(Jake Turcotte)
McCain calls on Alaskan to step down (Stevens, not Palin) - UPDATE
By Jimmy Orr | 10.28.08
Were the rumors of Sarah Palin’s supposed insurrection just too much for John McCain that he had to ask her to leave?
No, he didn’t ask that Alaskan to step down, it’s the Senator from Alaska - Ted Stevens - that he thinks should resign.
Stand up
In light of Stevens’s legal woes - namely seven felony convictions yesterday - his colleague John McCain asked the Senator to leave.
“Yesterday, Senator Ted Stevens was found guilty of corruption,” McCain said in a statement. “It is a sign of the health of our democracy that the people continue to hold their representatives to account for improper or illegal conduct, but this verdict is also a sign of the corruption and insider-dealing that has become so pervasive in our nation’s capital.”
“It is clear that Senator Stevens has broken his trust with the people and that he should now step down. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will be spurred by these events to redouble their efforts to end this kind of corruption once and for all,” he added.
The full scoop
Monitor colleague Yreth Rosen has the full story of Uncle Ted’s dire situation (click here). But it’s not an impossible situation. He’s apparently not bowing out of his Senate race, and before the conviction the race was head-to-head. Who knows, maybe he’ll stay in it.
What about Palin?
Running mate Sarah Palin apparently agrees with McCain. Campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds appeared on MSNBC this morning and said, “They’ve been quite clear in their contempt for his behavior. I don’t expect that they would cast their ballot for Ted Stevens if they were Alaska voters,” he said.
UPDATE: Later this afternoon, Palin herself called on Stevens to step down.
“The time has come for him to step aside. Even if elected on Tuesday, Senator Stevens should step aside to allow a special election to give Alaskans a real choice of who will serve them in Congress,” she said in a statement.
Series of tubes
If you forgot who Ted Stevens is, one of his more notable claims to fame was for his definition of the Internet. From the Senate floor, Stevens described it as “a series of tubes.” His exact words are below, followed by the special “dance remix” of his remarks.
“An Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?
“Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially…
“They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something you just dump something on. It’s not a truck.
“It’s a series of tubes.
<< With one week to go it’s fourth and long for McCain | Main“And if you don’t understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and its going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.”
Comments
2. mikewal | 10.28.08
I think your Obama-bias has jumped the shark. Too much, Mr. Orr. Too much. You neglect to mention that Palin hasn’t been cuddly with Stevens, on the contrary, they are bitter political foes. Does the truth even resonate, just a little, with your soul anymore?
3. Sean Bires | 10.28.08
What also cracks me up is this technical analysis of Ted Steven’s bizarre internet rant:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes#Technical_analysis
4. chance | 10.28.08
Well hey, the republic worked for over 200 hundred years. I think we can call that a success. Don’t you? As it stands we’re on a threshold of an historic moment. The mass news media will finally succeed in manipulating a presidential election. I want to make a prediction a this point, in the event of an Obama administration. The same way the media thought they knew John Edwards, they know Obama. when he finally reveals himself they will be shocked, outraged. You know the speach! we didn’t know he was going to tear apart the Constitution. By then it’ll be to late. You ever heard “once the toothpaste is out of the tube” Enjoy your country while it last. We don’t have much longer.
6. Pasqal | 10.28.08
chance”we didn’t know he was going to tear apart the Constitution. By then it’ll be to late. You ever heard “once the toothpaste is out of the tube” Enjoy your country while it last. We don’t have much longer.”
Wait, what?
For imprisoning people indefinitely by calling them “enemy combatants”, wiretapping citizen’s phones without a warrant, Forcing through the PATRIOT Act, and Putting cronies into positions of high importance is the Obama plan?
there is a reason the right wing loves Sarah Palin, you are as far removed from the world as she is.
7. DisFisCon | 10.28.08
I’m not a Ted Stevens fan, but I also take issue with your ridicule of him for his remarks about the Internet.
I can’t speak to what was in his mind at the time, and whether he really understands how the Internet works, but he might well have been explaining in layman’s terms how congestion on the Internet works. For practical purposes, the Internet can be treated as a large set of connected “tubes”. Those tubes have capacities that can’t be exceeded. The tubes are tied together at various points, and for you to push a piece of information from one point on the Internet to another, that piece of information has to be pushed through the tubes that make a path from the source to the destination.
Ridiculing Stevens because the layman can understand capacity in terms of tubes a little better than in terms of electrical cable or fiber optic bundles only makes me wonder if the media (and this author in particular) actually has a better idea of who the Internet works.
Stick to what you know - Stevens is a convicted felon whose hubris will very possibly result in yet another seat in the Senate moving to the Democrats. Had he resigned in the spring, I believe that the Republican party could have substituted another candidate for him. Now I believe it’s too late…
8. Bernard | 10.28.08
How does McCain justifying asking Stevens to resign yet he didn’t ask Palin to resign, who just a week ago was found guilty of violating the same Alaskan ethical standards ?
9. NinaK | 10.28.08
What is the big difference between Palin and Stevens?? Both are unethical and both have been recognized as such. Stevens on a larger scale, but unethical is unethical, it does not matter “how much so”. McCain, too, has lost the people’s trust with his dirty, outrageous, slandering, false accusations of, and lies about, Senator Obama. Just what makes McCain think he is any better than Stevens?? Didn’t Stevens get charged with “LYING”? McCain deserves to be charged with “LYING” as well. McCain has lived his life in lies and egotism and gets away with it because “I was a POW” and “I have served my country since I was 17″!! McCain was not serving his country at age 17, he was still in highschool and then attended the naval academy for four years.
10. awenshok08 | 10.28.08
If John McCain feels that Senator Stevens should resign, why not suspend the campaign, fly ti Girdwood and hold the old fella’s pen? Better use of his time then trying to save the already lost.
