Montana Democratic Party, Corner

Hoping for a U.S. Senate seat, Montana Republican Senator Mike Taylor was featured in a commercial from the Montana Democratic Party that called attention to alleged financial irregularities at a Colorado beauty school that Taylor once ran.

This commercial features an early 1980s TV segment that Taylor starred in, called "Beauty Corner." Resembling a character from "Saturday Night Fever," Taylor sports a beard, a wide-collared shirt with four buttons open and gold chains. He gives a facial demonstration on a man's face.

Over unidentified disco music, narration says, "State Senator Mike Taylor once ran a beauty salon and a hair care school. Until the Department of Education uncovered Taylor's hair care scam for abusing the student loan program and diverting money to himself." A screen image claims $159,000. "Abuse that causes innocent students to default on their loans, abuse that cost tax payers thousands, and lined Taylor's pockets. Mike Taylor: not the way we do business here in Montana."

Taylor dropped out of the Senate race, accusing the Democrats of trying to make him look gay. "There's no question about it, what they're trying to imply," Taylor said. "They're trying to say that every barber, and every cosmetologist, ever manicurist or anybody in the beauty and hair fashion industry is homosexual."

Joining in on Taylor's cries, several gay groups denounced the Democrats for gay baiting. Democrats rejected the charge, saying the ad simply questions his business practices.

While the ad certainly makes Taylor look silly, it does not exactly support his defensive claims. His disingenuous comments appear to be a diversion strategy and do not address the Democratic charges.

(NOTE: The video source is only available in RealPlayer format, which can not converted to QuickTime, and is not available on this site.)