The Ted Stevens Indictment Is an Earthquake in Alaska Politics

Time to take the keys away from Granpa

Whatever he might have been once, Ted Stevens is now a political hack who meddles with issues about which he is clueless! From his opposition to a wind farm project in Massachusetts -- yeah, that has a lot to do with the interests of Alaskans! -- to his insane rantings about the internet ("The Internet isn't a dump truck! It's tubes!"), what's clear is that he isn't able for his job. And he shouldn't have it!

There is one thing I thank him for, however. And it's this:http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=126985

Ted Stevens

It really lowers the esteem of Alaskans when they stick their neck out to claim their politicians as being Godly, strictly on the weight of the fact that they voted for them.

A CROOK IS A CROOK, NO MATTER HOW LONG THEY HAVE BEEN IN OFFICE, AND WHEN THEY BEGIN TO SELL (OR TRADE) THEIR CONSTITUENTS' TRUST FOR ITEMS OF PERSONAL VALUE, THEY HAVE CROSSED A VERY IMPORTANT LINE AND NO LONGER DESERVE TO ENJOY THE RESPECT OF THEIR PUBLIC OFFICE.

TED STEVENS, ALONG WITH RONALD REAGAN AND A HANDFULL OF OTHER CROOKS MANAGED TO GET THE ALASKAN PIPELINE BUILT AND PAID FOR BY THE U.S. TAXPAYERS, ON THE PREMISE THAT THE OIL WAS NEEDED BY THE U.S. TO REDUCE THE PRICE OF GASOLINE. WELL, WHEN THE PIPELINE WAS COMPLETED, THE U.S. PUBLIC BE DAMNED; ALL OF THE OIL THAT COMES DOWN THAT PIPELINE GOES OUT OF THE COUNTRY TO JAPAN. NOW THEY ARE TRYING THE SAME SHILL AGAIN; ONLY THIS TIME, THEY WANT THE TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR A PIPELINE TO ANWR, TO TRANSPORT OIL THAT, FOR WANT OF SUFFICIENT REFINING CAPACITY, WILL ALSO NOT GO TO THE AMERICAN MARKET, BUT WOULD BE SOLD ON THE WORLD MARKET.

THE REASON ALL ALASKANS ARE SO SUPPORTIVE OF SUCH SCAMS IS THAT INSTEAD OF THEIR PAYING ANY TAX, THEY ALL GET A SHARE OF THE ROYALTIES FROM THE OIL AND GAS.

THAT SCAM SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE FILCHED UPON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC AGAIN.

More corruption

Since 1968!?!!!! That in itself is criminal.

Give it a rest already

Good god, people, he's only been indicted. This has yet to get to trial. You can get out your tar and feathers after the jury reaches its decision.

Andrew of FL, I got a feeling of deja vu all over again reading much of your post: did you happen to just cut and paste from Michael Crowley's "In Praise of Ted Stevens, the Senate's Angriest Man" from The New Republic of Sept. 10, 2007?

Ted Stevens

Ted Stevens is the epitome of the corrupt politician. He is no better than Randy "Duke" Cunningham, William Jefferson, Bob Ney, Tom Delay or Richard Nixon. No matter what he has done for his few constituents, he has done much more damage to his state and his country with his unethical and illegal acts.

Hand in the cookie jar and the politics of personal destruction!

Shame on you, shame on you all! As Ted Stevens gathered POWER from 50 years in Washington, 40 of those years in the US Senate, he used that power ruthlessly, and he did not care who he hurt, or who he destroyed, or who he climbed over to increase his power, and in later years, because of his perceived invulnerability, his wealth too. If the charges filed by the DOJ are confirmed, Stevens career will end in a sleazy flameout. Stevens says that he is innocent, but if he is convicted, there will be almost no one in Washington who will shed a tear for him! Stevens knew how to manipulate Senate committees for Alaska, and also for himself, and he knew full well what he was doing when he concealed more than $250,000 in payments from Veco who was "allegedly" seeking legislative rewards. "Allegedly?" Yeah, right! Stevens steered bills through his committees and Congress to benefit Veco to the tune of MILLIONS, in one case for a government contract in an area where Veco was not even qualified and they had never done that sort of work before. Stevens was known for being tyrannical, with a reputation for personalizing politics to absolute extremes, dividing the world into friends and enemies, showing no mercy. His methods and seniority carried him to great heights, while nourished by the culture of a Republican-dominated Senate, but, it eventually became toxic.

