Politico doesn't even pretend to act as any kind of journalism filter with this item, which is nothing more than an amplification of a GOP attack. Period. According to Politico that is the news:

Max Baucus's speech comes under conservative fire

What is under “fire” (in this case Baucus's speech) is almost besides the point. The Politico news team has shown that it is dedicated to (some say the team was literally created to) embrace and echo whatever the GOP Noise Machine is screaming about.

Here's the Politico item in full [emphasis added]:

A speech by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on health care has been generating buzz on the Internet, as the Drudge Report and others are suggesting that Baucus was slurring his speech and possibly “intoxicated” during his remarks.

“DRUNK WITH POWER? TOP DEM SLURS ON SENATE FLOOR...” reads the Drudge Report headline.

Newsbusters.org writes: “How can one explain this incredibly bizarre performance by Max Baucus on the Senate floor? Was Baucus so intoxicated by the sound of his own voice that he went off the deep end? Or perhaps he was so drunk with power over shaping the Senate health care bill that it explains his strange rant.”

On his Facebook page, former congressman Mark Foley commented on the video: “This is the senator that hired his staffer and then took her on trips...and divorced his wife....and they had me run out of town.”

An email seeking comment has been sent to Sen. Baucus's office and we will update this post when we hear back.

Yes, you read that correctly. Not only did Politico quote guiding lights such as Newsbusters and The Drudge Report, but Politico actually quoted a Facebook page comment posted by disgraced, page-chasing GOP Congressman Mark Foley, in which he attacked the ethics of another.

What more do you need to know about Politico these days?

UPDATED: Of course Politico makes zero effort to relay to readers if the right-wing attack on Baucus carries any weight. If it's, y'know, true. That's not Politico's job. Politico's job is simply to alert the rest of the world to whatever, or whoever, is “under fire” from conservatives.

Why? Because Politico is just a GOP bulletin board.

UPDATED: BTW, didn't you love the when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife quality to Politico's item about the blatant, and baseless, smear campaign that conservatives launched against Baucus? Politico dutifully chronicled how some right-wingers in the media were questioning whether a U.S. senator was drunk on the floor of the senate; how he showed up to discuss health care hammered out of his mind.

Politico didn't bother to judge the wildly irresponsible claim. It simply amplified it and then told readers that when Baucus responded to the smear (i.e. when Baucus denied he was drunk in the U.S. senate), Politico would be sure to include the response. Which it later did.