Drunken, lying slob

That is the only way to describe it. Senator Max Baucus's (D-MT) bizarre Senate floor speech of last Wednesday, December 23rd, caps off months of unprecedented, corrupt, dishonest and duplicitous behavior from virtually the entire Senate and House Democrat caucuses, culminating in a shocking violation of Senate rules to ram through almost certainly unconstitutional "healthcare" legislation on Christmas eve.

But the speech takes the cake. Baucus accused Republicans of not having the courage to stand up against political pressure in order to pass legislation Republicans were not allowed to see, could not modify in any meaningful way, and correctly believed would ruin healthcare in this country.

Baucus was the one who needed courage here -- or maybe a better word would be gall -- and the only way he could find it was to resort to the bottle. If Baucus had any guts, or even a shred of intellectual integrity, he would have stood up to his own Party and told the truth: that the bill they sought would add trillions in new spending, would force the entire healthcare system to ration, and would dramatically increase costs for most people.

Instead they lied, dissembled, hid the actual legislation until the last minute, played bait-and-switch, and rigged the numbers using transparent, disingenuous budgeting tricks.
Senator Baucus is a disgrace to an already disgraced body of legislators. His drunken, dishonest rant makes a mockery of the ethical behavior we expect from U.S. Senators, and sets a very poor example for the entire world to see.

Baucus shouldn't wait for the electorate of Montana to throw him out next November. He should resign.

Now.