According to today’s Billings (MT) Gazette:
Sen. Max Baucus' office Monday denounced a widely viewed Internet video that suggested Baucus was drunk on the Senate floor last week, calling it an "untrue, personal smear" designed to attack Democrats’ health-care reform legislation.
"This is beyond the pale, and this type of gutter politics has no place in the public sphere," said Baucus spokesman Ty Matsdorf.
How can unedited CSPAN footage of Senate proceedings posted on YouTube comprise a “smear?” Any reasonable person viewing the clip would conclude that Baucus was drunk or had something else wrong with him. Baucus' office did not assert that he was experiencing some other problem, like fatigue or a medical condition.
