I joked about this yesterday, but these people are clinical:
Gov. Sarah Palin and the head of the Alaska Republican Party said Thursday that Sen. Mark Begich should give his Senate seat up to a special election now that prosecutors have abandoned their case against Ted Stevens. “Alaskans deserve to have a fair election not tainted by some announcement that one of the candidates was convicted fairly of seven felonies, when in fact it wasn’t a fair conviction,” Palin said in a Thursday interview with the Daily News.
The governor said she does not want to “split hairs” on whether Begich should resign or not but agrees with the Republican Party’s call for a special election.
This isn’t about a new election, because they all know that will not happen. There is no law that can be invoked, there was no wrongdoing, the election was clean and fair. The only thing they are trying to do is to marginalize and de-legitimize Mark Begich. I sometimes wish these guys would man up and look at their Sore/Loserman t-shirts from 2000 and think for a minute.
BTW- someone could have a lot of fun looking at the multiple stances of Sarah Palin regarding Ted Stevens. I vaguely remember her maverick creds being polished for going against him while she took all the money he sent back then she ran away from him during the trial and now, of course, she will probably be erecting statues in his name. If I am wrong on that, fill me in, but I would love to see a timeline with her positions and public statements regarding Stevens.
*** Update ***
From the comments:
The guy she said should resign before the election ended up losing. Now she wants the guy who won to resign so that the guy she originally said should resign can get a fair election. What a maverick!
You betcha!
DougJ
What bullshit. FWIW, I think Holder made the right call. But the idea that Begich should resign is beyond stupid.
SGEW
The Economist touches on this here: New Frontiers in Sore Loserdom.
Keith
A special election would be too much of a distraction from the economic issues everyone should be spending every waking moment thinking about.
Zoogz
As Commander
-In-Chiefof the AlaskaArmy, Navy, and Air ForceNational Guard, she should just declare martial law to place the senator who should have won the election if given half a chance……Todd Palin.
gwangung
Alaskan, New York and Minnesota Republicans: all sore losers.
valdivia
OT but speaking of two faced clinical idiocy–Sanford in SC is now taking the Stimulus money?
cleek
yup. sadly, this is the very essence of politics.
Alan
Yeah, the Right used to mock Gore for putting the country through that mess. Unlike Nixon who could have disputed the 1960 election but chose to take the higher ground. So now we get this crap in Alaska and Minnesota. I’m glad I’m no longer a Republican.
ImpureScience
That’s assuming that they care about anything beyond self-aggrandizement and destroying their opponents.
guest omen
i’m guessing the right appreciates stevens being taken off the hook but are still attacking holder for some invented reason or another.
guest omen
cheney and mccain should both be forced to wear that tshirt.
The Grand Panjandrum
Holder didn’t drop the case because he thought Stevens was innocent. He dropped the case because of Bush DOJ ineptness. Jesus!
Palin-Bachmann Overdrive 2012!
c u n d gulag
They are doing everything they can to de-legitimize legal elections.
They couldn’t stop the tsunami of voters who hated their policies in the past two elections. So much so, that even tampered voting machines couldn’t help them.
They tried to blame ACORN and other voters rights organizations. And still lost.
All they can do now is try to make legitimate elections seem like they are corrupt.
Look in the mirror lately, Conservative boy’s and girl’s?
We hate sore-winner’s, and that is what they were for 14 years. Now, they think that a transition to sore-loser’s will help them.
Me? I’m standing back. Never get in the way of an enemy digging his/her own grave. Maybe I’ll lend them a shovel…
r€nato
Minnesota’s Senate election still dragged out, NY CD-20, and now Alaska.
I am beginning to suspect that Republicans just might be, oh what’s the word…
…ah, yes. WORST. HYPOCRITES. EVER.
Ugh
I think you’re underestimeratinging their ability to believe their own bullshit.
r€nato
Today’s GOP
Paul L.
@gwangung:
The situation in New York now is the same situation that occurred in Minnesota.
Al Franken lost by a close vote.
So you are saying that Al Franken was a sore loser.
Or do you give Democrats a pass.
Et Tu Brutus?
A ‘Special Election’- starring Caribou Barbie for your new Alaska State Senator, sans any viable Republican challengers. Ah, the devious plot unfolds…
Mary
What is with this newly operative term that is being used to demonize the Democrats, "statist?" At least it indicates that the socialist and fascist smears are having trouble gaining traction.
