Sarah Sends Uncle Toobz to His Room without Any Dinner

/90 Comments/in /by

Sarah Palin on her mentor Uncle Toobz’ felony conviction:

"This is a sad day for Alaska and a sad day for Senator Stevens and his family," she said on the tarmac at Richmond International Airport. "The verdict shines a light on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state. And that control was part of the culture of corruption that I was elected to fight, and that fight must always move forward regardless of party affiliation or seniority or even past service.

"As Governor of the State of Alaska, I will carefully now monitor the situation and I’ll take any appropriate action as needed. In the meantime, I ask the people of Alaska to join me in respecting the workings of our judicial system and I’m confident that Senator Stevens from this point on will do the right thing for the people of Alaska," she also said. [my emphasis]

Sounds to me like the purportedly corruption-fighting governor is vouching that Toobz will be on his best behavior going forward, and Alaskans should all trust Sarah to keep him on the straight and narrow.

I can’t help but wonder whether Sarah is thinking about the fact that her own running mate failed to disclose his gambling winnings on his Senate disclosure forms, that she herself was probably saved from an illegal $150,000 gift (in the form of Neiman Marcus togs) by the embarrassment of having it exposed, and that she was recently found to have her own corruption problems in using state government to achieve her own personal vendettas. Oh, and don’t forget the free house she and Todd may have gotten, courtesy of the contractors who built the over-budget hockey rink in Wasilla. 

After all, when you and your running mate are at risk of being busted for the same kinds of things Uncle Toobz got busted for, forgiveness going forward must look awfully smart. 

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90 replies
  3. Badwater says:

    The right thing?

    1. Stevens wins re-election.
    2. Stevens resigns
    3. Palin appoints herself to fill the seat.

    Could it happen?

    • MadDog says:

      You’d better believe that Billy Kristol and Turdblossom are working the phones real hard to ensure just that!

      Add a couple more goodies to your list:

      4. Kristol/Turdblossom convince Junya to give Stevens a pardon.
      5. Kristol/Turdblossom convince Stevens to do the right thing for MsBull…winkle’s assumption of his Senate seat in return for the pardon.

      • MadDog says:

        The pertinent Alaskan law is AS 15.40.140 which reads:

        When a vacancy occurs in the office of United States senator or United States representative, the governor shall, by proclamation, call a special election to be held on a date not less than 60, nor more than 90, days after the date the vacancy occurs. However, if the vacancy occurs on a date that is less than 60 days before or is on or after the date of the primary election in the general election year during which a candidate to fill the office is regularly elected, the governor may not call a special election.

        I’m going to ask our resident Legal Eagles to translate this gibberish since I don’t quite follow the bolded parts.

        • MadDog says:

          After highschool, I considered pursuing a law degree, but I gotta say that I’m not sure I’d have made the cut given that I can’t seem to understand what that Alaska Senate Vacancy law actually means.

        • bmaz says:

          Governor must call a special election unless the vacancy occurs in the time period from 60 days before a primary through the date of the general election, in years in which there is a general election. It is the Murkowski Rule. And there are obvious issues with calling a special election right before a general election is already set.

        • MadDog says:

          So I was actually able to understand that after all? *g*

          And again if I understand things, if Stevens were to win in the General on November 4th, and then resign, MsBull…winkle could appoint herself?

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          Part of that language mandates choosing a replacement senator via a special election, part of it tries to shoehorn the selection into a general, rather than special, election. But the excerpt doesn’t adequately cover the necessary circumstances, or who would act as senator, if anyone, while the appropriate election is being organized.

    • Ishmael says:

      According to the NY Times, Sarah has to call a special election, no appointment, but in December 2002 Governor Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter Lisa to his own unexpired senate seat which he had vacated after being elected governor, and elected in her own right in the 2004 election.

      http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10…..ref=slogin

      • Loo Hoo. says:

        Rachel is reporting that Reverend Wright is coming back in the mid states. I hope the Obama camp warned that the witchdoctor ads would come out in retaliation…

  4. Ishmael says:

    “I ask the people of Alaska to join me in respecting the workings of our judicial system…”

    Given the overwhelming guilty verdict, can this be read by any thinking person as a direction to defeat Stevens? Another Palin mentor stabbed in the back by Diva the Destroyer.

  6. freepatriot says:

    can’t wait for THIS interview

    it’s not my house. well, it’s my house, but the walls and the floors and stuff, they don’t belong to me. They’re in my house, but I didn’t want them there. Some contractors are just storing them there

    ok, maybe I can make this shit up …

  7. Loo Hoo. says:

    Why would the people of Alaska (or Washington DC, or Arizona, or Alabama) not respect our judicial system?

  8. foothillsmike says:

    After being “vindicated” of ethics charges in AK I am sure Sara now has a strong faith in the judicial system.

