Jon Stewart rips old "Pony Express" John McCain for stepping into the void left by Ted Stevens and his support of the "Internet Freedom Act of 2009".

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Rachel Maddow notes what the script is for a disgraced GOP Senator returning to the Senate. Apologize, no further comment, and get a round of applause from your fellow Senators.

John Ensign follows the likes of Larry Craig, David Vitter and Ted Stevens with a show of support from his fellow family values Republicans. It's so nice to see the Republicans are at least being consistent with their hypocrisy when it comes to protecting their own.

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From The Colbert Report April 8, 2009.

Ted Stevens seeks justice for others, as long as those others are him.

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David Shuster talks to Margaret Carlson about whether there is any legal basis for the request by Sarah Palin and the Alaskan state Republican party for a special election. Apparently they think Uncle Ted Stevens should have a chance to win his seat back and that Mark Begich should resign.

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Matthews gets another one wrong. From Hardball April 1, 2009 and no, it's not an April Fools joke. TPM Muckraker has more:

Just now, the MSNBC anchor, opining on the news that DOJ is dropping the charges in the Ted Stevens case, declared that the decision means "the charges should never have been brought, there should never have been a prosecution."

Um, no. The Justice Department made clear that it was dropping the case because of prosecutorial missteps -- specifically the failure to hand over a key piece of evidence to defense lawyers. The decision has almost no bearing on the merits of the underlying case against Stevens, who was convicted last fall of failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollar in gifts from an oil-services contractor.

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Nope, this is not an April Fool's day joke:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has decided to drop all charges against former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens amid charges of prosecutorial misconduct, NPR reported on Wednesday, citing Justice officials.

Stevens was convicted last fall of seven counts of lying on a Senate disclosure form to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil industry executive and other friends. Allegations of prosecutorial misconduct have delayed his sentencing.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided not to continue to defend the conviction in the face of persistent problems stemming from prosecutors' actions, NPR reported on its web site.

Jon debuted a new segment last night called "Does That Get Me Fired?", in which he asks the seemingly reasonable question: What exactly does one have to do in order to get reprimanded by the United States Senate? If trashing your own party's nominee for President and disgracing your party with seven felony convictions doesn't do it, what will?

"A great career down, let's say, a series of tubes."

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Ted Stevens, Congress' longest-serving Republican and recently convicted felon, delivered his farewell speech today on the Senate floor. I understand the camaraderie of the world's greatest deliberative body and Stevens' 40+ years of service, but its pretty surreal to watch the Senate give a standing ovation to someone who was just found guilty by a jury of his peers on a whopping seven felony counts. I gotta admit: Stevens went out gracefully and his embrace of Senator Byrd is some compelling stuff. That said, good riddance and congratulations to Senator-elect Mark Begich.

"I don't have any rear-view mirror, I look only forward. And I still see the day when I can remove the cloud that currently surrounds me. My motto has always been 'to hell with politics, just do what's right for Alaska.' And I've tried every day to live up to those words."

Looks like Ted is suffering from the Palin denial disease, whereby someone who has been found guilty of something simply refuses to acknowledge that they indeed were found guilty. Must be that Alaskan water.

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Mark Begich finally takes down Ted Stevens, the rampaging Hulk from Alaska.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, the Republican lawmaker convicted on felony corruption charges in October, appears to have lost his bid for re-election to Democrat Mark Begich, according to a release from Begich's campaign and unofficial results from state officials.
Democrat Mark Begich (left) has claimed victory over Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.

The statement and results Tuesday come two weeks after the election, after absentee ballots were counted.

With 100 percent of Alaska's precincts reporting, Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, had roughly 47.7 percent of the vote, compared with about 46.6 percent for Stevens, according to unofficial results posted on the Alaska Secretary of State's Web site.

He appears to have bested Stevens by 3,724 votes, according to the posted results.

So much for Sarah Palin's hopes of sliding over to the Senate.

And the Democratic tally in the Senate now reaches 58, with two more races still in the balance.

Rarrrrghhh!!!

Via Roll Call we hear that disgraced Senator Ted Stevens is pleading with his senate colleagues. As with Larry Craig, the Republicans are turning their backs.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is reportedly calling his Republican colleagues in the hope of shoring up support before an expected vote Tuesday on whether to expel him from the Conference because of his seven felony convictions.

Although it was unclear how many lawmakers Stevens has reached out to, GOP aides said he has been making calls urging his colleagues to withhold judgement until the appeals process is exhausted. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has proposed expelling him from the Conference and stripping him of his committee assignments, and a vote on that proposal could occur Tuesday.

Even if Stevens survives through next week, he is widely expected to be eventually expelled from the Senate, with leaders from both parties saying proceedings to remove him would take place at an undetermined time.

Rank-and-file Republicans have also begun to turn their backs on Stevens, the longest-serving member of the GOP. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), during an interview on MSNBC Thursday afternoon, echoed a statement he made Wednesday in which he said he would vote for any motion to remove Stevens.

Of course this may all be rendered academic by Tuesday when Mark Begich is declared the winner in Alaska's Senate race. But left with no options, Stevens may decide not to appeal the election results and demand a recount (that the Republican party would most likely have to pay for), turning his focus instead to avoiding jail time. Stevens faces up to 35 years for his recent conviction.

Let's hope this trend continues and Stevens finally gets the axe.

