MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell went on a strange rant against Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) Tuesday on "The Last Word," assailing the retiring Baucus for daring to vote against expanded background checks last week. O'Donnell's objection was purely political: in doing so, he complained, Baucus hung fellow Democratic Senator Jon Tester out to dry among Montana's generally pro-gun residents.
Apparently the idea that he voted his constituency escaped O'Donnell. Baucus told the New York Daily News that people in his state did not like the bill, which failed by a vote of 54 to 46.
Instead, O'Donnell lambasted him as "cowardly" for voting against the legislation, but not because he was doing it to curry favor with his voters. Indeed, news broke Tuesday that Baucus would not seek another term in 2014. O'Donnell instead was upset that because Tester voted for expanded background checks, his political opponents in Montana could use the fact that Baucus opposed it against him.
"Senator Baucus didn't wake up this morning and suddenly decide he wasn't running," O'Donnell said. "So when he cast that cowardly vote last week, he knew he wasn't running for reelection. And in the process, he betrayed the junior senator from Montana, Jon Tester, a Democrat who cast the politically brave vote for a Montana senator and voted yes. What Jon Tester needed that day was political cover from Max Baucus, a little help. Jon Tester needed to be able to say, when he went back to Montana, 'Hey, Max voted for it, too.' Now, when Senator Tester goes back to Montana, he's going to be challenged with, 'Hey, Baucus voted against it, why didn't you?'
O'Donnell did not seem to mind that Tester voted in favor of the bill despite advertising himself to Montana residents as possessing "a record of strengthening gun rights for all law-abiding Americans, regardless of where in the country they live."
The defeat of the bill, which was derided by many as toothless and ineffective anyway, infuriated President Obama and many members of the press.
A common media talking point on the gun control issue has been that 90 percent of Americans supported universal background checks, but a recent Gallup poll indicated only a scant 4 percent of Americans believe gun violence is the most important problem facing the country.