Ted Stevens

This is just a sad, pathetic story (if something can be both sad and pathetic at the same time). While as a Democrat I am pleased that the party will almost certainly win Stevens' Senate seat next week -- their first such win in the Last Frontier since Mike Gravel won re-election in 1974 -- I am not happy about the circumstances that have paved the way for Mark Begich to get into office.

I do not much like or respect Ted Stevens personally. He is a bully, and a nasty, mean-spirited arrogant man. He is not a good guy. That being said, I find this whole case bordering on tragic. This is a man who rose from a tough childhood, and worked his way up to the United States Senate in what was largely completely untamed land in 1968. He reached a point where he was third in line for the presidency and was one of the most powerful men in the country. And now, because he was too arrogant to retire this year at age 84 and in the face of his house being raided by the FBI -- something just about any other individual would have done given his age and the circumstances -- he finds himself where he is today: disgraced and broken, if not unbowed.

This is not to say that the verdict today was unjustified, or that Stevens has learned any type of lesson from any of this. I believe that neither is likely true. In fact, he has already definiantly declared his innocence and has said he is staying in the race. This should not be a surprise, and it is just as well. Given how this whole saga has played out, it is only appropriate that he go charging into political oblivion with both barrels blazing.

What's my point? I guess my point is that I can't really gloat or take pleasure in this like many, many Democrats, liberals, and bloggers already have. With our win-at-all-costs mentality, politics and political discourse have simply become too ugly in America today, with both sides now routinely celebrating over the defeats of others with unsportsmanlike glee. This is just a sad story, even if Ted Stevens is a nasty man. If I was the judge, I would not send him to prison, and he he probably won't. Then again, if Stevens has been healthy enough to be a Senator up to now, the judge may reason that he is healthy enough to answer for his crimes with prison time.

In terms of the race itself, I think Stevens will still find a good bedrock of support among defiant Alaskans who have long looked up to Stevens. It almost certainly won't be enough to win, but don't be surprised if it ends up close in the wee hours of the morning on November 5.

I think if anything positive can come of this, besides a new Democratic Senator, it is the lesson that when it is time to go, leave gracefully. Don't stay longer than you should just to feed insatiable personal or political desires. Go out and top, and no one will think the lesser of you.

Unfortunately for Stevens, he did the exact opposite, and as a result, most of his historical legacy in his homestate will be forever tainted.