[HISSKGB]

I see. I really don't want to be a nitpicker and I hope you understand what I am saying. All drinkers are not alcoholics.

It is interesting to note that several reminiscences of the Washington Post grand dame Katherine Graham when she died recalled dinner parties where she had many, too many drinks and would launch into somewhat incoherent tirades against Nixon. I have never read any first hand accounts of McCarthy rip roaring to this extent.

[DPB101]

A Republican Senator drinks and he's an alcoholic not fit to serve in the Senate. A Democratic Senator gets drunk and kills a woman and he is reelected in landslides for the next 30 years.

[ExSoldier]

"I have never read any first hand accounts of McCarthy rip roaring to this extent."

Ahem. You don't have to be "rip roaring" to qualify as an alcoholic. It's a bonafide disease and an addiction. All that is required is addictive behavior patterns. Most REAL alcoholics don't even begin to show signs of being "drunk" until they start to come down from the drunk.

THAT'S when the shlurred shpeech shtarts and the classic Delierium Tremens (DT's) begin (the uncontrollable shaking). Many also drink alone or at times when it is generally suspected that they won't been seen as it might be inappropriate...hence the bottle in a briefcase.

The US Army sent me along with a ton of other young new 2nd Lieutenants to a special school to learn about this stuff so that we could effectively "counsel" our grizzled old veteran sergeants with their endemic drinking problems.