Joel Connelly’s got a list of nominations for 2005’s greatest exercises of political folly… and he saved the best for last:
The “Tantrum of the Year” Prize goes to Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, after losing his backdoor bid to open the arctic wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
Stevens took out after colleagues, claimed that he has been “pilloried by almost every newspaper in this country” and claimed he is “drawing a line now with a lot of people I’ve worked with before.”
“I’m going to every one of your states, and I’m going to tell them what you’ve done!” he vowed. “And I’m sure the senator from Washington will enjoy my visits to Washington, because I’m going to visit there often.”
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., should pay his airfare.
Absolutely. In fact, Cantwell should make Stevens honorary co-chair of her reelection campaign, as nobody has done a better job illustrating her value to WA voters.
The League of Conservation Voters has called Cantwell “one of our nation’s strongest environmental leaders in Congress” and made her reelection their number one priority during the 2006 season. As she proved once again this week, Cantwell is not only consistent in her support of the environment… she delivers.
Just like Bill (the perv) O Really helped Al Franken get a bestseller by suing him, Teddy (Broke Dick) Stevens has just taken a junior senator from Washington and made her a national figure. The best thing about republicans is just how predictably stupid, foolish and inept they are. Thankfully, this is probably the one thing that will save our country. The GOP is so bad at everything but lying, they can’t hope to win in the long term. I agree with Joe’s piece today. Senator Catwell should pay this turd Steven’s airfare to Seattle. Every single word he utters against her is a vote in her pocket!
One glaring omission was Dino “loser” Rossi’s and the republicans humiliation at the hands of Democrats in Judge Bridges court room.
And, the fact that 4 out of 5 felons voted for Rossi and one voted Loser-tarian.
Oh, yeah, the “voter revolt” issue of I-912.
Hahahahahahaha
Losers.
Typical politics…..nothing more, nothing less.
Cantwell does NOTHING for almost 5 years.
Now she is actually allowed to take the lead on something by the Dem power-brokers, Cantwell goes to Iraq to watch the amazing Elections etc. The attack dogs go after McGavick about his Safeco compensation….and ignore Cantwell’s Real Network good fortune….and campaign finance bad fortune.
Typical politics….Cantwell was viewed as “vulnerable”.
Seems like she is pretty safe now though.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, Mr. Cynical.
Big victory see what money Washington state gets now from senator Stevens when they want money from his committe.
Yo = yoyo
yo@6
so you’re admitting then, that Stevens is a vindictive hack that would purposely screw over a state because one if its senators dared to oppose him!
Sounds like Ted Stevens to me…
Ted Stevens didn’t learn his playground manners very well back in his grammar school days. He apparently still believes that bullying, petulance, and threats are essential tools of democracy. He’s also overly fond of overstatement: “This is the saddest day of my life . . .” What a load of horseshit. It is shameful that such a bitter piece of shit has so much power in our government.
I’ll second that. Merry Christmas, Mr. Cynical.
I must admit that I didn’t think Stevens was so generous as to give certain re-election to fellow Senator, especially a Democratic
Senator, as an early Christmas Gift. Way to go Ted!
Oil companies should cut off WASH state from gasoline and heating oil suppies. Let the “Green” Democrats freeze!!
Maybe Howard Dean will come here to “help” Senator Windfall. If nothing else, it would be great entertainment to see how she spins his lunacy.
Heeeeeeeeyaaaaahhhh
Mark The Dick: I would imagine your competency in whatever fields you claim is up to Ted Stevens politcal adroitness and acumen. Your type of engineer brought us “Gallopin Gertie”.
Tree Uh-huh… care to tell us what happened there?
Goldy,
I think you are absolutely correct that Stevens has done immeasurable good for Cantwell’s political career and if he thinks showing up in Washington to continue the spectacle will somehow hurt Cantwell he has let the cold Alaskan winters get into his head.
I would bet that there has been more than one telephone call from the McGavick campaign trying to get ol’ Uncle Ted to shut the hell up.