    • bmaz says:

      Yes I hear that Palin has issued this statement:

      I am heartened to hear that the jury has found Senator Stevens completely innocent of all impropriety and that his career has been vindicated, just as mine was by that nice Troopergate Report!”

  11. Mnemosyne says:

    I dunno, EW. It reads to me less like forgiveness than as if she just threw him under the bus.

    This kind of thing

    I’m confident that Senator Stevens from this point on will do the right thing for the people of Alaska

    usually means “resign and get outta town asap.”

    • FrankProbst says:

      I dunno, EW. It reads to me less like forgiveness than as if she just threw him under the bus.

      That was my reading of it, too. And she has very little room to maneuver here. She either has to take a strong stand against him, or she has to pal around with a convicted felon. She (wisely) chose option #1. However, it’s pretty much a given that EVERY Republican in Alaska is corrupt, so she has to be respectful enough of Uncle Ted that he doesn’t go nuclear on her and start showing everyone where the bodies are buried.

      • emptywheel says:

        Palin is syntactically challenged, but not that challenged.

        If she wanted him to resign, she’d call for him to–she didn’t.

        I think she crafted the statement such that she doesn’t have to call for him to resign, since he’ll appeal the verdict. By using deliberately vague language, she avoids pissing off Toobz, who is, of course, still way more powerful than she is, and who may well win the election.

  12. GeorgeSimian says:

    It seems to me like she is blaming the corrupting oil company for messing with the judicial system in Alaska and that she will continue to clean up the judicial system there and make sure that verdicts against Stevens don’t happen again.

  14. GeorgeSimian says:

    ”We need to continue to support Sen. Stevens. We need to vote for him because a vote for him is a vote for a conservative candidate, a Republican who best represents the interests and beliefs of Alaskans. … We don’t know what happens in the future. But if you don’t want Mark Begich, you vote for Ted Stevens.” — McHugh Pierre, spokesman for the Alaska Republican Party.

  15. freepatriot says:

    enough with the public discourse an stuff

    let’s get to the real issues

    Titans versus the Colts gomers

    who do you like ???

    and the Phillies, riot tonight or no riot tonight, decide ??? (they got stuff worth lootin in Philly ???)

    ps: jon Stewart detailed the palin family of grifters perfectly

  17. Hmmm says:

    “…I’m confident that Senator Stevens from this point on will do the right thing for the people of Alaska,” she also said.”

    Sounds to me like the purportedly corruption-fighting governor is vouching that Toobz will be on his best behavior going forward, and Alaskans should all trust Sarah to keep him on the straight and narrow. …

    I dunno, sounds more like an order for him to commit seppuku.

  18. earlofhuntingdon says:

    Perhaps McPalin is also setting up Toobz to stand down, should he retain his Senate seat, so that Governor Palinator can name his replacement. A wag suggested she would name herself, which seems her most likely choice.

    • Leen says:

      The lawyer folk better keep a buffer up so the natives can not get to our Reps and leaders. From what I am hearing in coal, timber and power plants country here in southeastern Ohio the natives are getting restless. They are feeling a might pissed that some of their kids have died and been injured due to that you know war in Iraq.

      Spent today knocking on doors…people are pissed.

  20. Hmmm says:

    All I see is language about special elections. Where is there any language supporting the Governor’s purported ability to appoint?

    • MadDog says:

      The underlying power to do so comes from the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution:

      When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

      • Hmmm says:

        Thanks. But do we know that the Alaska legislature did in fact “empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct”?

      • earlofhuntingdon says:

        That covers the exercise of a governor’s authority to call special elections (where needed in lieu of the general) to replace a missing CongressCritter. What I haven’t seen is the Alaskan law the permits the governor to make a temporary appointment, pending the results from a special or general election.

  21. earlofhuntingdon says:

    So if Stevens retains his seat, the Palinator would have to call a special election to fill his newly vacant seat. The special must be held between 60-90 days after the vacancy commences, e.g., from the date Toobz steps down. If Toobz refuses to step down, does the vacancy commence as of the date the Senate refuses to seat him because of his felony conviction?

    As Palin suggests in her not so subtle statement, even if the 84 year old Toobz files an appeal, a dead certainty, he ought to “do the right thing” and let the feeding frenzy begin rather than continue swimming in competitive waters while politically “bleeding” from his conviction.

    Should McPalin lose in a landslide, it seems doubtful that Palin would win a special election to replace Stevens. I don’t imagine that would stop her trying; she didn’t hesitate to accept the VP nomination despite being woefully unqualified for it.

    • MadDog says:

      Hmmm…one could read this part of the Alaska law in an entirely different way:

      However, if the vacancy occurs on a date that is less than 60 days before or is on or after the date of the primary election in the general election year during which a candidate to fill the office is regularly elected, the governor may not call a special election.

