Democrat Max Baucus' really, uh, passionate Senate speech about healthcare, asbestos and more

Montana Democrat Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, one recent mid-afternoon spoke forcefully and sometimes repetitively about healthcare in general.

He seemed especially aroused over the uncooperative role that he perceives his Republican colleagues have played in his party's struggle to get the measure through Congress. (See video below.)

But, as a point of personal privy, er, privilege, Baucus also got going about Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) suggestion that a massive new healthcare bill of more than 2,500 pages shouldn't be larded up with special provisions for a tiny logging town in northwest Montana in a county named for the first Republican president, if you can believe such a thing exists.

Baucus, whose sixth term, if he completes it, ends in 2014, is a graduate of Stanford University and a former member of both the Montana and U.S. House of Representatives.

He came under fire most recently for admitting that he was romantically involved with a woman he put on a nomination list to the White House as a candidate for U.S. attorney.

By the way, members of the Senate were paid $6 for an entire term back in the nation's early days, way back even....

...before Joe Biden became a senator, which was when Barack Obama was in sixth grade. Today, these congressional folks are paid 29,000 times more than that -- $174,000 a year for vital work such as Baucus is seen performing here on Dec. 22.

Since the middle of 1991, members of Congress have given themselves about a $4,000 raise every year, including this year when so often they mentioned how tough economic times were for many Americans.

These folks do their own increases very cleverly: They pass raises scheduled for several years out to take effect unless they unvote them later, which never seems to happen. That way they can -- truthfully -- claim during the upcoming midterm election campaigns that they did not vote for raises this year. The pay boosts just come. Who can stop that?

At this rate of salary increases, however, it won't be very long before members of Congress will qualify as rich people subject to these special new rich people taxes they want to assess on others to pay for all these new programs they're voting to spend more money on.

Unless, of course, members of Congress vote to exempt themselves from that coverage too.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Comments

[Fred]

Baucus sounds like an old Foster Brooks routine. Shameful. He should apologize and resign.

[Dan]

Congress is the single most corrupt institution in our country and no one cares.

[Mike Kelley]

If I had anything to do with this pathetic health care bill, I would be drunk too.

[Jane]

Senator "Bacchus": Proof that they're drunk with power.

[Cato the Elder]

"Honored senators and flunkies...I says to my woman, I says, 'Babe you ain't been treating...treating me right." I tells her "Babe, you ain't been treating me right, woman!" She gets all mad and throws a dish...at my head! A dish! Then she has the nerve to tell me I'm...uh...I'm drunk! Stupid cow. I'll show her drunk. I propose another round, a mandatory round of champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends - who are all republicans!"

[Banjo]

Now that Teddy Kennedy is on the wrong side of the grass and Chris Dodd isn't the man he used to be, the torch of drunkard-in-chief has passed to Mumblin' Max.

[Wintoon]

Mr. Chairman, what's a guy got to do around here to get another scotch and water?

[ctaylor]

Bacchus -Roman god of wine. Baucus- Drunk American whiner.

[cbinflux]

Check out the Flickr photo of him at the Wild Turkey Holiday party! A big nose, and redder that than Rudolph's.

[SFC MAC]

He was soused. You don't think he would say that crap sober, do you?

[Chuck Feney]

YouTube MuleDrool

A senator from Montana was drinking
When he gave a slurred speech without thinking
But they embarrassed this rube
By putting the speech on YouTube
And he found his reputation was shrinking!

Yes he spoke in a puddle of drool.
With all the grace of an old braying mule!
Which leaves the nation to ponder,
Why did Montanans squander
Their votes on this slobbering fool?

So the next time Max takes to the floor,
Sober Senators should all head for the door.
When he gets so excited,
His breath might be ignited,
And the Congress might explode with a roar!

[DonaldCh]

No doubt about it. Max was loaded. But we have no-one to blame but ourselves. Voters in all parties continue to seat Representatives and Senators who perform at levels we wouldn't accept from our kids. And when we don't like what we see, we make shotgun comments about an inept Congress. So don't blame Baucus for his un-professional drunken blabbering or his 2000 page stack of garbage called a healthcare bill. When we elect mediocrity, we can expect mediocrity. And that is exactly what we have.

Bottoms up.