Comments on: Sarah Palin’s Dumb Idea

By: Wilbert

Wilbert — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:44:59 +0000

I guess, leave it up to Palin to make things even more complicated than they really are. The justice system seems to be going on a downward spiral.

By: caffeine head

caffeine head — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:39:01 +0000

the justice system is evidently more garbled than ever right now; they should simplify the law as much as possible for the sake of average people

By: TerenceC

TerenceC — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:20:30 +0000

So was your post.

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:02:54 +0000

TerenceC Says:

The election has already been certified anyway

The request is for him to resign; he can’t resign if he doesn’t hold the office, and he couldn’t be holding the office without the election having been certified. Thus, saying that the election has already been certified is accurate but irrelevant.

By: TerenceC

TerenceC — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:07:59 +0000

The election has already been certified anyway – it’s a done deal for atleast another 6 years, by then Stevens will be 104. They need to put age and term limits on these Senators – they are just too old and too out of touch to effectively represent anyone other than their close lobbyist friends.

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:47:15 +0000

Kranky Kritter – not to mention that even if Stevens is innocent of these particular corruption charges, the bottom line is that his entire career is a monument to pork for votes corruption. It’s a lot harder for the GOP to criticize the Democrats’ corruption when several of our members are nose-down in the trough too (differences in scale and culture remain, but still, public perception counts).

I understand where Palin et al are coming from on this – it does appear that regardless of the merits of the charges, Stevens was stiffed by DoJ, and that seems a little unfair. Nevertheless, call me heartless or Machiavellian if you will, I don’t care. It also seems plausible that he would have won reelection but for the trial situation, but why is that a boon? My bottom line is that he was an embarrassment to the GOP and now he’s gone. The best response is to call it a win on balance and move on.

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:40:40 +0000

Sorry, I typo’d: “headline changes” should have read “headline charges.”

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:40:05 +0000

Agreed Doug. I scrupulously read the details of the recent stories looking for anything which actually suggested that Stevens was innocent of the initial charges of accepting free home renovations.

Insteads, all I saw was some stuff about how the star witness’ testified to higher dollar amounts for the free renovations in court than he had described in earlier interviews. This info was not given to the defense, which could have used it to attack the credibility of the witness.

What this info doesn’t do is provide us with any reason to think Stevens didn’t accept free renovations. That Stevens has stated he is pleased to have been “vindicated” but has not made any real stink about getting his job back seems to speak volumes as to his understanding of his situation. IOW, he’s not acting like an innocent guy that got screwed.

By: gerryf

gerryf — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:28:36 +0000

Yeah, change the headline to “Shocker: Palin agrees with dumb idea”

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:11:56 +0000

I completely agree with your observations about Stevens and what he represents – “good riddance” seems the most apt response. And I agree that calling for Begich to resign is a dumb (and futile) idea. Nevertheless, your headline is misleading: as the story makes clear, and as your post acknowledges, it wasn’t Palin’s dumb idea, as the headline changes. It was Randy Ruedrich’s dumb idea; Palin, asked if she agreed with it, said she did.