If they gave those "personality tests" to the French or British Aristocrats at any time up to the later 20th century, what you'd find would be identical to this theme:
5. Has a sense of entitlement
6. Selfishly takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends
7. Lacks empathy
9. Shows arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behaviors or attitudes
All the same features that Wall Street exhibits today. It's simply part of an effort by elites in all times and at all places to turn themselves into an aristocracy and to justify their greed and exploitation of the poor by believing they are separate.
The same, of course, goes for Versailles, as was particularly evident when AG Eric Holder's scrupulously honest dismissal of charges against Stevens because of prosecutorial misconduct was egregiously misrepresented by all his Versailles buddies as vindication of his ahem! "sterling character". What better way to thoroughly blacken their own?
But even leaving criminal wrongdoing aside, no one disputes that Stevens accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of home renovations and gifts (remember that massage chair?) from a supporter who had a slew of business interests that Stevens was in a position to affect as a powerful federal lawmaker and appropriator. That's what we call "corrupt".
As Melanie Sloan of Citiziens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington put it, according to The Hill's paraphrase: "Holder's decision in no way should be viewed as a vindication of Stevens but rather as an indictment of the Justice Department's inability to do one of its most important jobs."
While the fairness of Stevens's trial may be in question, that the longtime senator had a clear financial connection with Allen and VECO is not. Stevens, who lost his re-election race in November shortly after the conviction, had collected at least $156,000 in campaign contributions from VECO through his campaign and committees he used to support fellow Republican candidates. CRP calculated the total to Stevens and other federal lawmakers in 2007 after two VECO executives, including Allen, pleaded guilty to bribery in a separate case involving Alaska state legislators. At that time Allen acknowledged rewarding VECO executives with bonuses as repayment for campaign contributions, which is illegal, and paying employees to work on renovations of Stevens's property. The company has since been sold.
OpenSecrets.org's Personal Financial Disclosures database contains the six years of reports that the federal indictment said Stevens falsified, plus his other financial disclosures back to 1995.
And Zach continuites:
So bear that in mind as you read these expressions of sympathy from aggrieved Washington power players rallying around one of their own:
George Stephanopoulos of ABC News (via Twitter): "Whatever your politics, hard not to feel for Ted Stevens."
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL): "This incredible man, he served his country well, he was a power player ... he took care of Alaska."
Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT): "We're delighted that it's been demonstrated that Ted was telling us the truth all along. (Ed: Needless to say, nothing of the sort was demonstrated.) Obviously, we're a little disappointed that this didn't come out before the election....I think he can get his reputation back. I don't know where he goes to get his legal fees back."
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT): "Here's a guy who gave 60 years of service to this country, and he was screwed [by federal prosecutors] ... How does he get his reputation back?"
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ): "That's why we have the presumption of innocence ... I never called for him to step down or resign or anything like that. I think those who did might regret it now."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): "[I am] deeply disturbed that the government can ruin a man's career and then say, 'Never mind.'"
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI): "I didn't tell him this, but, you know, he's really suffered ... I don't want to use the word 'angry,' but I'm just disappointed that prosecutors were involved in that type of misbehavior ... Lawyers' fees are not cheap. He'll have to work the rest of his life."
And let's also note the roles of the Washington Post, Politico, and The Hill for compiling those quotes and allowing them to stand largely unchallenged, painting an overall portrait of Stevens as an innocent, unfairly victimized by an overzealous government.
Yes, who can possibly forget how Ted Stevens responded to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, by magnanimously announcing he wanted to transfer the funding for the "Bridge to Nowhere" to Louisiana, to rebuild one of the most-traveled bridges in the country?
On October 21, 2005, Sen Tom Coburn (R-OK) offered an amendment to remove funds for the Gravina Island and Knik Arm bridges, and divert the funds to rebuild a bridge over Lake Pontchartrain that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska became the object of strong media criticism when he strongly opposed diverting the Gravina and Knik Arm Bridge funds to help in the disaster aid.[10] In his speech on the Senate floor, Stevens threatened to quit Congress if the funds were removed from his state.
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn's amendment to rescind federal money from the Knik and Gravina bridges won him the fury of Sen. Ted Stevens and only a smattering of votes.
His attempt failed 82-15 after fist-pounding arguments from Stevens, R-Alaska.
Stevens threatened to quit, to become a "wounded bull on the floor of this Senate," and he vowed that if his colleagues passed the bill, "I will be taken out of here on a stretcher."
"I will put the Senate on notice -- and I don't kid people -- if the Senate decides to discriminate against our state, to take money only from our state, I'll resign from this body," he said. "This is not the Senate I came to. This is not the Senate I've devoted 37 years to, if one senator can decide he'll take all the money from one state to solve a problem of another."
p.s. The Alaska GOP is asking for a do-over, since Stevens was improperly convicted after the election. Presumably, if he'd been improperly convicted before the election, he should just be given back his old seat outright.
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