Posted on 12/29/2009 10:37:55 AM PST by jazusamo
Sen. Max Baucus' office Monday denounced a widely viewed Internet video that suggested Baucus was drunk on the Senate floor last week, calling it an "untrue, personal smear" designed to attack Democrats’ health-care reform legislation.
"This is beyond the pale, and this type of gutter politics has no place in the public sphere," said Baucus spokesman Ty Matsdorf.
How can unedited CSPAN footage of Senate proceedings posted on YouTube comprise a “smear?” Any reasonable person viewing the clip would conclude that Baucus was drunk or had something else wrong with him. Baucus' office did not assert that he was experiencing some other problem, like fatigue or a medical condition.
The Billings Gazette, along with the Great Falls Tribune, both reported that the YouTube video was posted anonymously, as if Baucus was somehow the target of an unfair attack. I guess they assume that their readers don’t know how YouTube or the internet work, and that CSPAN is no longer a credible source for U.S. Senate proceedings.
If these newspapers wanted to cite someone who would accuse Baucus of being drunk on the record, they should have called me.
Some Baucus defenders have theorized that he was just tired from putting in all the long hours on health care. Tired people slow down when they speak and have trouble finding the right, and sometimes obvious, word.
Fatigue is not evident in the CSPAN clip. In fact, Baucus speaks at a rapid clip, resulting in slurring of words. He also demonstrates the false bravado and jerky gesticulations that come not from lack of sleep but from alcohol.
By claiming a “smear” and a “slander,” we think Baucus protests too much. It is also hard to take seriously anything said by his spokesman Ty Matsdorf . This is the same staffer who dutifully claimed that Melodee Hanes, Baucus’ current live-in girlfriend, was acting in her “official capacity” as a Senate staffer when she met with a divorce lawyer to plan Baucus’ divorce months before Baucus had even discussed divorce with his wife.
Related:
Max Baucus Drunk During Health Care Debate
“No, wait, um...”
"Damn, I need another Scotch..."
Yeah, he wasn’t drunk and he’s never had a mistress. no, really...
Don’t bet on it...
I would have thought all the videos of Tedd Kenney falling down drunk and sinking drunk songs would have gotten him defeated. There are a lot of blind voters out there.
Or drunk ones..
TREASON: NOW IN GIN FLAVOR
Let me see here. Baucus is claiming he wasn’t drunk when he acted this way? That should not make anyone feel better IMO. At least his being drunk would provide an explanation for his bad behavior. By claiming he wasn’t drunk means he acted that badly on purpose?
Does this mean that skully owes you a new keyboard???
What other job (besides Congressman) allows an inebriated person to report to work?
-PJ
I may owe it to skully this time...!!
Got to admit..that is a great line...and I stole it fair and square!
**What other job (besides Congressman) allows an inebriated person to report to work?**
I would probably PEGG the Breathalyzer if I admitted to WANTING the JOB!!
NO. gwilhelm56 owes me a new cup of coffee. :)
Burp,belch I waz not imbibing any spirits I waz sober when I supports that crap..belch.
I didn’t know C-Span was in the smear business.
This is a failure on the part of mob boss Harry Reid. If this had been Nazi Pelosi’s side of the chamber, the cameras and microphones would have simply been turned off.
Ooops. Did I get it reversed?
I must have gotten this reversed. LOL.
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