Seemingly unseemly

The message being sent is simple: We all do it. Honorable Ted just got caught.

Senators collectively engage in surreal fantasy all the time.

Jeez. I know you've got to fill blog space, and play to the base, but what's *really* unseemly is the blogospheric outrage over a bunch of guys saying nice things about someone they've lived with at close quarters for umpteen years. Yes, he's convicted; but I've had friends convicted of white-collar crimes, and the last thing I'd do is turn a cold shoulder to them when they need support. There are no policy implications here; lay off.

Aristocratic back slapping in the Mutual Protection Racket aka US Senate.

He is as despised by his colleagues as John McCain, which makes it all the more weird. Maybe those are tears and cheers of joy at finally being rid of him.

I doubt it though.

If the purpose of a senator is to watch out for the best interests of their state then Stevens had a remarkable career. The proportion of federal funding directed towards Alaska has always dwarfed the size of the population. From that perspective Stevens deserved the accolades. The fine speeches on the floor of the senate are done but what will always be remembered is that Stevens ended his career in disgrace. He is a convicted felon and his stubborn refusal to accept the seriousness of the charges led to a democrat beating him in the election. Going forward his support will be toxic to republican candidates (Palin has already distanced herself) so I do not think the senate speeches really matter.

Nothing bizarre about it at all!

He just happended to get caught. Your list of senators who lauded the crook is likely a good starting list for senators who should be caught.

http://citizensforethics.org/reports will link you to CREW's list of the most ethically challenged member of the congress & senate.

I fervently hope that Obama's DOJ will go after all of the crooks in the congress & senate. It is regretable that we will not apply the Chinese model of executing a corrupt government official every now & then.

It's just politics. What they do in front of the camera and what they say in private are two completely different faces. Also, if one of the distinguished Senators sat down, arms folded in protest to Steven's remarks, the media would pick up on that and give undue attention. Smile, wave to the cameras and let Steven's exit, stage left pronto. Time to move on.

and note how stricken harry reid was during his comments. he is truly depressed at the hulk's departure.

david in nashville " I've had friends convicted of white-collar crimes, and the last thing I'd do is turn a cold shoulder to them when they need support."

oh i see....DEGREES of law-breaking factor into the collection....

while that's nice that you'd be supportive, i doubt you would do it on c-span......
======================
this is a bookend to the wrist-slap joltin' joe got the other day....no misdeed is worth sweating over...we're all 'hail fellows, well met' here in the white guys club....

I seem to remember a President who resigned in disgrace.

I'd like all guilty Senators/Representatives/Judicial folks to

leave office immediately.

Problem is..... there aren't many "innocents."

We have pages being oogled, stances being widened, and cozy construction schemes, and unlimited pork rolling.

I didn't watch--did any of his friends promise to visit him in prison?

He served for over 40 years, I don't see anything wrong with fellow Senators honoring Stevens' service on his last day. That is how the Senate is supposed to work traditionally. From all reports I have read, most of them despise him personally so it's not like this says anything discomforting about his fellow Senators (like the surprising support of Lieberman does).

I suspect a lot of this is relief at not having to deal with expelling him from the Senate because of his criminal convictions.

I'm not sure which is more odd, that Hon. Sen. Murkowski was AWOL during the entire Palin/Stevens election season, or that no one seemed to comment on the fact. I was beginning to suspect that she'd had some medical emergency.

lets see if Ted will be room mates with Govenor Ryan???

Hay, a pain in the ass for forty years? It is interesting how we all are blessed now to see him leave.

There are more to come, Please America look at these politicals, just like long time radio and television anouncers they put America here in this mess and they need to go. They should bow out or risk inevitable humiliation to no limit.

"Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave."

Presumably, if Stevens had attended the G-20 summit, no one would have shaken his hand.

My best guess is that the speakers were in two groups:

1) Those who genuinely like the guy, and

2) Those who needed to keep him happy so he wouldn't rat out any of them he knew things about, which probably accounts for the majority of his fans.

Forty years worth of knowing where all the skeletons are buried can buy you one heck of a send-off, whether you deserve it or not.

David in Nashville,

Go to hell. Stevens isn't one of your white collar criminal buddies, he's a US Senator. The crimes he committed were against his constituents, the citizens of this great country, and the laws of this country that he helped create.

Your lawbreaking buddies are not analogous to this traitor. He shouldn't have been let back into the capitol building after being convicted, let alone getting fluffed by the rest of the Senate including the miserable excuse for a leader the Democrats have. If they want to circle jerk with him, they can do it on their dime in the building I'm not paying them to work in.

So kindly, take your bandwidth wasting opinions and fuck off, you miserable troll. No wonder we can't make any progress in this country with some many accountability-impaired, shameless enablers.

This sorry spectacle, coupled with the democrat's complete cave on Lieberman, makes it clear that if Obama gets anything useful accomplished, it will be over the Senate's dead body.

Like dj said,
"we're all 'hail fellows, well met' here in the white guys club....

marku

Of all the things the Senate has gotten wrong over the past 8 years (Patriot Act, War Resolution, Alberto Gonzalez, Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, letting Lieberman keep his gavel), giving Ted Stevens a formal pat on the back on his way out the door is probably the least egregious.