Stevens knew how to succeed in DC because he could burnish fear as a weapon. "I'm a mean, miserable SOB," he once boasted. Congressional staffers often cited him as one of the meanest and most temperamental members of Congress. When preparing for battle on the Senate floor, the cantankerous 84-year-old Stevens would wear his signature Incredible Hulk necktie. He has been known to label some critics as "psychopaths" and once exclaimed during a clash with House Republicans, "I'm just sorry they repealed the law on dueling. I'd have shot a couple of the sons of bitches."

Stevens kept a strict tally of who'd been bad to him and who'd been good. After an important vote on drilling in ANWR, a potential financial boon for Alaska, and which he always pulled out all stakes for, he declared that "people who vote against this today are voting against me. And I'll never forget it." (Never mind the environment, or gas prices, or the broader public interest; you were for -- or against -- Ted Stevens.)

Ted Stevens is now accused of taking that personalization one step to far. The DOJ alleges that Stevens accepted services, or inflated valued gifts, or even money in return for legislative favors, and Ted Stevens own particular style of legislative tyranny. However, what the charges really mean is this: good ol' Uncle Ted forgot that all of his nieces and nephews kept sending him back to Washington because they trusted him to know where the line was where the public money and trust was, and where the private money should never go. But good ol' Uncle Ted got drunk on the Cool Aid, and came to believe that whatever was good for Alaska was Ted Stevens and whatever was good for Ted Stevens was good for Alaska, and that what was good for one was good for the other. (Hey, after all, in 2000, y'all did name Uncle Ted "Alaskan of the century," so maybe his feelings are understandable?) It isn't clear whether anyone else in the Senate (or the House) knew exactly what Stevens was up to, but I have a feeling that at the very least, Don Young did, and I would be pretty surprised if he did not. As far as his Senate contemporaries, those who might have known may have been too terrified of him to warn him off, and wouldn't that be a just reward for the meanest man in Washington?

Al Cramer describes Stevens as "this good man." But I ask you, if he will get legislation passed to benefit a company because that company did things to benefit himself, his daughter (new car), and his son Ben, and this legislation costs MILLIONS of dollars, and let us not forget the $278 MILLION bridge to no where, is this the type of good man who should be representing Alaskans? Ted Stevens might not have been corrupt for 40 years in the US Senate, but it is a good bet that he was corrupt for more than just the last 6!

So, Alaskans, and Alaskan Republican's particularly, would you really want to belong to a party who would have this man as a member? I am not saying that all Republicans are corrupt, or that all Republicans are mean, but if you used the Alaskan delegation of 1981-2002 as an example, Stevens, F. Murkowski, and Young, using 20/20 hindsight, would you really want to be associated with such a dishonorable bunch?

The collapse of the Republicans

All the Republican icons have been falling like flies the last few years--from Newt, to Delay, to, now, Stevens--all victims of arrogance and the corruption of thinking you're above the law which it breeds. The collapse of Bush and the Republican "brand" under the weight of the folly and lies of the neocons' botched war in Iraq speak for themselves. Whether one attributes all of this to a Judeo-Christian concept of divine justice, or to a Graeco-Roman sense of Nemesis punishing hubris, lo how the mighty are fallen! McCain's collapse from the liberals' favorite "maverick" Republican in 2000 to the clumsy, doddering neocon ventriloquist's attack dog for Lieberman and the neocons he is today--rapidly becoming the laughing stock of the nation, seems like the appropriate denouement for this whole tragic farce.

Better to indict him now than after the primary

It is best that he be indicted now so that the GOP has a chance to defeat him in the primary. Otherwise, we could end up with a situation like Tom Delay, where he resigns late and a republican candidate isn't even on the ballot.

Thank you Michael for your sensitivity. The prevailing mood in Alaska is sadness.Regardless of party, the vast majority of Alaskans know what "Uncle Ted" has meant to our state. I truly believe that he didn't knowingly break the law. Senator Stevens is from a generation of Alaskans (Now far too rare), who helped their friends and neighbors (And accepted help from them), without keeping score. We all know that this is his last run, and despite the polls, I can't imagine a majority of Alaskans turning their backs on this good man.

Ted Stevens

Corrupt officials come from corrupt voters. Alaskans have long been happy to accept negative taxes from the oil wealth, pork from their federal representatives, and had no problem with stories of corruption. Ted Stevens had every reason to expect that voters would continue to support him. It took outsiders, in this case the Justice Department, to hold him to account. Shame on Alaska voters.