Delusions of Grandeur Edition
"Some are able and humane men and some are low-grade individuals with the morals of a goat, the artistic integrity of a slot machine, and the manners of a floorwalker with delusions of grandeur."
Daily Shot of Schadenfreude
Let's start at Politico: "Beleaguered congressional Republicans woke up Tuesday morning thinking they'd gained traction with their focus on offshore oil drilling and hoping that they could pin the "culture of corruption" on Democrats. By lunchtime, the longest-serving Republican senator in history had been indicted on charges that he hid $250,000 in gifts from an oil company looking for favors. Can it get any worse for the GOP?
Ted Stevens found guilty on all counts. After 40 years in the Senate, the most senior Republican is found guilty of not declaring gift on his Senate financial disclosure forms.Making false statements on his Senate finance disclosure forms about gifts he's received from 2001-2006 including $250,000 gifts of home renovations. This, folks, was a "speedy" trial, and even so, it was a circus, with jury drama, and hijinx -- one of the jurors even noticed that the prosecutors had made an error in the indictment which no one had caught-- before the final unanimous verdict came down this morning here in lovely San Francisco.
Anyhoo, Ted says NO! He will NOT drop out. NO! I said "Good day,sir." Next up-- Would Ted ACTUALLY get re-elected? And then, would they expel him from the Senate??? Apparently there's no law against a convicted felon serving in the Senate, and to expel him, would require a two-thirds majority --not inconceivable from the mostly Democratic Senate. LOL. But the other kicker is that if he decides to keep on running in the election, Stevens may not be able to vote for himself because Alaska laws state that convicted felons are not eligible to vote. Shoulda sent in an absentee ballot.
Electoral-Vote.com has a scary thought: "If Stevens is reelected anyway, then expelled from the Senate in January, a vacancy will be created and there will be a special election. No doubt Sarah Palin will be very tempted to run and would surely win. This would inject her into national politics in a big way very fast. But the chance of Stevens being reelected next week is small." Maybe she'd figure out what the VP doe in the Senate.
Thanks to Teri who sends along this item from Salon about Palin's disturbing ridicule of scientific research -- it has the added bonus of advising that she check the website of my old place of employment, the Exploratorium! Speaking about earmarks in Pittburgh, "A troubled look crossed her face. 'And sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good, things like ...' she grinned, shaking her head side to side, her voice rising to a facetious pitch '... fruit fly research in Paris, France.' Feeling in tune with the guys in her audience, she added, 'I kid you not.'"
Speaking of flies, this very funny YouTube imagines what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall when the "Maverick" decision was made.
--Raymond Chandler
Daily Shot of Schadenfreude
Let's start at Politico: "Beleaguered congressional Republicans woke up Tuesday morning thinking they'd gained traction with their focus on offshore oil drilling and hoping that they could pin the "culture of corruption" on Democrats. By lunchtime, the longest-serving Republican senator in history had been indicted on charges that he hid $250,000 in gifts from an oil company looking for favors. Can it get any worse for the GOP?
Ted Stevens found guilty on all counts. After 40 years in the Senate, the most senior Republican is found guilty of not declaring gift on his Senate financial disclosure forms.Making false statements on his Senate finance disclosure forms about gifts he's received from 2001-2006 including $250,000 gifts of home renovations. This, folks, was a "speedy" trial, and even so, it was a circus, with jury drama, and hijinx -- one of the jurors even noticed that the prosecutors had made an error in the indictment which no one had caught-- before the final unanimous verdict came down this morning here in lovely San Francisco.
Determined not to get dragged down by Ted Stevens ---oh....ooops--McCain "called for him to resign his seat, saying, 'I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will be spurred by these events to redouble their efforts to end this kind of corruption once and for all.' Mr. McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, also called on Tuesday for Mr. Stevens to quit, CNBC reported. The cable channel said Ms. Palin had called for the senator's resignation in an interview with Maria Bartiromo.
"This is a sad day for Alaska and a sad day for Senator Stevens and his family," Palin said at Richmond International Airport yesterday. "The verdict shines a light on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state. And that control was part of the culture of corruption that I was elected to fight, and that fight must always move forward regardless of party affiliation or seniority or even past service. As Governor of the State of Alaska, I will carefully now monitor the situation and I'll take any appropriate action as needed." Hmmm.. As needed...hmmmm...Anyhoo, Ted says NO! He will NOT drop out. NO! I said "Good day,sir." Next up-- Would Ted ACTUALLY get re-elected? And then, would they expel him from the Senate??? Apparently there's no law against a convicted felon serving in the Senate, and to expel him, would require a two-thirds majority --not inconceivable from the mostly Democratic Senate. LOL. But the other kicker is that if he decides to keep on running in the election, Stevens may not be able to vote for himself because Alaska laws state that convicted felons are not eligible to vote. Shoulda sent in an absentee ballot.
Electoral-Vote.com has a scary thought: "If Stevens is reelected anyway, then expelled from the Senate in January, a vacancy will be created and there will be a special election. No doubt Sarah Palin will be very tempted to run and would surely win. This would inject her into national politics in a big way very fast. But the chance of Stevens being reelected next week is small." Maybe she'd figure out what the VP doe in the Senate.
Thanks to Teri who sends along this item from Salon about Palin's disturbing ridicule of scientific research -- it has the added bonus of advising that she check the website of my old place of employment, the Exploratorium! Speaking about earmarks in Pittburgh, "A troubled look crossed her face. 'And sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good, things like ...' she grinned, shaking her head side to side, her voice rising to a facetious pitch '... fruit fly research in Paris, France.' Feeling in tune with the guys in her audience, she added, 'I kid you not.'"
Speaking of flies, this very funny YouTube imagines what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall when the "Maverick" decision was made.
Labels: Daily_Show, John_McCain, McCain_gaffes, Palin_gaffes, Sarah_Palin
posted by Mary Ellen Hunt | 9:08 AM
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