Fit To Print

Even Stevens

October 27th, 2008

Ted Stevens was found guilty on all seven counts of corruption and lying today; a verdict which was by no means assured after prosecutors bungled the hell out of his case. During this trial, key evidence was stricken, jury members passed a note along saying that one juror was being violent during deliberations, and one juror had to be replaced by an alternate after a death in the family.

Stevens was running almost even in the polls with opponent Mark Begich, and it was widely believed that the verdict in this trial would decide the election. So now one of the two most anti-environmental senators (right along with Inhofe in Oklahoma) will be replaced in the senate by a man who is about as green as you can get and still be a viable candidate in Alaska.

Clearly, Stevens’ big mistake was neglecting to take the Sarah Palin route. That is, preemptively holding your own investigation of yourself and finding the defendant innocent and adorable. As a commenter on the Alaskan blog Mudflats noted, it’s a shame to see Stevens’ career go down the tubes. It’s going to be a good November, folks.

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