Wow, even I'm not that cynical. Stevens has been in the Senate what, 40+ years? A lot of these people are his friends. It's not like the Dems didn't want to beat him (except maybe Inouye). It's not like they don't think he should face the music for crimes he's committed. But, the guy's been here 40 years, and done a lot for his State and for his friends...so can't he have 30 minutes for people to honor that?

Haven't you all heard that Stevens hasn't been convicted of anything? At least, that's what he said after he was, um, convicted.

I find the sentiment that "white collar" crimes are somehow less bad than other crimes. If you kill an old woman with a gun, you're a murderer, and rightly reviled. If you, through embezzlement, graft and corruption, cause 1000 old men and women to starve, loose their heat or electricity, or generally just ruin their quality of life, you're just a white collar criminal. Nothing to be ashamed of and deserving of support. Heck, if you're incompetence and theft ran a company into the ground, left thousands unemployed, and wrecked the entire U.S. economy, you're likely to get a new job as an executive at another company. So long as you didn't sell some weed while you did the rest.

I don't know what Dave's pals did. I don't care what they did. Dave's probably right to support his friends, but don't tell me that being convicted of fraud and corruption means that I should be proud, or even just ambivalent, to see my representatives in the Senate lauding praise on the felon on his last day. What's unseemly is that it was ever a question over whether or not Stevens would have had to leave the senate if he'd won his seat, despite the convictions. What's unseemly is that a man who has betrayed his constituents isn't rightly scorned and reviled. What's unseemly is that we've reached a place in our public discourse where we're neither surprised nor outraged by his actions.

Term limits. Term limits. Term limits. No one should serve for 40+ years, or in Dingell's case, 54 years. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

The message being sent is simple: We all do it. Honorable Ted just got caught.

Nothing else to be said here.

/thread

In some cases like Byrd, there might be a personal friendship that goes back some years from working in the same place for so long. If Stevens does end up in jail, likely they won't see each other again.

Murkowski is both a Republican and representing Alaska, so no surprises there.

Reid and McConnell are Senate Leaders so it's really a show of authority and conveying of respect for Stevens' time in the Senate.

As for the rest ... I think many are all doing this because they think will please their constituents back home.

I never liked the things Stevens said or did. For every Senator who liked him, I'm sure there are many Senators who feel the same way as I do.

Senator Maria Cantwell of WA for example -

"Cantwell had previously angered Stevens when she proposed an amendment that would have removed ANWR drilling from the Senate version of the budgetary cuts bill."

http://www.kirkdorffer.com/ontheroadto2008/2005/11/sign-cantwell-petition-against-stevens.shtml

To me, it's akin to all the 'popular' kids in high school getting all pleasant with the bully who's being expelled.

I have no sympathy for bullys - I expect him to carted off to prison for his crimes. It's where he belongs as a result of being found guilty.

I bet Maria Cantwell was giving him the finger and laughing!

Bonus points for future whiskey shots with Ted on the great Alaskan salmon fishing expedicion. Plus, rotations in the vibrating chair, on loan.

I think this has to do both with the fact that he is one of the longest serving Senators ever, has for better or worse had a huge influence on his state, and was convincted of crimes that few people in Washington consider to be serious.

It would be one thing if he had been convicted of something really serious. But he was convicted of something that basically amounts to influence-peddling, something that is accepted as being perfectly normal in today's Washington.

As a friend once said, the only difference between the US and the rest of the world is that the rest of the world accepts that bribery and influence peddling are human nature, whereas we try and pretend that it's not.

Remember when republican senators ALL boycotted a farewell ceremony for Tom Daschle? Or when the GOP House leadership engineered a vote during a memorial service for Tom Lantos?

Seems like convicted felons usually go to jail, instead of getting standing ovations at the millionaires' club.

Funny how the law always works differently for rich people.

Senator "I am Holier than you are" Lieberman who denounced Bill Clinton for his blow-job actually stood up and praised this convicted felon? God mus be thrilled that the Dems kept him on as chair of the committee.

Kinda OT - but with Stevens' leaving the Senate now, today, does that mean that his successor - I'm blanking on his name, starts with a "B" - is sworn in now, so he would have more seniority than the other members of the incoming class?

Or, is he sworn in with the rest of his class in early January?

Sounds to me like the way no one will speak ill of the dead. Look how politically incorrect it has become to criticize Reagan.
Hopefully Stevens is dead...politically.

I wish him a long retired life in Alaska...or jail.

I'm not suggesting it's appropriate to kick an old man when he's down

That's okay. I will.

Stevens is a crook. Why should his age earn him a free pass?

...and as to the "they're personal friends" issue, then let them honor Stevens on their own fucking time, not in the Senate chamber on ours.

Diogenese has it. I'd add that the analogy works better if in the example of the convicted company executive, he is given a going away party where he is lauded by the victims of his crimes - totally nuts! This is yet another burning reason to do away with the Senate.

Good riddance.

I don't think they would do it for any senator. Although, he has been there awhile, do they stand for someone who's been there a long time?

Or maybe they're being excessive because he's leaving in disgrace. It does feel that way.

I can see that just from a human standpoint it is very awkward. Some of these folks have worked with him literally for decades, and notwithstanding he's a crook, he is 85 years old.

All I'm saying is, I'm not sure I'd know how to act in a similar situation.

What were you thinking of, tarring and feathering?