I really wish that the GOP in Alaska had come out with this story on March 30th, I would have had a nice April Fool’s day joke ready.The Justice Department decided to drop charges against former Senator Ted Stevens earlier this week because of concern over the conduct of several prosecutors working the case. The Alaska GOP promptly issued a statement calling for Democratic Senator Mark Begich to resign from his seat and run in a special election (presumably against Stevens).
I could just imagine the fun I could have had with that story If I had seen it before April:
JOHN McCAIN CALLS FOR PRESIDENT TO RESIGN: ASKS FOR DO-OVER
Washington-AP Senator John McCain issued a declaration today calling for the immediate resignation of President Barack Obama and his entire executive staff, and proceeded to ask the Congress to enact legislation allowing for a nationwide special election.
“The President won the election based on false pretenses. He said he was going to fix the economy. He said he was going to be bipartisan. Based on the stimulus and the budget votes, I can most defiantly say that he has failed,” said McCain in an exclusive interview with Midwest Democrat from his office in the Capital. “Given that these were the reasons people voted for him, It is only logical that he resign and give me a second chance.”
McCain also noted, whilst sipping on prune juice, that he would not take public financing this time around.
In all seriousness, this is ridiculous. One cannot rationally assume that ever person who voted for Begich did so exclusively because of Stevens’ corruption charges. Even if you could cherry pick enough people who did (Begich won by about 4,000 votes) you can’t assume that they are unhappy enough with his performance now to warrant any kind of recall.
Of course, Ted Stevens hasn’t issued a public statement about the GOP’s line or the Governor’s response. One would expect him to come out and say “If Begich resigned, I would run in the special election.” But he hasn’t. And I don’t think that he would. I have an inkling that the Alaska GOP is trying to pull a bait and switch of their own. Administer public pressure to force a special election, and then use a candidate other than Stevens.
Then, Sarah Palin decided to support the statement. That Governor Palin has decided to wade further into the issue is a reflection not of her leadership, but of her partisanship. Dr. Steven Taylor put it best on Poliblog:
“This type of position by Governor Palin reinforces the notion that she isn’t a statesman or a leader, but rather focused very specifically on partisan success to the exclusion of reasonable behavior. She isn’t concerned about the dubious nature of such a move, the cost of a special election, nor the temporary denial of her state of a Senator. No, she is worried that a corrupt member of her party, who lucked out of seven convictions it would seem, should have an opportunity to return to office. Or, if we assume that Stevens wouldn’t run, she wants to give a member of her party a shot at winning back the seat.
The only logic to support such a position is partisan logic, and while I fully understand that there is a very real role for party competition for office and in party behavior in office, there does come a time when the focus should be governing.”
One explaination for the partisanship is that she is still looking desperately for some way into the Senate. In December, it looked like her only way in would be to challenge Lisa Murkowski in the GOP primary. Since then polling information has come out which would make a challenge’s success unlikely. So now she is clinging to a last ditch hope of possibly getting into the Senate before 2010 so she can more easily run for President in 2012. Even Next Right is suspicious of the Governor’s leadership:
A lot of people wonder who the next leaders of the Republican Party should be. I don't know. But you know who it shouldn't be? Anybody who thinks the current elected Senator from Alaska should resign so that the corrupt former Senator Ted Stevens can be brought back to the Senate.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Indeed.
