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Max Baucus
“Baucus’ Finance Committee passed a bill in August extending 50 expiring deductions and credits for favored industries. At Obama’s insistence, the Baucus bill was cut and pasted word for word into the cliff legislation.“
-Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner, January 6, 2013
“Now to be honest, there were a couple in there I was not happy with. One that’s come out in the press, quite frankly, I’m not very happy with, and I don’t know how it got in there.”
-Senator Max Baucus, Great Falls Tribune, January 11, 2013
Major tax cuts were extended for giant corporations — while the average Montana was stuck with a $900/year in increased taxes — and the person responsible is claiming he doesn’t even know how his staff put it in there for his former staff?
This is why last night Bill Moyers referred to Max Baucus as, “a connoisseur of revolving door corruption.”
The Baucus revolving door cabal numbers in the dozens. In fact, his last revolving door scandal was less than a month ago. There was another Baucus revolving door scandal only six weeks ago. And another Baucus revolving door scandal only six months ago. Last year, Baucus had a revolving door scandal on tax policy. In the previous congress, there was his revolving door scandal on climate change. And of course, who could forget the obscene revolving door scandal during health care reform. And these are just some of the highlights from this term, which is only 2/3 of the way done. And Baucus is in his sixth, 6-year term in DC.
Montana voters rightfully retired Conrad Burns for his culture of corruption. Unfortunately, Montanans are still represented by the most corrupt member of the House of Lords.
Photo by Center for American Progress Action Fund under Creative Commons license
24 Comments
I’ll never forget his response when Margaret Flowers and some other brave souls stood up in his committee hearings to call for a discussion of single-payer: “We need more police.”
At least he’s a Democrat, though; everyone knows Democrats are the good guys.
This corrupt asshole gave us Obamarama care, when what we need and he denied us is Single payer. I hope he rots in hell for what he’s done. Unfortunately, instead he lives literally in the lap of luxury. Max B. is the ugly face of the Dem. party in this country. I’d like to put a pie in it.
I have a name for Max Baucus that sounds much less pleasant than “connoisseur of revolving door corruption”…
Thanks for this, Bob! Hopefully Max’s role in kleptofy-ing the health care bill will soon make him primary bate. Keep us posted.
Does it rhyme with brother-trucker????
How ’bout brasspole???
Lemme see: does Max Baucus wear a white hat or black hat?
So little time, so much contemplating to do to decide…
But hey: thank goodness, Baucus is a “Democrat”!! PHEW! We 99%ers really dodged a bullet there!
There’s a very good chance that it rhymes with the former ;)
I’m so glad that we have dims like baucus to defend us. Otherwise we would be at the mercy of the repugs. The lote voters know what is best for us so we get baucus, et. al.
Jon, though that might be the case.
Yah, like Maxwell Smart used to say, “Missed it be THAT much.”
BTW, (OT alert)saw Obama’s speech this morning. About as impressive at the Houston Texans yesterday in Foxboro. Boy, that guy takes 15 minutes to answer a question and then repeasts himself three times.
Sure thing Jane.
Baucus has unbelievably poor poll numbers right now. He got lucky in 2008 when he was unopposed (the GOP nominated the Green Party nominee from 2002, who was a long-time perennial candidate). And he got lucky in 2002 when the GOP nominee withdrew from the race.
But you can only be so corrupt and get so lucky so many times.
If he’s the Democratic nominee, it’s likely an actual Republican who doesn’t drop out will win. Hopefully there will be a primary so Dems have a chance of holding the seat.
He and Conrad were instrumental in killing the public option.
Bob, if you posted this diary on Daily Kos, I guarantee you some front-pager would argue “at least Baucus is a Democrat. Do you want a Republican in that seat?” Which is why I stopped posting there more than two years ago.
Baucus and Evan Bayh, corruptionists extraordinaire. thieves in suits with decent social skills. we live in a time of incredible public corruption.
The “at least he’s a Democrat” argument doesn’t actually work when it comes to Baucus:
1. His poll numbers are so low that if he’s the nominee, we’re going to lose the seat. From a pure electability standpoint, his 40 years in DC have been enough.
2. He is almost single-handedly responsible for Democrats losing the House in 2010. Not only did he cost Pelosi her gavel, but he caused so much damage to Democrats down-ticket in a redistricting cycle that it will be hard to undo his damage to Democrats for a decade. Even in one only has the narrow focus of electing more Democrats, would be foolish to sacrifice so many seats for one corrupt member.
In short, it would be impossible for any frosh Republican senator to hurt the cause of electing Democrats as much as Max Baucus does with his Finance gavel.
And Markos has said about Max’s corruption, “Keep that shit on their side of the aisle.”
