Farewell Max Baucus

31.12.69

Yesterday, Montana Senator Max Baucus announced he was set to retire at the end of his current term. As one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington he will surely leave a void, at least for the DC lobbyists that pay to play. However, as a native Montanan, I can assure you Max won’t be missed by those who have fought to keep watersheds from being pillaged for lumber, or dirty coal from being extracted and incinerated. He will, no doubt, leave the smarmy K Street crowd, heath insurance scammers and the resource extraction industry with a bit of heartache. Max Baucus is, as Alexander Cockburn once put it to me, the most corrupt Democrat in Washington. I won’t argue that.

While still in high school I had the pleasure of flying across the country to DC for a weeklong youth workshop on leadership and democracy. I remember the excitement I had knowing I was about to meet both of my Montana senators. Back then I was a proud Democrat. Having joined the Party only two months earlier, the prospect of rubbing shoulders with a veteran Democrat, I thought, was sure to be the highlight of the trip.

Source: CounterPunch