Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Senate Gives Convicted Felon a Standing Ovation
Share and save this post:
Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form
Today, Ted Stevens -- Alaska's defeated Republican senator and a convicted felon -- was granted time on the Senate floor to deliver his farewell speech. Steven's said that he still can’t believe that he’s "privileged to speak on the floor of the United States Senate." He also added that he "doesn’t have a rear-view mirror. I look only forward, and I still see the day when I can remove the cloud that currently surrounds me."
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) then took the floor and said farewell to his "distinguished colleague." Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had previously called for Stevens’s resignation, recalled the longest-serving Republican's "extraordinary accomplishments." Watch it:
Matt Yglesias writes: "I cannot believe that (a) Ted Stevens got a standing ovation from his fellow senators, and (b) Harry Reid is now delivering an ode to him. I mean, the man’s a criminal. Senatorial courtesy is a really bizarre institution."
Full list of senators speaking on behalf of Stevens today: Harry Reid (D-NV), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Robert Byrd (D-WV), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Kay-Baily Hutchison (R-TX), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Larry Craig (R-ID), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Thad Cochran (R-MS). John Warner (R-VA) also praised Stevens in advance of the Alaskan senator’s farewell address.
| Also by Amanda Terkel | ||||
| America Can't Wait for Bush to Leave New poll finds that 75% of Americans are glad President Bush is leaving office. December 28, 2008. |
RNC Chair Candidate Distributes 'Barack the Magic Negro' as His Christmas Greeting The Hill reports that for his Christmas greeting this year, Chip Saltsman sent out a CD of the song "Barack the Magic Negro." December 27, 2008. |
Dick Cheney Still Loves Gitmo, Thinks Obama Will Appreciate Expansion of Powers "So Guantanamo has been very, very valuable. And I think they'll discover that trying to close it is a very hard proposition." December 16, 2008. |
Colin Powell Slams Palin and the Republican Party I’m from the South Bronx, 'and there’s nothing wrong with my value system.' December 13, 2008. |
New Unemployment Claims Hit 26-Year High Labor Department reports this morning show new claims for unemployment benefits hit 573,000 last week, the highest level in 26 years. December 11, 2008. |
EMAIL
PRINT
29 COMMENTS
PERMALINK