      It would seem to this layman, that this part of the law might in fact prohibit the calling of a special election. For example:

      Stevens wins the General on November 4th. Stevens immediately resigns.

      Does the vacancy occur “after the date of the primary election in the general election year during which a candidate to fill the office is regularly elected”?

      Yes.

      Then “the governor may not call a special election.”

      • Hmmm says:

        And that’s exactly why whether the Alaska Gov does vs. does not have the power to appoint is so relevant to us now.

        • MadDog says:

          Ok, after a good deal of Googling, here’s the final word direct from the horse’s moose’s mouth – Anchorage Daily News:

          …If Stevens is re-elected after a conviction but then resigns from the Senate or is expelled, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be required to call a special election.

          That’s a relatively new provision in state law, driven when former U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski won the gubernatorial race in 2002 and then appointed his daughter, Lisa Murkowski, to his seat.

          Alaska residents were upset with what they saw as nepotism. A voter initiative ended gubernatorial appointments to vacancies in 2004, the same year Murkowski successfully won her first full term in the Senate by defeating former Gov. Tony Knowles.

        • Hmmm says:

          Thank you! So no Gov appointments EVAR, then. And as per you @ 20, because this is a general election year and it’s now after the primary election date, no special election is allowed either (were Toobz’ seat to become vacant for whatever reason).

          Huh. That’s kinda weird.

          If I’m interpreting that correctly (always doubtful) then it sounds like Alaska law says that if Toobz wins the election but then withdraws, or I suppose if he is expelled from the Senate by 67 votes — or, heaven forfend, should he become otherwise ill, disabled, or dead — then no special election can be held until 1/1/2009. Leaving the Rs one critical Senate vote down in the interim.

          Whaddaya say… Speed-Impeachment in Jan ‘09?

        • MadDog says:

          Based on my # 49, I’m retracting all the way back to no gubnatorial appointments period and special election mandated in all vacancy circumstances.

          But as IANAL, the fine print may end up stupifying us all. *g*

  22. Leen says:

    Who knew that McCain would “swiftboat” himself by picking (or accepting)Palin as his running mate.
    If Kristol, Frum and Rove think that Palin is the key to 2012 they are truly delusional.

  23. FrankProbst says:

    Random thoughts:

    1. There’s no way in hell he’s going to resign. He has plenty of grounds for appeal. The prosecution really did blow it in this case, and he doesn’t lose anything by dragging this out.

    2. He may win his appeal, but he’s never going to win in the court of public opinion. His “defense” is pretty much all you need to see to realize how guilty he is. Given how underhanded the prosecution was, I probably would’ve voted to let him off, but then he took the stand and pretty much admitted his guilt.

  24. randiego says:

    Okay, I’m ready to start speculating about what Obama will be discussing with his 30 minutes on Thursday night.

    Question: how long was his speech at the Convention? That must have been close to 30 minutes…

    I’m wondering what he has to say, and how he’ll keep people’s interest.

    • bmaz says:

      It isn’t just a speech. It is a whole video production that hey have apparently been working hard on for a while now; they are pretty tight lipped about the exact nature.

      • freepatriot says:

        It is a whole video production that hey have apparently been working hard on for a while now

        it’s The Borg

        and we will all be assimilated

        (I better check on this with the other mindless minions at DKOS, Markos, our evil overlord, ain’t gonna like it if we’re assimilated)

    • freepatriot says:

      can you guys tell I have a short attention span?

      not with that hair cut

      does that clear things up ???

      cuz I hate when I gotta splain em …

      (wink)

  26. radiofreewill says:

    “As Governor of the State of Alaska, I will carefully now monitor the situation and I’ll take any appropriate action as needed. In the meantime, I ask the people of Alaska to join me in respecting the workings of our judicial system and I’m confident that Senator Stevens from this point on will do the right thing for the people of Alaska,” she also said.

    If Toobz is staying in the Race with 5 Felony Convictions, can there be any doubt that Sarah would expect to stay in the Race with an Abuse of Power Charge from the Personnel Board?

    Diaper Dave, Wide Stance Larry, Toobz Stevens…All Okay in the Bush-McCain-Palin Party!

    There you have it, folks – the Republican Party – Shameless and Without Honor – on display in Public, and Expecting Electoral Success.

    They must think we’re stupid…

  27. freepatriot says:

    whodathunk they would play a world series game in the middle of a fookin huricane in PHILADELPHIA ???

    gomers up by 8

    what’s on your televisions ???

  30. DanC says:

    “the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state”
    Exactly how much of the state does she feel a big oil service company ought to be allowed to control?

