Today U.S. District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan, who is overseeing the Ted Stevens case said “It’s going to be fair. Let me emphasize that. Iit’s going to be fast, but it’s going to be fair.” My take on that? OK, Ted…you’ll get your special fast-track September 24th trial date, but ain’t no way it’s moving to Alaska.
Despite the fact that there is really no possibility of a fair trial in Alaska, I feel a little pang. What a crazy circus THAT would be! Popcorn worthy for sure. But I think we’ll have to settle for observing from afar.
And here’s the Stevens quote of the week from the Ketchikan Daily News:
“This is an indictment for failure to disclose gifts that are controversial in terms of whether they were or were not gifts. It’s not bribery; it’s not some corruption; it’s not some extreme felony.”
“Not some extreme felony”? So…it’s just a little teensy-weensy felony? An itty-bitty felony. No biggie. We can just overlook it because after all, look what he’s done for the state, he’s a World War II vet, he’s dedicated his life to serving the people, he’s really old, he’s given us the airport…we’ve heard it all before.
And besides, just because someone gives you something for free that’s worth $250,000 that you really want, doesn’t necessarily make it a ‘gift’. It could be….er….a coincidence, or a present ummm….spontaneous good deed?
Watching the thought pattern of the parade of indicted Alaskan Republicans is really amazing. Who knew there were so many different brands of denial?
Meanwhile, back in the real world, federal prosecutors turned over to Stevens’ attorneys a big fat pile of materials including both video footage, and audio recordings from someone who agreed to wear a wire. This oughta get really interesting really soon.
Mudflats 
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