Fencedude
@Paul L.:
No, its not the same situation as in Minnesota.
Oh wait, Paul L. Nevermind.
Dennis-SGMM
When the breaks are beating the boys, go to court. The hypocritical sons-of-bitches would just love to have some activist judge overturn an election.
Vox Republlicans vox dei.
r€nato
Now that the Dow Jones is up 20% over the past month, I wonder if Jonah Goldberg will be as quick to give credit to Obama, as he was to blame Obama for the DJIA continuing to tank after his inauguration.
No, wait, I don’t wonder about that… but it’s fun to point out.
Zifnab
@Paul L.:
As can be seen by his roughly 250 vote margin of victory. You’ve got to have a bigger victory margin than that if you want to say you "won" the election. :-p
Recounts are unconstitutional!
Maude
@Paul L.: Is this a news flash?
Hadn’t heard that Franken lost.
Or is this just more wishful thinking?
Zifnab
@r€nato: The DOW is up 20% in anticipation of a Republican sweep of the House and Senate in 2010. You see economics economics blah blah bullshit bullshit bullshit Palin / Bachman ’12! Also!
PeakVT
Unlike Nixon who could have disputed the 1960 election but chose to take the higher ground.
That would be a myth.
gizmo
The real problem here is that our corporate media continues to feature the rantings of Palin, Limbaugh, Beck and their ilk. They should just be ignored.
Dennis-SGMM
@r€nato:
I credit Bobby Jindal’s galvanizing presence and his hard-hitting speeches.
gwangung
@Paul L.:
No, I have an IQ above room temperature.
I suppose that disqualifies me from being a Republican.
Tsulagi
Some real comedy could come about if Tubes holding a grudge remembering Winky calling for him to resign during his campaign last year runs against her for governor in 2010. Go Tubes!!
Just Some Fuckhead
U still got yers, John Cole?
Gravenstone
/OT but goddamn AdSense – afflicting us with SarahPAC ads?
As for the GOP asshattery du jour, fuck ’em. Whiny assed titty babies, every motherless son of ’em. The only recourse is to point and laugh as their hypocrisy is chronicled in glorious living colour for all to see and mock. The Republican party will cease to exist as a national entity within the decade. Hell, before the next election cycle if they keep up at this rate.
Zifnab
@gizmo: Meh. If you’re a mouthpiece or a bullhorn for the bullshit Palin et al are hawking, it’s probably because you’re buying what they’re selling. The "liberal" media meme serves as cover for a corporately owned news stream that was never more than mainstream.
It’s all just one flavor of propaganda or another. Just stop listening to it.
Paul L.
@Maude:
Senate race 100% counted: Coleman up; recount coming
ibid
The guy she said should resign before the election ended up losing. Now she wants the guy who won to resign so that the guy she originally said should resign can get a fair election. What a maverick!
kay
Republicans completely miss the essential point and fundamental issue once again.
Why am I not surprised Sarah Palin looked at the results of Holder’s decision, a decision that rested not on the identity of the defendant or on this particular case, but instead on the laws he’s sworn to uphold regarding all prosecutions, and came up with a small-minded, extremely stupid and completely political frame?
iluvsummr
@valdivia:
Link?
Zifnab
Key words. Key words. Looking for key words here. Can anyone find any key words in this sentence? Anyone?
ChrisB
@The Grand Panjandrum:
More likely, don’t you think?
r€nato
shorter Paul L.:
recounts only count when they affirm GOP victories.
Calouste
Cole, you can add in that Sarah Palin was on Ted Stevens’ PAC during her gap years between being mayor of Wasilla and governor.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@gizmo:
You forgot Joe the Plumber and too also.
pikhoved
Is it unofficial?
gwangung
@Paul L.:
Yes, you do qualify as a Republican, quite nicely.
You do realize that you can LOOK at the ballots? You, personally?
Frickin’ Republican idiots. Massive, epic failure of intellect.
dmsilev
@Paul L.:
So happy to hear that you’ve recovered from your 5 month long coma.
-dms
joes527
I don’t get the equating Minnesota with NY CD-20.
In Minnesota, Coleman "won" on the day (which means nothing) but when the full, fair and legal recount completed, Franken actually won. Now Coleman is dragging it out in the courts just because he rolls that way.
In NY- CD-20, Murphy won on the day (which AGAIN means nothing) and the counting of the absentee votes goes on. (and there will probably be a recount or whatever NY law requires) There is no sign of a problem here (yet) and the election is still too close to call.
