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As has been said, .12 is hardly roaring drunk, and the fact that he was driving twice the speed limit tells me he was dealing with something else that night that had put him in a wreckless state of mind; a fight with his father, maybe...or an exceptionally ugly bit of fan mail. Really, who can say?

No one who was not anti-Semitic would say what Mel said, no matter how drunk.

Very different from "f***ing Jew b*****d", which is at least arguably simply a profane angry outburst that expresses anger at an individual without necessarily condemning a group (not to defend it, but simply to distinguish it). An amusing example is in the Producers, when Max calls his partner "fat", not because he harbors prejudice toward fat people, but because he is mad, and just looking for any characteristic of the individual to pick on.

"No one who was not anti-Semitic would say what Mel said, no matter how drunk." I don't know what was in Mel's heart. I do know he has apologized and disavowed the comments. As others have noted, I suspect he is bi-polar. If so, he could very well have said things he doesn't mean. People in a manic mode tend to exaggerate their feelings and perceive slights where there aren't any. If, in his lucid moments, Gibson felt persecuted by Jewish groups over The Passion, that could be magnified when he is in a manic mode. If, like many extreme conservatives, he takes the isolationist Patrick Buchanan viewpoint that the U.S. should not be involved in Israel's battles, that would be magnified into blaming Jews for war when he is in manic mode. Also, as I noted in another thread, if words uttered under the influence are a reflection of one's true feelings, then there are a lot of frat boys who really are in love with the girl they picked up at closing time at the bar!