The corruption case against Ted Stevens, former Republican Senator from Alaska, was key to taking him out of office and giving the Democrats a nearly fillibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Now, a Federal judge has dismissed the conviction and set his sights on the prosecutors who grossly mishandled the case.
WASHINGTON — A seething federal judge dismissed the corruption conviction of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens on Tuesday and took the rare and serious step of ordering a criminal investigation into prosecutors who poisoned the case.
“In nearly 25 years on the bench, I’ve never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I’ve seen in this case,” U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said.
Sullivan appointed a special prosecutor to investigate Justice Department lawyers who repeatedly withheld evidence from defense attorneys and the judge during the monthlong trial. Stevens was convicted in October of lying on Senate forms about home renovations and gifts he received from wealthy friends.
The case cost Stevens, 85, a Senate seat he had held for 40 years. Once the Senate’s longest-serving Republican, he narrowly lost to Democrat Mark Begich soon after the verdict.
Now, the case could prove career-ending for prosecutors in the Justice Department’s public corruption unit.
Wait, the case against a sitting GOP Senator up for reelection was mishandled long enough to ensure that he wasn’t reelected? Isn’t that just amazingly convenient.
The economy is fundamentally sound despite the temporary “mess” it’s in, the White House said Sunday in the kind of upbeat assessment that Barack Obama had mocked as a presidential candidate.
Obama’s Democratic allies pleaded for patience with an administration hitting the two-month mark this week, while Republicans said the White House’s plans ignore small business and the immediate need to fix what ails the economy. After weeks projecting a dismal outlook on the economy, administration officials — led by the president himself in recent days — swung their rhetoric toward optimism in what became Wall Street’s best stretch since November.
During the fall campaign, Obama relentlessly criticized his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, for declaring, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” Obama’s team painted the veteran senator as out of touch and failing to grasp the challenges facing the country.
But on Sunday, that optimistic message came from economic adviser Christina Romer. When asked during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if the fundamentals of the economy were sound, she replied: “Of course they are sound.”
“The fundamentals are sound in the sense that the American workers are sound, we have a good capital stock, we have good technology,” she said. “We know that — that temporarily we’re in a mess, right? We’ve seen huge job loss, we’ve seen very large falls in GDP. So certainly in the short run we’re in a — in a bad situation.”
The economy is good. No, it’s bad. No, it’s good again. Wait…nope, still good. Ok, now it’s bad. Yep, still bad. Ok, now it’s good again.
The only constant coming out the White House is pure incompetence.
After the train wreck of Caroline Kennedy, anyone more articulate than a grizzly bear could probably have been an improvement. Obviously the seat wasn’t going to be filled by a conservative, but this is one of the better picks that Paterson could have made. If you check out Gillibrand’s profile on On The Issues, most of her policy positions are rated as +2s or -2s on a 5-point scales. She’s not ‘extreme’ except in a couple of areas, and one those is gun control, which she strongly OPPOSES:
If Mr. Paterson was hoping to quiet the tumult over the selection process by picking Ms. Gillibrand, there were indications that he may not get his wish. Ms. Gillibrand, who has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, is controversial among some of the party’s more liberal leaders downstate.
The Far Left has to be losing their collective minds over the last couple of months. After watching their Savior keep Bush’s Secretary of Defense Robert Gates around and then appoint 4-star General James Jones NSA adviser, now they have an NRA-endorsed Senator going to Congress to fill The Hilldabeast’s empty seat.
Caroline Kennedy says she is dropping out of a bid to win appointment to the U.S. Senate seat once held by her slain uncle, Bobby Kennedy.
In a statement released early Thursday she says she has told Gov. David Paterson she is leaving for personal reasons. Her uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy, suffered a seizure on Inauguration Day.
Spokesmen for Kennedy and for Gov. David Paterson, who will make the appointment to fill the seat, wouldn’t comment.
Earlier in the day, The New York Times and New York Post reported that Kennedy had ended her monthlong bid to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was confirmed as secretary of state.