  31. MadDog says:

    Totally OT – the ATF has put out a news release describing in some detail just how serious the Obama Assassination plot was:

    …The Criminal Complaint charges Cowart and Schlesselman with the illegal possession of a sawed off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federal firearms licensee, and making threats against a major candidate for the office of president…

    …The complaint further alleges that Cowart and Schlesselman discussed robbing a gun shop (federal firearms licensee) in order to gather weapons and ammunition. The complaint notes the defendants were in possession of a sawed off shotgun.

    On Oct. 20, 2008, Cowart allegedly traveled from Tennessee to Arkansas to pickup Schlesselman in order to carry out their plan…

    …According to the complaint, after soliciting a friend to drive their car between 11 p.m. on Oc. 21, 2008, and 2 a.m. on Oct. 22, 2008, the defendants made plans to rob a house, but were diverted when they arrived and observed a dog and two cars at the location. Cowart and Schlesselman then dropped Stafford back off at her residence and then went to a local retail store and allegedly purchased nylon rope and two ski masks…

      • bmaz says:

        Titans came to play. Very impressive. Masaccio, you really got something going there this year, and Fisher is a great coach.

      • freepatriot says:

        Hard to take these guys seriously until they actually buy the white tuxedos…..

        based on their attention to fashion, this batch of skinheads has some real drama queens

        why do I smell an insanity defense

        • Hmmm says:

          why do I smell an insanity defense

          No shit. First Ashley “Sweeny” Todd (Palin), now this. As I may have mentioned before, they need to run off a new bumper sticker:

          Another Confabulator for McCain

  32. masaccio says:

    That last Chris Johnson TD was pretty impressive. The right side of the offensive line just wiped out the Colts, and Johnson is really quick.

    • bmaz says:

      I told you early in the year how I had actually seen him in a couple of college games on the TeeVee, which is semi-amazing for East Carolina to have been on that much here. But Chris Johnson was a man among boys both times, and one of them was against a very good team, can’t remember who, and he just ran over, through and around them. If he stays healthy, he is going to have quite a career.

  34. freepatriot says:

    reporters are asking Joe Maddon when the game will continue

    hey Joe, when’s the rain gonna stop ???

    hard to believe that Olberman started out as a sports reporter

    understandable that princess pandora aspired to be a sports journalist though …

  35. Neil says:

    Will Uncle Toobz get to keep the house or could we see a sentence that requires restitution? If you convict, you must evict.

    Hasn’t Uncle Toobz also violated state ethics laws? Will the Alaskan AG or District Attorney “do the right thing” and charge him?

  36. Hmmm says:

    Uhm, did we know the RNC has now jilted Senator NO!!?: (h/t CTuttle at the mamaship)

    The Senate’s chief GOP campaign strategist cut Sen. Ted Stevens loose Monday after the Alaska Republican was convicted in his corruption trial.

    In a strongly worded statement, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Stevens’s conviction marked the end of his career and signaled that the GOP would not try to mount an effort to hold onto the seat he has occupied for 40 years.

    “Ted Stevens served his constituents for over 40 years and I am disappointed to see his career end in disgrace,” Ensign said. “Sen. Stevens had his day in court and the jury found he violated the public’s trust – as a result he is properly being held accountable. This is a reminder that no one is above the law.”

    Ensign’s statement was the strongest yet by a high-ranking GOP official since the verdict was announced Monday afternoon. And it seemed to undercut any hope from Stevens’s allies that he could defeat Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) in next week’s election.
    …
    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), embroiled in a tough bid, called Monday a “sad but serious day.”

    “Sen. Stevens was found guilty by a jury of his peers, and now must face the consequences of those actions,” McConnell said in a statement. “As a result of his conviction, Sen. Stevens will be held accountable so the public trust can be restored.”

    Meantime, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stated: “This verdict is a personal tragedy for our colleague Ted Stevens, but it is an important reminder that no man is above the law. Sen. Stevens must now respect the outcome of the judicial process and the dignity of the United States Senate.”

    Wow, that was fast — yesterday everybody was all ‘wait to see how the appeal comes out’, what happened to all that?

  37. radiofreewill says:

    Both McCain and McConnell say Toobz should respect the Senate and bow-out to restore the Public Trust.

    I think the Goopers are doing a couple of things with this move:

    – tossing the Stevens-Hot-Potato over to Bush’s Pardon List

    – signalling to Sarah that if she’s got Ethics Problems, she’s a Goner

    So, it looks like the Republicans are about to try and ‘Save the Brand’ with a belated, under-pressure, hardly sincere ‘Purge’ of a high-profile Unethical Character in their Ranks.

    But, We know that it’s All Just Gooper Window-Dressing – their actions won’t truly Mean Anything, until they Confront Their Most Unethical Members of All – the Bush/Cheney Cabal.

    Who has violated the Public Trust more than Republican Party Leaders Bush and Cheney?

    For now, the Goopers are just throwing Chumps, like Stevens and possibly Palin, under the Bus to use as Speed Humps…hoping the Bus will somehow Stop Before the Edge.

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