremely tired in the "drunk" video and his normal speech impediments were amplified. But no one will want to believe anything else, other than that he was drunk our of his mind on the Senate floor. As a Montanan, I can tell you that it has been in the media here and everyone here understands that Max's speech problems can come across as a blithering drunk.
It is funny to watch the neo-cons go bonkers over this. Just write to your Senator and ask if he or she thought Baucus was drunk, they know him better than you.
Patriot| 12.30.09 @ 6:08PM
Doesn't recommend you, your state or your senator that Baucus's rants appear to be that of a drunk, sir. He just looks nuts to me.
No one is going bonkers, we're just amused by you moronic liberals; you're the comedic gift that keeps on giving.
MTinMO| 12.30.09 @ 12:37PM
I found it in The Missoulian, The Flathead Beacon and the Billings Gazette when I quit looking. Me thinks you don't know enough about Montana to do a proper search. However, your story is bogus as a result. It has been reported and the response by Baucus reported. Trying to draw a correlation between the boat crash coverage and this shows you do not put the same value on human life and suffering as most Montanans do. The folks in the crash, including Representative Rehberg were injured, some of them seriously. I would call a coma serious. The evidently gay pedophile Mark Foley, who was not present in the Senate, declaring he thought Max Baucus was drunk, doesn't rate real high in the books of most Montanans. The fact that you are evidently putting a lot of stock in it demonstrates partisanship rather than proof and pettiness rather than being concerned with any kind of upstanding journalism.
MTinMO| 12.30.09 @ 12:55PM
Kathy- it should be embarrassing for people uncouth enough to draw attention to someones speech impediment, not the person with it, and considering you were not in the room with Baucus and the other "gang of 6", the 3 Democrats and 3 Republicans, how would you know if what he was saying was accurate or not? He was there, he was working with the other Senators. He was exhausted after marathon sessions and they were almost finished in order to recess. I watched the video, Baucus was not slurring his words, he was repeating himself sometimes, but was not slurring. He was not reading from prepared text he was speaking from the heart. If anyone tried to have a bipartisan bill it was Baucus. He doesn't have to use anyone else's playbook. He has been there long enough to write it. He has always tried to be bipartisan, to the ire of many Democrats. You don't know what you are talking about and if you are the type that makes fun of a speech impediment that may come out when someone is stressed or tired, than you are pretty disgusting.
Kathy| 12.31.09 @ 1:17PM
MT in MO - Let me remind you it was not I who drew attention to this speech, it was Youtube who posted it for a quarter of a million people to view in the first 24 hours. And I am not the first to comment on Max's inept public speaking (see National Review and Queen City News, most recently, also comments from his own staffers). As I said, what is most disturbing about his comments is his willingness to stand up before the US Senate on television and lie. My comments were not directed to whether or not Max is bipartisan, they were directed to the lies he was telling. It is a bold-faced lie, to use Max's words, to say the Republicans had no healthcare reform ideas, and it is a lie to say that the Republicans never tried to work with the Democrats. It's pretty hard to work with Democrats when they are the only ones invited to the Whitehouse to discuss healthcare reform and when they have locked door meetings excluding Republicans and when Harry Reid actually locks the final version of the bill in his office so no one can read it. Max is worried about his image, just like every other politician, so telling lies like this and ranting about your opponent on CNN makes you look like you're just so concerned about the public and you're "just speaking from the heart" about this important issue. If it is so important to him, why did he spend the summer recess avoiding public meetings in Montana where his constituents might have been able to ask questions or make comments? Why does he ignore the fact that the majority of Montanans and Americans oppose this healthcare bill? He was using his TV time to create a good soundbite. Problem was it backfired on him and he looks like a fool instead.
Jerry| 12.30.09 @ 1:02PM
Sorry folks, but I cannot agree that Baucus is like this "all the time." But make up your own mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....E&NR=1
vs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Y9X5ggxzA
democratsareNAZIS| 12.30.09 @ 1:38PM
Lots of Democrat liars here.
I'm in Montana and I doubt they are. I can tell you there has been NOTHING. Oh, there's the occasional snippet parroting Baucus' non-denial denial, but only in tertiary sources.
Lee Enterprises is one of many media organizations owned by Democrats that will LIE, COVER UP for any Democrat and destroy the lives of anyone who DARES to expose a Democrat for what he is.
I've seen Max Baucus falling down drunk more than once. The man is going to need a new liver before long.