Retiring Max Baucus is something we can all agree upon.
Am I correct in assuming that’s because of healthcare, or do you have something else in mind as well?
Well, it wasn’t single-handedly. It was hand and glove with the white house. There was the notorious robert gibbs ‘admission’ that the dems might lose the House and the fact that 0 did very little to help ANY one running.
I posted this in Jane’s post on the presser from this morning,
There were three responses where POTUS put the onus on the republicans for responsible legislation and the ‘closing of loopholes’. Of course the toadying press corps failed to follow up on what every one knew about the fiscal cliff negotiations.
If there is anyone to call out on this it is max baucus, who larded the ‘cliff bill’ with tax breaks for goldman sachs, nascar, captain morgan rum, preservation of carried interest, and GE…and that wasn’t all, but all I could quickly remember.
There is rampant corporate collusion on the Dem side of the senate, and that is throwing gas on the teabagger’s fire.
It just kind of takes my breath away to watch these people take such lavish care of themselves while they are stripping the hides off (almost) everybody else.
My guess is his insistence on a healthcare plan that contained “individual mandates” that was 2000-pages long and too complex to communicate easily; it still isn’t. Set up the framing by which the GOP claimed they were saving Medicare by wanting to repeal Obamacare. In district after district and state after state, that cost House and Senate seats–including Russ Feingold’s. And rippled into the legislatures in most notably Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio.
Obama and the fake Dems always pass off to Baucus to do the One Percent dirty work, then try to act like they aren’t a party to it. Baucus is a Montana sen. Montana is one of those states with a low pop and a lot of good ole boys controlling everything so Baucus can screw the people cross eyed and still get elected. That’s why he the “Dirty Deeds Done Not so Cheap” guy.
Montana your dirty politics and environment for scumballs is a problem. Do something about it for God Sake. And you people that think the Dems are the good guys . Wake the F up already.
Was it during the second or third “Obama WH Whistle Stop” tour newly elected POTUS Barack Obama made/conducted during Spring/Summer of 2009 that was themed ” MediCareForAll Express/Full Steam Ahead!” during which POTUS Obama(D) cajoled and mocked Senator Max Baucus(D) repeatedly for being a weak and easily paid off D? When POTUS Obama exposed Baucus for/about not getting out front and doing the needed Capitol Hill politics to “persuade” AHIP that Big HC Reform And MediCareForAll was coming down the tracks and AHIP had best not try to derail it in the U.S.Senate.
Do you remember when POTUS Barack Obama(D) did that/this?
>>> End Of Snark
Seems to me if we had seen this Senator Max Baucus(D) Is A Skunk kind of show and tell a year or even six months ago and tied the stink it reeks of to the Obama(D)WH and Barack Obama it would have been doing good politics.
Barack Obama did not go all out to thwart the likes of Max Baucus in a genuine WH fight to do right and get/put MediCareForAll in place during 2009-2010.
Timing in politics is everything — seeing this Max Baucus Is A Big Skunk stuff now/not 6-12 months ago when it could/would have served to spotlight how much of a Big Skunk Barack Obama ( Fake D ) has been/is? Too late.
Barack Obama now has until 2016 to do what POTUS Obama(D) does/does not do. Senator Max Baucus(D) clearly has been/is a Big Skunk and it is plainly evident if only 100 USians get to be a U.S.Senator at any one time Max Baucus should not ever have been amongst these 100 USians.
Thanks Bob Brigham for putting this expose of Skunk Baucus up/out here at FDL. I guess this was knowable already back in 2009-2010.
Too late now as Barack Obama(D) slashes at SS/MC directly/indirectly and seeks to pour more cement around AHIP HC For $$ Regime in 2014.
IOKIYAAD? Calling BullShit.
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/01/09/washingtons-hegemonic-ambitions-are-not-in-sync-with-its-faltering-economy/
Dr. Roberts, counter to gov/media spin, explains what congress and the president is up to.
I CERTAINLY AGREE WITH YOU THAT IT WAS HAND ‘N’ GLOVE WITH COOPERATION OF THE WH.
As far as Obama and Health Care – even Jon Stewart started to be annoyed. He showed film footage of Obama, circa Mid-summer 2009, talking to a Boulder Univ of Colorado student. And the President’s strongest words about the Health Care Reform efforts were that due to the separation of powers, he had to sit back and wait to see what the Congress came up with before he could “comment.” He added that “public option is just one tool of many tools that Congress could employ.” And that was about as strong as Obama ever got concerning public option.
Meanwhile, his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel was busy meeting with Wellpoint execs and helping them draft the ACA.
The evil three who scuttled single-payer: Baucus of MT, Nelson of NE and Conrad of ND. All of them corrupt Democrats from states with hardly any population.