IF Murphy actually wins and Tedisco then tries to follow Coleman’s lead, then yes, there will be a parallel, but as of now, it is just a close election that needs to run its course.
Or are you saying that it is wrong not to declare Murphy the winner before all the votes are counted because the Democrats roll that way?
kay
@r€nato:
shorter Paul L.:
recounts only count when they affirm GOP victories.
If Steven’s were a Democrat, they’d be screeching that he got off on a "technicality". Remember that? All violations of a defendants rights are a technicality.
You can’t really blame the Bush Justice Department. They were just following the Big Book of Republican Rules rather than federal law. Fabricating testimony? No big deal. Technicalities! Lock up the bad guys and ask questions later.
gwangung
@joes527:
I do. Paul L. is a friggin’ moron and immoral loser. No such thing as ethics or morals when it comes to power for Republicans.
That’s the base the Republicans are appealing to nowadays.
guest omen
@Just Some Fuckhead:
gasp, he badmouthed gore?
OldK
We should have had a do-over of the 2002 elections when we failed to find WMDs in Iraq.
kay
Republicans can be unhappy with the results of this. I don’t care.
I’m celebrating. After 8 years and three consecutive conservative AG’s, we finally lucked out and found a decent lawyer.
Comrade Darkness
@ChrisB, I’m willing to be open minded here. The DOJ that were not fired were left in place because did as they were told by HQ, so whether it is malfeasance or ineptitude depends on who was pulling their strings. The Regent University grad string pullers were not the smartest set of bulbs on the tree, so this is a tough call… I think of malfeasance as something that requires a plan, which would require thinking… I can’t get there with this bunch. So I think they just got lucky.
Either way, it’s unAmerican and they should all rot at Gitmo.
Nellcote
"IF Murphy actually wins and Tedisco then tries to follow Coleman’s lead, then yes, there will be a parallel, but as of now, it is just a close election that needs to run its course."
Tedisco’s already filed papers to challenge the results in court.
Just Some Fuckhead
@guest omen: Fuckhead tells no tales.
joes527
The one thing I learned in this last election cycle is that no matter how crazy I think Alaskans are, they are actually crazier.
Palin has a bright future there even though she crashed and burned in the lower 48.
Begich will serve 1 term and then be replaced by anyone with an (R) next to their name on the ballot.
They will continue to take their subsidies and earmarks while declaring their rugged individualism, cursing the rest of the USA, and muttering about independence.
The thing is, from everything I’ve seen, these folks in the spotlight aren’t the outliers in Alaska, they are the mainstream.
After everything I’ve seen this last year, all I can say is that I support the Alaskan Independence Party.
John S.
And if Murphy – who "won" on the day the polls closed – ends up losing after counting all absentee ballots or a recount, I’m sure Paul L. will still claim that Murphy "won" despite the final official result.
Because if nothing, Paul L. the biggest fucking moron in the history of the intertubes, is consistent. I mean, he wouldn’t be rationalizing from partisan hackery, would he?
eemom
@Calouste:
also, I heard it explained by an Alaskan on NPR last fall that Stevens actually was integral to Palin’s winning the Governesshood.
And that was the ONLY time I ever heard it. Everyone else back then — yes, even including y’all’s sainted Greenwald — was busy trumpeting Palin as a Washington Establishment "outsider" who got where she did on her own mavericky merits. Riiiiiiight.
harlana pepper
I just know so much more about Alaska politics than I ever wanted to know . . . again, I don’t mean to diss all the state’s inhabitants, but I want to forget this state is on the map. I can say that b/c as an SC resident and native, I know a heap of people feel the same way about SC and I don’t blame them.
Indylib
@OldK:
FTW
guest omen
@eemom:
wow, even greenwald? it was weird how pumaistas put palin up on a pedestal.
Joshua Norton
Stevens was on TV crowing about how he had been vindicated. The charges were NOT dropped because he was innocent, but because the prosecutors violated court procedure.
It’s called, "getting off on a technicality" – something the GOP has perpetually and publicly whinged about when all them "activist" Judges let off "common" criminals.
eemom
@kay:
I agree, and I would also add a resounding FU to those who have been bashing Holder from the left.
joes527
@Nellcote:
Tedisco filed papers that boil down to "If I don’t win, I want a recount before anyone is declared the winner"
Not unreasonable seeing how close it is. Now, he originally asked that the result be held up no matter how clear the result was, and that was promptly laughed out of the court.