The best line of attack about Cantwell would have been that she was a do-nothing Senator. Now, McGavick is going to have run against someone who is entering election year with frontpage headlines showing that she is effective in the minority, takes principled stands and wins.
Yes, she certainly took a “principled stand” against those bad old oil companies didn’t she? Um… what were those “principles” exactly?
On a related note, I am very curious how this high profile defeat will affect Sen. Stevens himself. I do not follow Alaskan politics that closely, but from listening to those who do say that Stevens is not liked but whose primary virtue is his ability to bring home the pork for Alaska. A front page defeat for Stevens on this issue can’t help him and might help explain his temper tantrums.
I don’t think this will bring down Stevens or anything like that… as one Alaskan recently told me, “When Stevens dies we are going to have to clone him or I am moving out of this state!”
If the Democrats actually do take the Senate this year, you can bet Alaskan winters are going to be just a little bit colder when all the bullying and threats Stevens has made come home to roost.
re 5: Mr. Cynical—- Americans don’t like whiners and crybabies. Whiners and crybabies don’t give 110 percent. They cry about their misfortune and blame their mistakes on others. Sound like any people you’re familiar with …………. loser…
The principle of “I want to keep a pristine wilderness pristine?” Just guessing.
or maybe the principle of: “We shouldn’t game the system by putting a proposal like that into a vital bill in hopes that people will be afraid to oppose it.”
Course I’m not (quite) psychic, so I can’t actually see into her head.
Either way, its better than your ‘principles’ of “I hate women!”, “GWB is always right because I said so!”, and “I don’t care the longterm costs, give me more money now!”
me@18 is directed to MTD@15
Mark @15
Not that I expect you to care Mark, but you are on my own personal ignore list due to all the crap you have been spewing as of late. Start contributing productively to the conversation a bit and maybe people will take your comments seriously.
Though, I sure as hell am proud to be in the opposite party from someone who thinks all women are stupid – what was it “Vaginas make all women stupid” or something like that?
If you are the alternative, I am proud to be a Democrat.
No drilling. No bridge to nowhere. With his own party massively in charge of everything this idiot still can’t get anything done. Maybe he should be worried about his own re-election?
He’s another Republican loser.
maria whooppeeee !
um, I remember the recessions of the 70’s
… then Raygun’s masterful lie-du-decades campaigns, and the cowed dems giving him his budget deficiets and whackball judges … then duke’s utterly crappy campaign … then we have the do about nothing clinton era, we’ll except we didn’t lose as badly as we’ve been losing in the last 5 years … then we have Dukakis II, III and and mini Duke (or, Gore in 2000, Kerry 2004, and the McAulliffe 2002 congressional mess) … and we have 5 years of timid, tepid hide under the table “leadership” from the DC Dem parasite class …
and since those huge blue collar layoffs of the 70’s, what has happened to health care, and to working hard and earning retirement security, and working hard and have retraining security, and affordable housing and good schools …
ummmmmmmmmmm … well, the Dem elite can afford it all. the bureaucrat scum who run health care into the ground can afford it all. the high leverl educrats can afford it all. the rich corporate management scum can afford it all. a few people who came up with better ideas (Netscape, Google, Yahoo, E-Bay…) managed to earn a better life …
and for scores of millions of americans, whatever they can afford is cuz most of the household is working longer and harder at more McJobs.
and I am supposed to get all stoked cuz maria-won’t-do-much grew a spine this week. wow.
the rallying cry of the Dems in 2006 !!
cuz they lie, cuz they are mean, cuz they are selfish, and we are honest, nice and selfless, we will lose nobly !!
tell ya what, pay me 5 grand a month, and I’ll be an apologist for 3 decades of piss poor performance.
rmm.
Nindid – So you don’t know what here “principles” were either.
Thought so…
The way Stevens has been talking, the TSA’s likely to put him on a no-fly list. (Good thing he has friends with private jets, eh?)
Pity that Ted Stevens’ “Bridge to No Where” can’t meet the same fate as ‘Gertie’.