The New York Times cited an unnamed source as saying Kennedy withdrew out of concern for her uncle and his illness. But the Post, which first reported her withdrawal, cited an unnamed source as saying she dropped out because she learned Paterson had decided not to choose her.
The hours of mixed signals Wednesday night were the latest twist in the Kennedy effort, which began with popular support that withered after she drew criticism in her brief tour and early interviews.
Not really a surprise. It was painfully obvious she was unqualified, unprepared and so completely inept at dealing with the public that it would have been a affront to the Senate to put her in there.
Wait…what am I saying? Given the current makeup of that chamber, she probably would have fit right in.
Hopefully this doesn’t mean that The Nanny is now the front runner. Can you just picture her filibustering? I shudder to think…
So if you were to believe the campaign promises, Barack Obama is the savior of the planet, quite literally when it comes to the environment. He stated repeatedly that global warming was a top issue for him and over and over again explained his plans for huge climate change initiatives and his wish to smash corporations that refuse to submit to socialistic cap and trade systems (not in those exact words, but hey, it’s the thought that counts).
Apparently, though, his climate change position only takes effect AFTER the inauguration:
Here’s an environmental impact story you’re not likely to see in the mainstream media. Neither NBC’s chief environmental affair correspondent Anne Thompson, nor ABC correspondent Bill Blakemore nor CBS “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley – all of whom have been eager over the years to expose so-called crimes against the environment – have rushed to report on the massive carbon footprint of the Obama inauguration.
But a comprehensive new study by The Institute for Liberty (IFL) took an in-depth look at each component of the Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington, D.C., and estimated that 575 million pounds of carbon dioxide will be emitted in the atmosphere for the inauguration – which is roughly equal to what the average American household would produce in 57,598 years.
Speaking with the Business & Media Institute, IFL President Andrew Langer noted the hypocrisy of the event having so large an environmental impact, especially in light of the strong stands promoting the case for manmade global warming of many of Obama’s cabinet picks. Even Secretary of State Designate Hillary Clinton characterized climate change as a national “security threat.”
What??? A liberal being a hypocrite? Say it ain’t so! Just a classic case of business as usual, “do as I say not as I do” democrat politics. Obama wants to appoint an avowed socialist as a “climate czar” to lead the “global mission” of greenhouse gas reductions, but he has no qualms with his crowning as the Savior of the World putting out half a billion pounds of carbon.
So much for getting him tied to Blago quick enough for the electors to undo the biggest mistake in American history. Now we try to weather the socialism storm and hopefully come out with an economy and not a state-run welfare redistribution system.
In all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the 538 electors performed a constitutional process to legally elect Democrat Barack Obama the 44th president.
More than 131 million voters cast ballots — the most ever in a presidential election. But Obama’s election is not complete until Congress tallies the outcome of Monday’s Electoral College vote at a joint session scheduled for Jan. 6.
Monday’s voting was largely ceremonial, the results preordained by Obama’s Nov. 4 victory over Republican Sen. John McCain. Obama was to win 365 electoral votes, to 173 for McCain. With only Hawaii still to vote, all the electors had cast ballots in accordance with the popular votes in their states.
The USA Today article is typical MSM drivel…it starts off with some boo-hoo story about a black waiter and how Obama has somehow made up for that guy or something stupid like that. The article then goes on to vaguely mention the actual process before falling apart in a full-out swooning for the nation’s first black President.
And here I thought skin color wasn’t supposed to matter.
One of the two people that saved McCain from a 538-0 shutout, ‘Joe the Plumber,’ apparently loathed McCain and his liberalesque views. The other person, of course, was Sarah Palin.
‘Joe the Plumber’ told conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Tuesday that he felt “dirty” after hitting the campaign trail with Republican presidential nominee John McCain and “seeing some of the things that take place,” Politico reported.
Joe Wurzelbacher said he was specifically put off by McCain when it came to talk of the $700 billion bailout.
“When I was on the bus with him, I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans did not want that to happen,” Wurzelbacher told Beck. “I asked him some pretty direct questions. Some of the answers you guys are gonna receive they appalled me, absolutely. I was angry. In fact, I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.”