Democrat Mark Begich now leads Sen. Ted Stevens (R) by just over 1,000 votes with more than 90 percent of the total ballots now counted in the high-profile Alaska Senate race.

The Alaska Division of Elections counted another 14,500 votes on Friday and Begich's lead increased from 841 before the day started to 1,022 when the counting ended.

That means that Begich has gained more than 4,200 votes on Stevens since the 90,000 early, absentee and questioned ballots began to be counted on Wednesday. There are roughly 24,000 votes left to be counted, and the counting will resume, and presumably conclude, early next week, according to the Begich campaign.

Of the remaining votes, roughly 15,000 are in the Anchorage area (a swing area in the race) and another 8,000 are in the Juneau area, which should be Begich territory.

"The news continues to be positive," Begich said in a statement released by the campaign tonight. "With the gap widening slightly in our favor today, I feel even more optimistic that when all the ballots are counted next week, we'll see Alaskans came out to vote for new leadership in Washington, D.C."

I wonder what Gov. Palin will say if it goes to Begich?

I think there's something in the water in Alaska that causes it's politicians to flat out deny reality. Just as Sarah Palin denied that she violated any ethics rules re: Troopergate when, in fact, the report concluded just that, Ted Stevens is now running around claiming that he hasn't been convicted of anything yet, despite his conviction last week on seven counts of corruption.

Anchorage Daily News:

"I've not been convicted yet," Stevens said Thursday in a meeting with the editorial board of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. "There's not a black mark by my name yet, until the appeal is over and I am finally convicted, if that happens. If that happens, of course I'll do what's right for Alaska and for the Senate. ... I don't anticipate it happening, and until it happens I do not have a black mark."

Stevens reiterated that position during a televised debate late Thursday night, declaring early in the give-and-take with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, "I have not been convicted of anything."

[HT: Balloon Juice]

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Stephen is pretty broken up over Uncle Ted Steven's conviction, but he's heartened by the possibility of a Bush pardon.

So much for fighting for reform, eh? Sarah Palin built her political capital in Alaska by throwing in with none other than Ted Stevens

Palin's name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. The group was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in the state. She served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced on state filings.

Palin's relationship with Alaska's senior senator may be one of the more complicated aspects of her new position as Sen. John McCain's running mate; Stevens was indicted in July 2008 on seven counts of corruption.

Palin, an anti-corruption crusader in Alaska, had called on Stevens to be open about the issues behind the investigation. But she also held a joint news conference with him in July, before he was indicted, to make clear she had not abandoned him politically.

Stevens had been helpful to Palin during her run for governor, swooping in with a last moment endorsement. And the two filmed a campaign commercial together to highlight Stevens's endorsement of Palin during the 2006 race.

Shortly after Palin was announced as McCain's vice presidential pick, the ad was removed from her gubernatorial campaign web site. It remains available on YouTube.

And here's that ad, courtesy of TPM, who saved it for posterity.

VECO, the company that gave "gifts" to Stevens, has ties to Palin too according to Think Progress, contributing 10 percent of her total campaign fund when she ran for lieutenant governor in 2002.

Corruption you can believe in!

What's remarkable is that people like Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) are going around repeatedly spouting talking points like "Gov. Palin took on Ted Stevens. If she can take him on, she can take on the Russians. Heh." And the question arises - are they really that dishonest or are they simply ignorant, digging themselves deeper and deeper into holes because of the worst-vetted candidate ever?

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What does it say about Sarah Palin that in her first big appearance before a national audience - her introduction as McCain's running mate - she decided to flat out lie about her accomplishments?

I told Congress -- I told Congress, "Thanks, but no thanks," on that bridge to nowhere.

If our state wanted a bridge, I said we'd build it ourselves. Well, it's always, though, safer in politics to avoid risk, to just kind of go along with the status quo. But I didn't get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built.

Politics isn't just a game of competing interests and clashing parties. The people of America expect us to seek public office and to serve for the right reasons.

She did that? Well, no. When told that Congress had stripped funding for the bridge, she said she was still in favor of Congressional assistance for that and other Alaskan projects. And when that assistance didn't materialize, she got all sour-grapes about it.

When she finally canceled the $400 million project, Palin lamented the fact that Congress was not more forthcoming with federal funding. She said in a statement at the time:

Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island.

Despite her claims to be a reformer and "govern with integrity", Palin has kept up her relationship with indicted Seanator Ted Stevens, the father of the bridge to nowhere. He endorsed her for Governor in 2006 and, on July 2, 2008, Stevens and Palin held a joint press conference on energy issues. As Steven's hugged Palin she said "I have great respect for the Senator... He needs to be heard across America. His voice, his experience, his passion needs to be heard across America--so that Alaska can contribute more."

Contribute more to what? America's prison population? Republican coffers? What?

Now, both John McCain and Lindsay Graham are repeating Palin's claims. In response to Graham, George Stephanopoulos told him "But Senator, she turned against that, only she campaigned for it in her 2006 race, and turned against it in 2007 only after it became a national joke. "

Then there's the shadow governor, Todd Palin. He sits in on legislative meetings dealing with oil company negotiations while he's still working for BP. He took a very short hiatus back when Palin was first elected Governor but returned quickly to work citing the need for the "extra income". The Governor of Alaska pulls down a six figure salary and the Palin's own three houses - one residential and two recreational.

Oh, I get it now - contribute more to lying to the American public. To serve for the wrong reasons.