But given the margin. I think a recount (or whatever recheck is consistent with NY law) is what _should_ be done.
If after the absentee ballots are counted Tedisco is ahead, watch for Murphy to be calling for a re-check. As long as this is limited to "make sure the election laws are fully observed" and not spun out into "I have bizarre claims and theories that I want to grind through the court for a couple of years" it will be appropriate.
Let Tedisco actually be obstructionist before declaring him an obstructionist.
asiangrrlMN
You know, anyone who brings Norm Coleman up as a reason that Democrats are sore losers does not need to be heard. Coleman is a turncoat; he is an alleged grifter; and he has teeth that gives children nightmares.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/03/coleman-wont-say-whether_n_182727.html
I voted (unhappily) for Franken, but I would have took it like a woman if Coleman had been declared the winner. I would be as pissed off if after the official count, Franken decided to drag it out like this.
As for La Palina, she will say and do whatever it takes to grab the headlines (as long as she doesn’t have to, you know, govern. Also). She has no conscience.
Here is Sanford’s provisional acceptance of stimulus money:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/02/sanford-gives-in-on-stimu_n_182631.html
P.S. I agree with Holder overturning Stevens’ conviction, but that doesn’t change the fact that Stevens was guilty.
Comrade Darkness
@guest omen,
I badmouthed gore at the time, too, despite pinko, enviro-nazi leanings. I badmouthed him for giving away a cakewalk election to a smirking aristocratic buffoon by a) sounding like everyone’s most f*cking annoying college professor and making even me cringe to imagine suffering through that for 4 years and b) choosing the single least useful running mate in the entire blessed plasma-stated galaxy (yeah, for some reason Gore can’t win the NE without a ringer? wtf, was with that?)
GAH.
I’ll happily continue to badmouth him. Here, let me get a beer first. I need one.
cleek
shooting at immigration processing center
i’m trying hard not to assume it’s a MinuteMen-style vigilante.
Xanthippas
Strange, that the right hasn’t gotten so worked up about Don Siegelman’s conviction. Why is that exactly?
Xanthippas
It’s one of three:
1) a MinuteMen-style vigilante
2) a pissed off ex
3) an angry immigrant
#3 is the last plausible.
guest omen
@Comrade Darkness:
you’re right. that election would have been a cakewalk…if clinton had been able to keep it in his pants.
The Populist
Wouldn’t a special election COST MONEY that the citizens of Alaska could use for better things?
I mean, how can any rational person, right or left, be for asking Begich to resign or submit to a new election? Regardless of what happened with Steven’s conviction he’s still a crook. Just because the prosecution fucked up still doesn’t make Stevens any less guilty of the bribes and kickbacks he took. All it says is that the system is working properly and that if the Prosecution can’t follow procedure, Stevens can’t be sent to jail or convicted.
Fuck Sarah Palin. This stupid cow can’t seem to wrap that tiny little brain around the concept of DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM. Begich won fair and square. This is all about winning by any means necessary. Shit, the GOP should stop whining since they have won many elections with dubious means.
terry chay
No surprise. Eight years ago, these people say Gore was a sore loser, now I hear these same people gloating that Franken isn’t seated because of a gap in Minnesota state law that allows them to litigate this stuff forever.
Hypocrites.
The Populist
Well Holder has now set the bar, so let’s use the same logic to acquitting Siegelman of his "conviction."
gnomedad
To paraphrase Tina Turner, what’s thinking got to do with it?
The Populist
Oh yes, may I remind the righties that Stevens was pursued and prosecuted by the BUSH Justice Dept?
So if anybody wants to say shit about the Dems on this, remember which justice department let your boy off the hook.
HA!
eemom
@Comrade Darkness:
uh oh……. could there be a To Blame Nader or Not To Blame Nader brawl coming on here?
This is a phenomenon I have noticed on progressive blogs whenever anyone starts talking about that godforsaken election.
The Populist
Well, for more republican nonsense check out Newtie Gingrich’s newest proclamation:
He even makes sense here:
Weird huh? Watch out Newt, I hear Rush is going to find a way to equate your treason with Anal warts or something.
Gus
I couldn’t help but think that right away. I should know better than to jump to conclusions, but if I was a betting man that would be my guess.
The Populist
No he’s saying your party is full of sore losers and whiners with zero ideas and a win at any cost, country be damned attitude.
