Will the Re-Election of Convicted Felon Ted Stevens Lead to Sen. Sarah Palin?

Congratulations all round from Polunatic in Toronto Canada. To Obama, for running AND winning a positive campaign. To the electorate for understanding the difference between policy and rubbish. To Buzzflash for your fine journalism.

We hope that this election symbolizes the beginning of a post-Palin political world with the rejection of political thuggery, religious supremacy and the bush doctrine? Won't Palin and the rethugs have to completely rebrand themselves if they're to have a hope of taking back the White House in 2016?

Isn't Stevens (or McCain for that matter) a reminder of just how rotten the US political system has become? While Stevens may remain popular with voters in Alaska, isn't his brand past its best before date most everywhere else? He's an anchor around their necks.

I reread the title and thought about the so far little known House-Gate. Governor Palin has had several of these scandals come to light in Alaska during the past several months. Senator Stevens is convicted of accepting valuable things in the construction of his house. Back in Wasilla in 2002, contracts were being awarded for the Wasilla stadium at around the same time as the Palins were building their new house close by. The thing is that Mayor Palin suspended the issuing of building permits prior to construction thus eliminating all documentation of who was building their spacious new house now valued at well over $1 million including how much it was costing and so on. All it needed was a simple completion certification. The town of Wasilla was left with about $16 million in additional debt. So if the Palins built their house using kickback, in the form of labor and materials which could easily be written off as costs for stadium construction, then they would be as guilty as Stevens. It may have been far worse. The facts are coming together. They don't look good for the Palins. Pat Williams

Well, one post indicated something that will probably happen and I believe could be legal under Alaska law: Palin appoints herself to Stevens' seat and appoints Stevens as her own replacement. The other thing that is possible is that Bush pardons Stevens as he leaves office (probably along with Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff), stripping the Dems of legal weight if they try to remove Stevens from the Senate. Then it becomes an issue of political will whether the Dems will still pursue the issue while Reps try and claim Stevens is no longer a felon. It's something of a battle between Palin and Stevens, too, for who wants his seat most. Most likely Palin will win because she is more ferocious than Stevens and because Stevens has had many years in office and probably wouldn't mind retiring rather than have a fight for something he's been used to. Her being his protege makes it easier, also. And, having worked for the Division of Elections in Alaska, you also can never underestimate the state legislature's willingness to pass laws specifically to benefit a single person for political advantage (for example, when Lyda Green forgot to turn in her reelection application in 1997). If the first possibility isn't legal, they could easily make it so.

I don't understand how a candidate can go from an average 10% deficit from several polls to a win just a few days later, especially after a criminal conviction. I suspect Election Fraud, again. After all, Alaska was caught, but not prosecuted, for using Diebold machines to help steal the 2004 election: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3111

and appoint one of her AIP/Christian wacko friends as Senator.

Keep it up

Palin is pretty. Palin is a great cheerleader, cheering on her candidate, and their "cause", she is good at delivering smart a*s speeches written for her, insulting people who care about the environment and who want something different than what the Republicans think is the only way to be"American". She said that her definition of Elitism was "anyone who thinks they are better than someone else", but she claims not to be an elitist. On almost every occasions that I heard a speech by her, she claimed to be better than anyone who didn't want to vote for her and McCain (or that wanted to support Obama), she acted as if she and (her followers) were the only "real Americans", and she continually struck me as a show off and braggart, who wore WAY way too much make up. She's pretty to begin with, why does she need $20,000+ worth of make up... it's just weird. Also, when she was free to speak on her own, not a scripted speech, her speech and ideas seemed very uneducated, and I kind of felt like she was BSing through the subjects. This is not brainwashing to think these things about her, this is simple observation of another person. Also, I think Americans did her kids a favor by not electing her to do a 24/7 job basically taking her away from her kids, especially her new baby.. I just don't understand why someone with a new special needs baby would volunteer to take her self away from her family like that- that's also weird, little kids need their moms- whether people want to admit it or not. The person below defended Sarah Palin's honor saying that the person who believed Barack Obama and not Sarah Palin is a "Brainwashed fool", yet anyone who is on the other side might claim the same about them, the fact that they actually believe she really wanted to fairly make changes that benefited everyone was quite obviously a bunch of bull, she only wanted to make changes that benefited her party or her belief system. Right wing extremists always claim the "liberals" (meaning anyone that doesn't go along with them) are doing- what they themselves are doing... It seems to be a tactic that humans employ when they don't want to change or admit that they might be wrong. But I think it's important that we realize there is a whole sea of upper & lower middle class white people that believe the crap the person below wrote... I think the rest of us have for too long ignored this ignorance, and just thought it was a few people in our country who believed this way, and said "they are just stupid" or "everyone has the right to believe what they want" (and they do). I have rec'd racist emails about Obama that were just blatant racist junk disguised as political commentary, and I have seen people I know who don't even think anything is wrong with it, they take it as actual reality or fact, and it's just plain racism. I also find it completely outrageous that groups of evangelicals and right wing Republican (and some Democrats) say they want less government and claim that they don't want to pay taxes or have a government telling them what they can do, but they can't wait to pass laws that control the people in our country so that they can force (us) to act the way THEY think we should act, or do things the way they think we should... and when roads are bad, they expect the government to fix it, and blame poor people for the ills of our society, when EVERYONE is somehow responsible. Also, the Political (Republican) BS about "pork barrel spending"- saying they are against it, but they can't wait to get their grubby hands on the money to keep for themselves and THEIR causes, just like Palin said she's against pork barrel spending, but made sure she got plenty of it for her friends and family in the state she was governing... Call that opinion "brainwashing" if you want to, but all I see is a bunch of hypocrytical BS and it makes me sick. You know, only time will tell what an Obama administration will do, just as time told what a Bush administration did and has done (things we don't even know about yet), and at some point it's just about who you think will actually do the things they say they're going to, just like life. I knew McCain and Palin were going to do the things they said, like put 45 Nuclear power plants in our back yards, assault womens constitutional rights by overturning Roe V Wade, and drill the cr*p out of all our national forrests, leaving a polluted mess just like they currently do in other countries, and leave our troops endlessly in Iraq dying and killing innocent women and children with stray bombs, and I DIDN'T vote for them because I believed they WOULD keep those promises, and I am NOT ok with that!

Maybe we can invent some kind of "RADAR" thingy to keep an eye out.

Here is a comfortable solution. Palin appoints herself the senator position vacated by Ted and assigns Ted as her successor governor. That is what you expect from an experienced executive. It might be legally and constitutionally incorrect but who cares in Alaska :-)

Obama conducted an honorable campaign that addressed realities, only straying slightly to defend himself from the spin, lies and hatred by Palin and company. These thieves and liars are nothing but a nest of vipers to be given a wide birth. Why would America ever want to return to the likes of Palin? Pat Williams