MTinMO| 12.30.09 @ 4:16PM
Dude, I think you are the drunk. You are really wrong about Lee Enterprises and I have seen plenty of stories about Democrats as well as Republicans. Perhaps if there wasn't something for their to be a story about? However, I would be interested in your proof that you have seen Max Baucus "falling down drunk lots of times". When? Where? Who was with you at the time? In which Montana city/town did this take place? As a Montanan well aware of the culture of alcohol in the state, I want to know. And you must not read the papers a lot, because I found stories about it and then about him and his staff saying it was not true. Of course the man who was run out of Washington because he was trying to have sex with boys they are supposed to protect and teach about politics, not teach about gay sex. I don't care who Foley has sex with as long as they aren't kids and that is who he was pursuing. And you would rather listen to him??
MTinMo| 12.30.09 @ 4:06PM
I have never said Baucus was like that all the time. However he was surely fatigued, as no one has been working longer and harder than Max on Health Care Reform. They had a vote at 1 AM and came back at 6 AM after several late nights and early mornings. Max is always better with prepared speaking than he is with off the cuff but he was speaking from the heart after a long effort. I know he is much better when he is prepared and he wasn't, he was responding. I still don't believe he was intoxicated.
Patriot| 12.30.09 @ 6:10PM
Okay, I'll play; Baucus wasn't drunk--just nuts. Works for me.
Brooke| 12.30.09 @ 7:01PM
"Speaking from the heart?" Must be libspeak for lies, lies and more lies.
How can you tell when a liberal is lying? His lips are moving.
MTinMO| 12.30.09 @ 9:19PM
I guess you gotta have a heart to be able to speak from it and must of the repuglicans I know evidently took theirs out and ate it cause they don't know anything about caring and compassion, especially for those who suffer the most. If thats what it take to be one, you can have it. I'll take a liberal any day over a rethug. Kind of like snakes in the grass.
Brooke| 12.31.09 @ 1:43AM
You delusional liberals make me laugh, almost as much as the sorry spectacle of Senator 'Slur' Baucus.
Compassion? Sure, you're loaded with it; just look at the slaughter of 50 million innocent babies you and your disgusting social policies have caused.
You fascists don't give a damn about your fellow man, all you care about are power and control.
What a pantload.
Frank| 12.30.09 @ 7:23PM
There was a story in the four Lee papers (lee owns four of the largest five papers in the state) on the 28th about the Baucus video on the 28th. So there was coverage. In a way, it was worse than no coverage, as it was coverage that tried to cover up for the guy.
It basically defended him by saying he's always been a lousy speaker. One sentence said: "Baucus, whose public speaking style can be halting and awkward, is not slurring his words, but sometimes repeats himself during the five-minute video."
Also, one of the Lee papers, the Missoulian, had an editorial today basically saying the same thing, that Baucus was an atrocious speaker and he wasn't drunk, so stop picking on him you mean Republicans. You have to understand that, in Montana, the press is basically the PR arm of the Democratic party. But then, what's so unusual about that, right?
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bud| 12.31.09 @ 8:37AM
Montana is populated with thousands of ultra rich ultra liberals in the mold of Tom Brokaw and Ted Turner to Harrison Ford. Those people do not like reading newspapers that speak to the common folk. They like their news red. Baucus is not only a known philanderer but also a drunk and a deadbeat. He doesn't pay his bills and wants to be comped on everything. He likes the envelopes thick, the booze and sex free. Over 90% of his campaign contributions come from these out of state folks. It was long ago that these liberals took control of this wonderful state. It is going to be very hard to challenge that control.
weirdone | 12.31.09 @ 10:48AM
Have lived in Montana for over 45 years and know Max and his speech patterns well, he was totally drunk and anyone who refuses to see that is willfully blind. That is not the problem however.
Sen. Max Baucus, Chairman of the Finance Committee graduated from law school in 1971. In 1973 he was elected to the Montana State Legislature. In 1974 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and to the Senate in 1978. That is thirty five years in the Federal Government where he has helped spend untold trillions of dollars of other peoples money without consequences to himself. He enjoys a large salary, millions for office and staff, automatic pay increases, free health care and a Golden Parachute retirement equal to 100% of his salary. How much more out of touch can you get?
M DuncanHanks| 12.31.09 @ 11:51AM
Typical D comments. No matter what Max is or isn't, you'll keep him, won't you? He was drunk. Our eyes saw what they saw, our ears heard what they heard. I have a friend on Capitol Hill - she said DUH, he was drunk but nothin will be done about it cuz he's a Dem.
Shannon| 12.31.09 @ 3:12PM
Baucus is just drunk with power--like the rest of the morons in Washington DC. Get rid of all of them!
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