Xanthippas
Given the difficulty our electoral system gives anybody trying to start a legitimate third party, I sincerely hope that the reactionary right continues to dominate the GOP for many, many years to come.
guest omen
@asiangrrlMN:
yay for the good people of south carolina! that corridor of shame that cnn highlighted is a disgrace.
simonee
I think Sarah Palin should resign beause no one in Alaska knew at the time what a dumb twat she was until the 2008 election. There should be a special election for Governor so that the voters can decide with better information.
And by the way… Is it really helpful to talk about Alaska like the R’s talk about California or San Francisco (in terms of hoping to forget they are a part of America…)?
ChrisB
@Comrade Darkness: I believe Holder dropped the case because the prosecution did not give the defense notes of an interview with a witness which contradicted the witness’s testimony against Stevens. So, the question is, did they neglect to provide those notes to the defense or did they deliberately decide to withhold those notes. It really could be either one, given how the Bush administration appeared both stupid and devious at various times.
Thankovsky
Palin was very foolish to say anything at all on this issue. She’s already hemorrhaging influence in her own state government; the fact that Begich will inevitably stay on as Senator in spite of her objections will only make the bleeding worse. She’ll be a political non-entity by the time 2012 rolls around.
Good riddance, I say.
gopher2b
I admire this blog because of its intellectual honesty and the quality of the comments. I do have to say, however, that it was eerily silent when the case against Stevens was dropped. Most of the people here cannot stand ill-aimed and overly aggressive law enforcement. Many of the same people jumped all over Stevens for his activities. I don’t disagree with either but when the case is dropped because prosecutorial misconduct, very egregious conduct, it deserves mentioning in a post other than one bitching about Palin.
Catsy
OT, but apparently the auto-preview code in this text editor will freeze your browser (Firefox or IE) if you type two < symbols in a row. Can easily happen if your fingers stutter when adding an HTML tag.
I still pine for the old one that didn’t butcher formatting by trying to second-guess what you meant by basic HTML tags.
Mike G
WTF is up with the "Ann Coulter – FREE" banner ads? Your advertiser needs to fine tune their perception of the audience on this blog.
Maybe it’s a typo of a news article announcing "Ann Coulter – Now FREE of Rabies".
Karen
GINO is an ignorant bitch & should be consigned to the furthest reaches of Alaska for all time. McSame should be horsewhipped for bringing her to the limelight.
Ash Can
That’s funny; the font appears to be changed. My middle-aged eyes liked the larger type much better.
@gopher2b: Maybe there’s just a burn-out factor around here on the subject of the entire Bush clusterfuck, including the trainwreck at the DoJ.
Xanthippas
No way. I think it’s a great way to sucker right-wingers into reading it.
Tony J
+5, being a furriner, but… the font has changed, right?
(Begins investigation into the possibility that he has actually phased into an alternate reality where everything is the same, but eerily different)
No, its just the font.
TenguPhule
Not much you can say when the guilty get off scott free because the prosecutor is a dipshit.
Ash Can
BTW, just for the record, Begich did tell the Alaska Republicans to piss off.
TenguPhule
To assume rationality on the right is to assume morality in a hyena.
It’s just not in their nature.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Comrade Darkness: I badmouthed gore at the time, too, despite pinko, enviro-nazi leanings. I badmouthed him for giving away a cakewalk election to a smirking aristocratic buffoon by a) sounding like everyone’s most f*cking annoying college professor and making even me cringe to imagine suffering through that for 4 years and b) choosing the single least useful running mate in the entire blessed plasma-stated galaxy (yeah, for some reason Gore can’t win the NE without a ringer? wtf, was with that?) GAH. I’ll happily continue to badmouth him. Here, let me get a beer first. I need one.
Quoted in full for I-agree-with-this-so-muchness.
Tipper didn’t help matters much either – Gore with pop-culture scolds as both first lady and running mate? Bleh.
I voted for him anyway.
D-Chance.
This isn’t about a new election, because they all know that will not happen. There is no law that can be invoked, there was no wrongdoing, the election was clean and fair.
Really, now?
I can run a 100-meter dash in 12.0 seconds. My competitor can run it in 11.0 seconds. But, before our race, a third party rules that my friend must attach a 30 pound weight around his waist.
He runs the race in 12.02 seconds… I win by a nose. Afterwards, it is decided that the third party was wrong in his attaching that 30 pound weight to my competitor.
Should I be forced to forfeit my win? Answer: no. I did nothing wrong.