You have a right to be angry, Joe. McCain was the worst pick our party could have made for our candidate, since he does not represent conservatism and had little, if any, concern for the base of the party. We were forced to support him because he had that little (R) after his name.
Wurzelbacher said he stayed on the trail with McCain “honestly, because the thought of Barack Obama as president scares me even more.”
ATLANTA — Georgia’s seemingly endless U.S. Senate campaign drew to a finish on Tuesday with Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss claiming victory in a race that will sway the balance of power in Washington.
Chambliss faced Democrat Jim Martin in an extra innings campaign that drew national political heavyweights from both parties. The runoff between the former University of Georgia fraternity brothers was necessary after a three-way general election prevented any of the candidates from getting the necessary 50 percent.
What was at stake was significant: Democrats in the U.S. Senate are just two votes shy of the 60 needed to block Republican filibusters — a key bid for power that would be immensely helpful as a Democrat heads to the White House for the first time in a decade.
The supermajority is TOAST! Filibusters are the order of business for the next four years!
Guess Martin didn’t the return on investment from having Ludacris campaign for him that Chambliss got from Palin stopping by. I wonder why.
Hilarious. So much for him being a “new kind of politician,” right? Now he’s distancing himself from statements HE made. God, this guy is going to fun to shred over the next four years.
WEBSTER CITY, Iowa – The debate about whether Hillary Clinton’s eight years as First Lady qualify as solid foreign policy experience has picked up anew today.
Barack Obama had a cutting remark on the trail: “It’s that experience, that understanding, not just of what world leaders I went and talked to in the ambassadors house I had tea with, but understanding the lives of the people like my grandmother who lives in a tiny hut in Africa,” he said in Iowa.
President-elect Barack Obama introduced Sen. Hillary Clinton, his archrival in the 2008 Democratic presidential race, as his secretary of state on Monday.
“I have known Hillary Clinton as a friend, a colleague, a source of counsel, and as a campaign opponent. She possesses an extraordinary intelligence and toughness, and a remarkable work ethic,” said Obama, speaking at a news conference in Chicago where he has been managing his transition. “Hillary’s appointment is a sign to friend and foe of the seriousness of my commitment to renew American diplomacy and restore our alliances.”
Obama almost choked on “my dear friend, Hillary Clinton,” but he made it through. The team’s remarks were short and understated, with Hillary taking more time than the others.
The questions from the press have been refreshingly skeptical: “Does India have the same right to attack inside Pakistan on actionable intelligence that you endorsed for the U.S. in the primaries?” “Will you actually get all the troops out of Iraq 16 months from now?” “You repeatedly belittled Hillary’s foreign-policy creds during the primaries. Explain why you think she’s qualified now.”
That last question made him rather testy, as he’s not used to being questioned aggressively about past conflicting statements. “I know you in the press like to have fun digging up quotes, things thrown around during the heat of the primary,” he said, as the reporter defended his question. “I know, and you’re having fun, and that’s fine.” He went on to say he’s consistently admired Hillary Clinton.
It’s a well known fact that Candidate Obama mercilessly trashed Hillary’s lack of qualifications during the campaign. That’s why it’s almost, ALMOST, amazing to see Pres-Elect Obama put her exactly in a position that requires the qualifications he claims she didn’t have. Until you look big picture: he’s scared of her. Deathly and utterly frightened of her power. The only way to remove her from the equation was to put her in his cabinet. If he left her in the Senate, she would be the beacon that discontented liberals would rally around, and she would most likely represent the most significant intra-party challenge to The Obamessiah’s reign.
Don’t let them tell you how to vote! With Ted Stevens losing in Alaska and Al Franken well on his way to litigating his way into the MN seat, Georgia’s runoff election has become a critical front in the War for Freedom. If the radical left is allowed to steal Chambliss’ seat and gain a 60-seat supermajority in the Senate, Obama, Pelosi and Reid will be free to pass whatever maniacal and radical socialist policies they want.
Help keep our country free and keep the liberals at bay. Vote for Saxby Chambliss on December 2nd and preserve our way of life.
