Ted Stevens the Felon

Alaska Republican US Senator Ted Stevens was found guilty of violating Senate ethics rules by a federal jury today. Will President Bush pardon him before he goes out of office? You betcha is my prediction. He'll probably cite Stevens' age (84) in doing so. Hopefully the good people of Alaska will turn him out on November 4; otherwise, it takes a two-thirds vote in the Senate to expel him. Only 15 have been expelled since 1789, and most of those were kicked out for supporting the Confederacy (the only one that wasn't was Tennessee's own William Blount, who was expelled in 1797 for "anti-Spanish conspiracy and treason" according to the Senate web site). Perhaps he'll have the decency to resign as other disgraced senators not named Larry Craig have in the past, but I'm not sure he'll do that while appealing his conviction.