Should I be seen as the legitimate winner of the race? Answer: no. My competitor had an unfair handicap which greatly lessened his chances of victory. Anyone KNOWS that he would have won without said handicap. But when the rules were set in place, his fate was sealed. I was given just enough of an advantage to squeeze out a narrow win.
Should I be marginalized as the winner? Answer: yes. I profited from the actions of others; my win, despite my own personal innocence in the matter, is tainted.
Was my race "clean and fair"? Answer: a qualified yes. At the time of the race, it was deemed as such.
But… a little nudge-and-wink kitchen table talk here… who are we kidding? We all know the fix was in. Alaska now has a Senator who got his job by hook and by crook. He may have had absolutely nothing to do with how he got his election win, but he will deserve every marginalization he receives because his election was illegitimate.
TenguPhule
Shorter D-Chance: Democracy doesn’t count! Voters do not vote of their own free will! Delicious Palin Cock yumyum!
Fencedude
So, D, if the situation were reversed, would you be clamoring for this still?
kay
@D-Chance.:
He did not have an "unfair handicap". He had a handicap imposed because of his own lax ethical standards, standards so low they eventually led to an investigation and indictment and trial.
This is more than a difference of opinion. It’s like a difference in wiring. You simply don’t get it. You’re missing the whole essential nature of what Steven’s did and then, what Holder did, blathering on about "fair". It’s like listening to 5th graders.
Mike G
Now I get "Free NEWT" ??
The salamander would be more useful than the corporatist-crony gasbag’s egotistical rants.
I can run a 100-meter dash in 12.0 seconds. My competitor can run it in 11.0 seconds. But, before our race, a third party rules that my friend must attach a 30 pound weight around his waist.
Calm the fuck down. It’s not like the evidence against Alaska’s Welfare Daddy was fabricated; that extra story on his vacation house is still there. The prosecution failed to share a transcript of a witness interview, a technicality. Ideally Stevens should have a new trial. Dropping the prosecution was a big political gimme I don’t think he deserved.
kay
@Mike G:
Who put the fix in? The moronic and incompetent and deeply unethical lawyers President Bush hired? Them?
This is amazing. There is no accountability, at all, on the right. It’s whining and victims, every freaking day.
You know who the real victims are? All the less powerful defendants who this bunch of partisan hacks tried and convicted, that’s who. I won’t shed any tears for Stevens. He managed to get an appeal.
jibeaux
@D-Chance.:
Well, if the election were truly illegitimate, there would be a legal remedy, would there not? It seems that possibly you have a variation on Alannis Morissette syndrome, who of course thought that things were ironic when they were actually just bummers. Or maybe you have Beavis’ ailment, i.e., not liking things that suck, and instead liking things that are cool.
jibeaux
Now we need someone to dig up that clip they played on the Daily Show, where Stevens was responding to people who asked if maybe he could consider not getting his Bridge To Nowhere so that people in New Orleans could have a bridge to somewhere, and he shouts "NO!" over and over, and splice that in after Sarah Palin asks for a special election.
Tony J
John. John! Get down here, Tunch has been fucking with your settings again.
Topicwise, I have no problem understanding how wingnuts can comfortably switch from 2000-style "Get Over It" triumphalism to 2009-style "Recounts are in the Bible" dogmatism.
Democrats complained in 2000 that Republicans had used the courts to steal the election. Therefore, leaving aside the question of whether or not they had a case, which every right-minded patriot knows they didn’t, the important point to remember if you’re a wingnut is that – Democrats – say it’s politically-correct to complain about an election result if it ends up in the courts and your guy loses.
So, when it’s a Republican challenging an election in a courtroom, and – Democrats – are the ones saying "You lost, get over it", Democrats are just being hypocrites, because when it was their guy, they never stopped complaining.
You remember it’s important for ideological purity not to actually know any ‘facts’ surrounding the cases, right? That’s for sissified ‘perfessors’ and those Ivy League elites. It’s all about showing up the liberals and letting them know you don’t respect them. That’s what’ll win the Long War.
gopher2b
Failing to turn over a transcript of a witness interview (especially the "star" witness) that contains statements inconsistent with testimony at trial is not a technicality.
The whole system is kind of based on it.
kay
@gopher2b:
Details. They don’t get it. They don’t get that the process and the rules ARE the substance. They see it all as gamesmanship.