@ 7
All you douchebag righties oughta know: Senator Patty Murray has a good relationship with Stevens, as they are both ‘appropriators’. Also, Ted Stevens is the protege of our own former liberal Senator Warren Magnuson, who’s claim to fame was never burning a bridge with his collegues. Stevens, I believe, is cut from that cloth. I think Stevens still wants some pork, so he’ll tolerate Maria and keep company with Patty. That is, until he retires.
gosh, what about “Doc”? You forgot about “Doc.”
# The “Doctor Is Out (Of It)” Award goes to Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., for making a paralyzed mess out of the once-independent and effective House Ethics Committee.
Hastings was named chairman after House Speaker Dennis Hastert purged the panel of three Republicans who supported a mild reprimand of powerful Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
Under Hastings, the Ethics Committee has not conducted a single review in this session of Congress.
Hastings tried to name his own chief of staff as the committee’s staff director, contravening the tradition of an independent non-partisan staff.
It’s amazing, given recent happenings. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., has pleaded guilty to taking bribes. DeLay is under indictment in Texas. A powerful committee chairman, Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio, is targeted by federal prosecutors.
Hastings has, meantime, proclaimed his belief in DeLay’s innocence.
Ethics hasn’t even taken up a complaint against liberal Democrat Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash.
If only Exxon/Mobil had donated to Maria like her lefty, green groups.
Remember, she’s bought and paid for. Too bad the oil guys didn’t match the money she got from greenies..
I live in Alaska and am oppossed to ANWR drilling, and one of the bridges to nowhere. The other bridge however would bolster our recent population boom and help Anchorage’s sister city of Wasilla to grow more than it already is. The Knik Arm bridge is needed in our state for the future growth of these two cities. Well, let me rephrase that, it would help to build up Wasilla and help to aleviate (spelling?) some of the population overcrowding that is happening in the Anchorage bowl. When it comes to Sen. Ted Stevens… I don’t like the guy, I think he is pompous, arrogant, and an elitist prick, but the Knik Arm bridge is one issue worth standing up for. As far as ANWR goes there are a lot of mixed feelings here. You know why Alaska is considered a Red State? Becuase there are a lot of military families who reside here, a lot of former Montana & Texas residents, and most of the rest of the population works for the oil companies or for companies that subcontract for the oil industry. There are also a lot of Democrats, those being of the general populous that are not of the aforementioned. We have a ton of hippies, tree huggers, pot smokers (Lots of Pot Smokers, myself included), and generaly a lot of people who are anti-government, and a whole shit load who are anti-republican. Our lawmakers and elected officials (some of who have been appointed to their positions, ie. Lisa Murkowski) are of the Republican persuation because they recieve a lot of their campaign monies from these oil companies and other entities who make more money when their psuedo-commie republican puppets are in control of things. So being an Alaskan who lives in Anchorage I believe that the one thing that is good for Alaska is the Knik Arm bridge from Anchorage to Wasilla, the other issues can take a long walk off of a short pier.
Boy oh boy….
Those lefty and green organizations are REAL financial powerhouses.
righton clearly lives in some bizarro parallel universe.
MTR @ 16 — what were those “principles” exactly?
I dunno … Truth, Justice, and the American Way?
Ronk – At first, I thought you were being smartass. But you’re not are you? That’s about the extent of typical moonbat analysis isn’t it?
To put things in perspective, Ted Stevens represents a state with a population 100,000 smaller than Pierce County’s, and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002 with 120,000 fewer votes than Ron Sims got for King County Executive. He’s roughly the same caliber of politician as, say, a Tukwila city councilman.
RON SIMS CRUSHES TED STEVENS!
Ron Sims (D-King County) – 293,777 (Nov. 2005)
Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) – 179,432 (Nov. 2002)
Stevens decided to run for U.S. Senate in Alaska because he figured he couldn’t get elected to the city council in Tukwila.
However, Stevens did better than Stefan, even in Tukwila.
