Senator Stevens Losing It
Ted Stevens, the senior Senator from Alaska, has lost a little control lately.
You’ve all heard of the bridges to nowhere (thanks to our good friends at Taxpayers for Common Sense) totaling almost half a billion dollars that would benefit, on a good day, maybe enough people to fill up a Fuddruckers. So while the idea of the greater good escaped Stevens, many of his colleagues (in both houses of Congress) battled him to let go of the wasteful projects and let the federal government spend that money on people and places who really needed it.
The other week Stevens lost it on the floor of the Senate. His near-tantrum seems to have made some impact, as Congress has decided to simply give Alaska the $450 million and let the Alaskans do with it what they will. I guess we’ll see if all the residents of Alaska think they need those bridges or if they have more pressing concerns. For his part, Stevens, like a mafia don, isn’t going to forget those who crossed him, according to The Hill newspaper.
This wasn’t Ted’s only “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take is anymore” moment of recent memory. Last week, when chairing Commerce Committee hearings on possible oil company price gouging, Stevens adamantly and rather rudely shot down requests to have Big Oil’s executives get sworn in (as a side note, we’d like to tell our readers that whenever POGO testifies before Congress, we do it under oath). Interestingly, and perhaps coincidentally, the Washington Post reported this week that Big Oil may have mislead the Senate committee when they denied having met with Vice President Cheney in closed door meetings in 2001 to discuss U.S. energy policy. Luckily for Big Oil, the Post’s revelations don’t raise the specter of perjury charges, because Big Ted thought telling “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” was a bit unfair and maybe…presumptuous? While we can’t speak for Stevens, we can for ourselves. It’s about time Stevens retired and leave the legislating to those who want to represent the American public, not men who think the powers of the Senate are only for their patrons and pals.
Steve Perlstein from the Washington Post had an interesting take on this whole Alsaka saga. Sell Alaska back to the Russians. It was in his column from a few weeks ago. You should link it.
Posted on: Dec 01, 2005 at 10:37 PM
One theory is Diana was diving, the other is the car was empty and computerised.
Posted on: Nov 23, 2005 at 03:30 PM
One theory is Diana was diving, the other is the car was empty and computerised.
Posted on: Nov 23, 2005 at 03:29 PM
This is what my boy has to say on the subject.
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/az06_flake/051116.html
Posted on: Nov 21, 2005 at 03:33 PM
The hypocrisy of these despots never ceases to amaze me. I wonder what kind of financial interests Stevens has or had with the contractors and oil companies benefiting from his implied agenda?
Posted on: Nov 18, 2005 at 12:24 PM