I’m telling you, it’s not a difference of opinion, it’s different wiring.
jibeaux
@Tony J:
Are they challenging the election in a courtroom? Because it sure seems like they’re saying that Begich should step down so they can have a re-do election. Saying this, you know, outside the context of any lawsuit which requests this as relief. If they can find a grounds on which to mount an actual legal challenge, then more power to ’em. They can have their day in court and won’t hear any objection from me.
big woo
He would have been marginalized anyway, just for being a Democrat from Alaska.
Besides, I seem to recall a collective sigh of relief from the GOP when Stevens was finally shitcanned. He was inconsistent with their recently re-discovered aversion to pork.
gex
@Paul L.: Excellent point! Who doesn’t seat senators based on "unofficial" election results? Unofficially, I won the MN Senate race. Seat me!
eemom
@jibeaux:
I think s/he may be an unemployed legal textbook writer. A worldview consisting of elaborate hypotheticals, inhabiting a reality where an elected official is assigned "marginalization" in proportion to the perceived cause of his victory.
Or come to think of it, maybe a Monica Goodling hire…..
Tony J
@kay:
I guess the concept of a Government of Laws, not Men, doesn’t hit those thrill centres in a worldview where a heartfelt "Yes, Master. It will be as you command" is considered model citizenship and what the Founders wanted.
YMMV.
Gus
Looks like it isn’t number 1.
gex
@Nellcote: I will laugh my ass off if the initial count shows Tedisco as the winner, but based on his filings a recount occurs and determines Murphy is the winner. Oh please, oh please, oh please… I just think this would be so much fun.
jibeaux
@eemom:
Maybe D-Chance’s mom just never told him that life isn’t fair.
gex
@Catsy: You miss the WordPress Error blog?!?!
Tony J
@jibeaux:
Sorry, I was off on a Coleman-Franken tangent.
The same non-logic I very badly described above applies to Stevens and Begich because, if you’re very careful not to know anything about what you’re claiming to have a firm and patriotic opinion on, the only relevent equation is Stevens + was in a court + lost election + Republican = Justification for being WATB.
It’s all about pissing off the liberals, and showing that they pity the fool who plays by the rules, muthafukka*.
*Apologies to Mr T. We know you read BJ, and I wouldn’t want to suggest that you don’t keep a clean mouth. You’d have said Sukkaz. Artistic licence.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@gex: Unofficially, I won the MN Senate race. Seat me!
You got an extra "s" on that second-to-last word.
Catsy
It was right about at this point where this silly little analogy went off the rails…
…this point at which it became farce…
…and here it ascends to hackery and hyperbole.
Fact: Stevens was polling behind Begich long before the conviction.
Fact: Stevens actually got a /bump/ in the polls after the conviction.
Fact: Stevens–and the extent of his corruption–has been a known element in AK politics for four decades.
Fact: The dismissal had no bearing on whether or not Stevens did what he was accused of, and everything to do with the incompetence and misconduct of the Bush DOJ.
Conjecture: Nothing that came out in the Stevens trial was likely to come as a surprised to Alaskans, who have known him and his ways for forty years.
Conjecture: Stevens’ conviction had at best a positive effect on his failed reelection bid from sympathy/ideological votes, and at worst was a wash.
Conclusion: You are an idiot and a shill.
gex
@Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist: Works either way.
ZaftigAmazon
The dustup concerning Mark Begich isn’t the only misstep La Palin has made in the last 24 hours. She is now in a cat fight with the Alaska democrats over an appointment to a vacant state Senate seat. A few more moves like this, and she can kiss her political career goodbye
Corner Stone
Sure, just like everyone KNOWS the combined Russian and Cuban armies would’ve crushed the pathetic and ragtag highschool age boys fighting back from the woods. But you know what?
WOLVERINES!!
Corner Stone
@Tony J
Are you sure? I mean if everything’s the same yet eerily different…I suggest you continue your investigation and report back. If you can find the BJ blog again at some different point in your new reality.
jcricket
Although Sully’s posts about Palin veer into derangement sometimes, he has pointed out that she’s never met a situation she can’t turn into a pointless fight, or a conversation where she can’t work in a stupid lie meant to puff up her image.
Limbaugh, Palin and Cheney should be encouraged by Democrats to keep talking. We should funnel them some money, frankly. If Palin becomes, in any way, some standard-bearer for the GOP (either a candidate for President or other national figure), the GOP will go down in a, dare I say it, Reagan-esque landslide.
I’d be surprised if she made it through the next election for Governor in Alaska, frankly.