City Of Tukwila Council – Position 5 (Nov. 2005)
Joe Henry Duffie Sr. – 2,106 (98.00%)
Write-in – 43 (2.00%)
Stefan Sharansky – 0 (0.00%)
Hmmm … let me rethink this … no … Stevens and Stefan TIED in Tukwila!
Joe Henry Duffie Sr. – 2,106 (98.00%)
Write-in – 43 (2.00%)
Ted Stevens – 0 (0.00%)
Stefan Sharansky – 0 (0.00%)
Didn’t Stevens visit Seattle and get 200 grand allocated for the viaduct?
MtR-
So how many years have you spent taking oil-soaked money, raping the environment and pillaging your fellow citizens?
Rujax – Where do you get this stuff? “raping the environment”? WTF are you talking about?
Didja see coupla months ago when Katrina came through the Gulf and 30 rigs were wrecked that there were NO OIL SPILLS at all? Do you find that interesting? Doesn’t it make you wonder a bit why nothing happened?
And “pillaging fellow citizens”? How so? By letting the law of supply and demand fix the problem? The invisible hand fixed the problem before Senator Windfall could even organize a grandstanding event. You kooky moonbats were talking rationing, price controls and outlawing SUVs while in the meantime the market handled the problem perfectly.
Every AG in every state did an investigation of gouging, collusion and price fixing. They all concluded it was good old free market economics at work.
So where do you get this shit?
39
200 grand? Are you kidding? That doesn’t even buy an RV these days.
Stick you “invisible hand” up you ass and twist it.
The lack of a comprehensive energy policy that breaks this nation’s dependence on fossil fuels and the middle east can be laid squarely at the feet of big oil.
Oh…BTW…do the words “Exxon Valdez” or Santa Barbara 1969 or FOUR DOLLAR per gallon gas or $40 B I L L I O N …
…PROFIT…
…or cynically manipulating gasoline prices during November and December (I can JUST GUESS what I’m gonna be paying for gas in March!)…
…mean anything to you. Of course not. You could give a shit less as long as YOUR checks keep coming.
Fuck…Big Oil is even GREEDIER than RECORD COMPANIES!
Capitalism doesn’t survive in the face of cynical, manipulative blatant profiteering.
You’re pounding nails in your own coffin.
I think they shoud build that bridge to nowhere and let Ted Kennedy try it out maybe he could take rujax206 as a passenger we all know what happen the last time he drove on a bride we could only be that lucky.
Yo ho ho…yoyo.
The lack of a comprehensive energy policy that breaks this nation’s dependence on fossil fuels and the middle east can be laid squarely at the feet of big oil.
Oh…BTW…do the words “Exxon Valdez†or Santa Barbara 1969 or FOUR DOLLAR per gallon gas or $40 B I L L I O N …
…PROFIT…
…or cynically manipulating gasoline prices during November and December (I can JUST GUESS what I’m gonna be paying for gas in March!)…
…mean anything to you. Of course not. You could give a shit less as long as YOUR checks keep coming.
Fuck…Big Oil is even GREEDIER than RECORD COMPANIES!
Comment by rujax206 — 12/23/05 @ 3:23 pm [Big Oil must be stopped!! Kick all oil companies out of WASH state!! No gasoline, and no heating oil!! hehe]
The profit margin of Big Oil is a lot less than those tech companies up in Seattle.
Yeah, unfortunately you are right about the RV, maybe it was 200 million, if I wasn’t so tired, I’d go through the archives of the Times, but he did bring Seattle a little something.
sgmmac @ 49
The margin in terms of precentage may be “low,” but nearly $10 billion a quarter is still an awful lot. That figure ($9.92 billion reported October 2005) is more than Microsoft’s total revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2005 ($9.74 billion).
Microsoft made $12 bllion in net income in all of 2005.
Daddy Love—
When evaluating “profit margins”, it is also important to look closely at capital investments. If you are investing your money, you ought to get both a Return on Investment AND an operating profit.
Microsoft has invested a lot in staff and real estate (appreciable assets). Oil company’s are much more equipment based.
Cynical – On an annualized basis, one would have to look at that year’s investment to determine return.