You know, maybe JohnFN and K have a point…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin says Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens should resign.
Stevens was convicted Monday on seven counts of trying to hide more than $250,000 in free home renovations and other gifts from a wealthy oil contractor. He is asking his Senate colleagues as well as Alaska’s voters to stand by him as he appeals the verdicts.
In an interview Tuesday with CNBC, Palin said Stevens should step aside now and allow the state to elect someone else.
Earlier in the day, Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for Stevens to quit. McCain said Stevens had, in McCain’s words, “broken his trust with the people.”
Stevens faces re-election next week. The Senate could expel him even if he is re-elected.
And here’s what I found on some blog:
From the tarmac at Richmond Airport, Sarah Palin issued a statement about the guilty decision in the Ted Stevens corruption case:
“Thanks for your patience there. It’s a sad day for Alaska, and a sad day for Senator Stevens and his family. The verdict shines a light though 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. And as governor of the state of Alaska, I’ll carefully monitor now the situation, and I’ll take any appropriate action as needed. In the meantime, I do ask that the people of Alaska 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 state of Alaska.”
As she climbed the stairs to her plane, she ignored a reporter’s question about how she’ll vote next week in her state’s Senate contest.
If I just read the AP story I wouldn’t know the stuff she said about Big Oil. I also wouldn’t know Sarah pledged to fight corporate and political corruption, regardless of party or importance to her state. I wouldn’t know Palin made strong, concise statements about how she would follow up as Chief Executive of the state of Alaska. I’m sure the AP just wanted to keep the message concise. We can’t have those telegraph operators running up huge worker’s comp claims from carpal tunnel…
Here’s the journalist’s interpretation of those two items: The AP did its job. What you got in the AP version was facts about what happened. Stevens was convicted. Palin called for him to resign. In the blog post, you got a lot of other stuff, but it’s all further afield of the bare facts.
Meanwhile if Obama sneezes we get full color glossy photos printed on the front page with the splatter hailed as the greatest work of art in the known universe and several weeping Obamatons who claim that the snot actually cured them of cancer, shingles and changed them into a newt.
Well, they got better.