Corner Stone
@gopher2b
I can’t say what topics deserve a post on someone else’s blog, or how they should be presented.
I will agree with what I think your sentiment is IMO, which is that it’s a pretty big freakin deal and should be seperated from who the personality is. In this case it was Tubes Stevens, an easy target for people on the intertrons to hate on. But I think your point (or at least my feeling anyway) is that the right decision was made. Serious, egregious prosecutorial conduct should scare the hell out of all of us, no matter who the boob was that got convicted. Or what happened in this case.
People here and elsewhere can say of course Stevens was guilty but eh, actually he wasn’t. As you say in another comment – withholding part of the star witness’ testimony from the defense is a BFD, and we should step up to the fact that even though it was Bush cronies that did this (and maybe the F’d it up on purpose, who knows right now?), the fact is that Holder made the right call and this is the right decision.
IMO
Corner Stone
Wasn’t John Cole just recently saying something to the effect that it seemed to him Palin actually understood the best thing to do was STFU and keep a low profile for a while?
Welp, that didn’t last too damn long. Or maybe it was just another instance of Cole being consistently wrong. Palin hadn’t in fact actually learned anything but was in fact just taking a lil breather before teh stoopid that has been unleashed.
Corner Stone
@guest omen
Plleeeasse tell me this is snark. For the love of all that’s holy somebody please tell me this is fucking snark!
ZaftigAmazon
@ D-Chance.
Senator Stevens voluntarily attached a 30 pound weight to his waist, by insisting that the trial be moved up to before the November election, instead of as regularly scheduled (after 2008).
The Populist
THANK YOU KAY!
FYI righties…you lost regardless. If the situation were reversed you’d be pounding the tables demanding the left to STFU and accept defeat.
Further proof the right only gives a shit about winning so they can protect their rich aristocratic, elitist brethren.
The Populist
So maybe we need to say that the last minute catch made in the Super Bowl was a mistake and name the Cardinals winners after the fact? Using your logic, they had control of the game at some point.
Maybe we should tell Korea that they didn’t really lose that WBC game the other day because it was extra innings. After all, we all know they would have won had it not been for Ichiro’s hit that late in the game.
Using your logic maybe we should reverse Bush V. Gore since the Supremes didn’t allow all the votes to be truly counted. See, Gore did win that but I am sure you’d disagree because it doesn’t fit your view of how the world should work.
You righties don’t care about fair. From what I see, Begich won fair and square and Stevens was freed fair and square. If Bush’s lawyers hadn’t fucked up so badly, Ted would be sharing a cell with Duke right now. Ted got off because Holder and Obama care about fair play. You can deny it til you are blue in the face, but it’s fact. Bush could give two shits about fair and is a great face for your party. I find it so ironic it was Bush’s justice dept that went after your boy Teddy.
Please…stop…head hurting.
The Populist
The lying scumbags could give two shits about laws. We are only a nation of laws when it’s THEIR laws on the books.
If it’s any other type of law that is fair for all, that’s too much for them.
The Populist
I get what you are saying but these people have some bizarre persecution symptom going on that messes with their reasoning skills.
These idiots in POWER think the people will be with them if they keep a guy like Franken out of office EVEN IF the courts tell Pawlenty to approve him. See, the right doesn’t care about fairness. It’s only fair if a dem gets out of the way so they can walk in uncontested. When a dem challenges and the courts say STFU, the dems accept it and move on. The right loses a court case, they will continue to stall and re-file new motions over and over hence their natural love of obfuscation tactics.
These dumbfucks on the right will one day burn the bridges with even the reasonable cons in their party. The Hagel types who are tiring of this nonsense will be the ones that say STFU and work with the damn President is what they will say.
One day we will see a new civil war. It will be the asshats that feel they have some RIGHT to shove their version of "freedom" on the rest of us and the normal Americans. If we ever see another giant act of terrorism in this country, mark my words, it will be one of these marginalized a-holes who listen to Rush and Hannity nonstop who are behind it.
Kirk Spencer
Paul L. – the Star Trib betrayed its bias with that little article.
The recount was mandated by law. The choice Franken had was allowing it to progress or waiving the recount (in writing). He chose not to stop the progress of the law.
That said, I am actually going to defend and agree with your key point of your first post. Yes, if someone is calling the Republican in the New York election a sore loser, then Franken fits the same criteria. Let the mandatory recount progress instead of whining because your guy (D in this case) is behind in a close one.