Index: Lib/email/test/test_email.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/email/test/test_email.py	(revision 72551)
+++ Lib/email/test/test_email.py	(working copy)
@@ -221,6 +221,23 @@
             sys.stderr = old_stderr
         self.assertEqual(sfp.getvalue(), '')
 
+    def test_decode_bogus_uu_payload_noisily(self):
+        invalid = [('1', 'base64'), ('', 'x-uuencode')]
+        for payload, encoding in invalid:
+            msg = Message()
+            msg.set_payload(payload)
+            msg['Content-Transfer-Encoding'] = encoding
+            old_stderr = sys.stderr
+            msg.get_payload(decode=True) # Silent
+            try:
+                sys.stderr = sfp = StringIO()
+                msg.get_payload(decode=True, silent=False) # Raises
+            except:
+                sfp.write('Raised')
+            finally:
+                sys.stderr = old_stderr
+            self.assertEqual(sfp.getvalue(), 'Raised')
+
     def test_decoded_generator(self):
         eq = self.assertEqual
         msg = self._msgobj('msg_07.txt')
Index: Lib/email/message.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/email/message.py	(revision 72551)
+++ Lib/email/message.py	(working copy)
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@
         else:
             self._payload.append(payload)
 
-    def get_payload(self, i=None, decode=False):
+    def get_payload(self, i=None, decode=False, silent=True):
         """Return a reference to the payload.
 
         The payload will either be a list object or a string.  If you mutate
@@ -200,7 +200,10 @@
                     return utils._bdecode(payload)
                 except binascii.Error:
                     # Incorrect padding
-                    return payload
+                    if silent:
+                        return payload
+                    else:
+                        raise
             elif cte in ('x-uuencode', 'uuencode', 'uue', 'x-uue'):
                 sfp = StringIO()
                 try:
@@ -208,7 +211,10 @@
                     payload = sfp.getvalue()
                 except uu.Error:
                     # Some decoding problem
-                    return payload
+                    if silent:
+                        return payload
+                    else:
+                        raise
         # Everything else, including encodings with 8bit or 7bit are returned
         # unchanged.
         return payload