11. Fernando F. | 10.28.08
and he will receive his pension money because of how the laws are written… I wonder who wrote those laws.
CHANCE, I had news for you: Cheney destroy the Constitution already. Obama has nothing to break or tear down. 200 hundred years had serve well to 1% of the American people. It looks like you are on that group since you prefer to continue with the status quo. Good for you, bad for the 99%.
Also, you can stop with the fear tactics… nobody believe in that anymore. If you are not scare with how these 8 years went, nothing will scare you.
12. Matthew | 10.28.08
Chance, you said: “You know the speach! we didn’t know he was going to tear apart the Constitution. By then it’ll be to late.”
I think its a little to late for that already, ultra conservative bush boi has already torn it apart and pretty much wiped his a$$ with it. I am sure you have heard of warrantless wire tapping? Guantanimo Bay. My country was gone after bush was elected a second time. At least I have a change to get it back with Obama.
13. Prof. C. S. Rainey | 10.28.08
Convicted felons are entitled to appeal, and McCain’s decision to call for Stevens resignation is premature and unappealing. As a republican, I support Obama as the fiscal conservative that he will prove to be as the next President of the USA.
14. JM | 10.28.08
McCain’s top advisor called Palin a “whackjob” today. He’s a Romney guy, but man does he have her pinned right.
Ahhh… the claws in the GOP are coming out. Republicans watch your backs. There’s nothing more untrustworthy than a fellow Gooper.
15. understandingtheinternets | 10.28.08
@mikewal:
I think you’re looking for something that isn’t there. I didn’t detect any bias toward or against any candidate in that post. He was just trying to be clever, albeit fairly unsuccessfully. But seriously, lighten up. Also, keep in mind that this is a blog, and blogs are generally more like op-ed pieces than traditional news stories. Even if there was some unfettered opinion thrown in (and there wasn’t), it wouldn’t be inappropriate.
16. ericmiami | 10.28.08
It’s not going to be easy for Obama, even with a true Dem. majority to make significant change. But in eight years, who knows? His biggest job is going to be to convert those who have believed the lies about him. If anyone can do it, he can.
I’m an old white guy, a Vietnam combat vet. My wife is a life-long Republican and we both voted early for Obama.
17. Oh how happy | 10.28.08
Tucker Bounds said, “They’ve been quite clear in their contempt for his behavior. I don’t expect that they would cast their ballot for Ted Stevens if they were Alaska voters.”
But Sarah Palin IS an Alaskan voter. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/01/palin_was_a_director_of_embatt.html
And she’s facing some of the same charges as Ted Stevens — though not to such a great extent; Stevens does have 30 years more experience than Sarah.
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/house-gate/
19. Tianni D | 10.28.08
Lets not forget another president who tore apart the constitution …ERR Bush .. Chaney… What evidence does chance have about those assertions?
20. ohplease | 10.28.08
After 8 years of King George, we’re now worried about _Obama_ tearing up the constitution? Give me a break. He’s a politician. You may or may not like him, or his policies, but there’s no need for hysteria.
21. Just Annie | 10.28.08
The Republicans have broken the trust of the American people. McCain should also step down. 
As for the country the way it is, lord, who wants it the way it is at present?
22. Jesse | 10.28.08
@mikewal: I dont really see any Obama bias in this story. And they never mention Palin’s ties to Ted Stevens. Maybe we read a different article. Besides this is a blog. Blogs should never be confused with news the same way an op-ed article shouldn’t be confused with news.
and @chance: why so cynical? has the last 8 years resembled anything CLOSE to a democracy? the Bush admin has more parallels with the USSR than with America. I am more than ready to say good bye to that country and re-join America how it should be. That is to say with Freedom, privacy, and democracy. I hope you will join us.
23. Luke | 10.28.08
So, according to McCain, Stevens should resign for ethics problems but after Palin was found guilty of ethics problems in Alaska, she is suited to be second in command? Plus, Palin violated McCain’s own campaign finance reform law by buying clothes with campaign money!
McCain let himself getted dragged down into the mud and now he is looking for redemption. Poor judgement, erratic behavior - not what we need in a president.
24. NYC Mavericker | 10.28.08
I’m sure you all noticed how l-o-n-g it took for the Palin/McCain camp to say this–just more two-faced rationalizations from the Palin/McCain camp.
25. EROS 4 THE DEMS | 10.28.08
the republican party seems to be going down quite fast in a systematic fashion as we head to the nov. 4th presidential elections !!!
in God we trust !!!
26. Phil | 10.28.08
To the poster who said Palin and Stevens were “bitter political rivals” — they’re BOTH Republicans. She’s governor, he’s Senator. Where’s the rivalry? Besides the hypocrisy of McCain not having a problem with Palin’s guilt of violating Alaska ethics standards, how about the fact that Steven’s biggest illegal gift of “free” home remodeling was by the SAME VECO contractors who BUILT Sarah and Todd’s “free” 2 story 4 bedroom house? The Palin’s lie was that Todd and a few “buddies” chopped down a few trees and built it themselves.
27. Me | 10.28.08
I must wonder, if Stevens was mixed up in the McCain campaign and was found guilty of violating law, would McCain still be denouncing him? Although the situations are not exactly the same, both Palin and Stevens violated ethics laws. Some of the differences are that the laws Stevens violated actually carry legal repercussions and that Stevens is not entrenched in McCain’s campaign.
Nonetheless, I’ve got to thank you for the dance remix for the series of tubes.
28. solsenz | 10.28.08
Why? She (Palin) won’t step down. Didn’t she just get convicted of Ethics violations too? Same state, same issues, same as usual.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. josephbbl | 10.28.08
So, convicted felons cannot vote, but they possibly continue to serve as a United States Senator? Outrageous!