Gawker: valleywag, ted stevens

McCain flushes Ted Stevens down the tubes

Paul Boutin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens will be remembered for his babbling attempt to explain the Internet on Capitol Hill. Also, for being a crook who used his position to get his house remodeled for free. “Ted Stevens was found guilty of corruption,” says a prepared statement from McCain's team. “This verdict is also a sign of the corruption and insider-dealing that has become so pervasive in our nation’s capital.” Keating Five! Sorry, Mr. Future President, I just blurted that out. It's the layoffs. (Photo by AP/Gerald Herbert)

Series of Tubes senator gives kiss of death to Sarah Palin

Paul Boutin — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:30:00 EDT

If there's one politician you don't want to be seen with on the Internet, it's Alaska senator Ted Stevens. In defense of the 2006 omnibus telecommunications bill he authored while chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Stevens gave his infamous garbled "series of tubes" speech. In this clip from later that year, Stevens endorses Palin for governor of Alaska over incumbent Republican Frank Murkowski. The irony even for Republicans: While Palin successfully ran as a clean-government outsider, Stevens was later indicted for accepting inappropriate gifts including a home remodeling.

Senator Ted Stevens indicted for making "false statements"

Jackson West — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:20:00 EDT

Ted Stevens, the Republican Senator from Alaska who has held office for a record 40 years, has been indicted on seven counts of making false statements in connection with illegal influence peddling by the likes of convicted Veco CEO Bill Allen — who says the company dispatched employees to remodel Senator Stevens's Alaskan home and paid former Alaskan State Senator Ben Stevens, Ted Stevens's son, $234,000 in bribes. However, none of the indictments arises from his much-parodied description of Internet infrastructure as a "series of tubes."

His strong opinions in the network neutrality debate may have something do with contributions from Internet service providers like Verizon and AT&T, which are respectively third and fifth on the list of largest contributors to his current re-election campaign, both ahead of oil industry services company Veco. He also counts News Corp. and Disney as top donors, and has championed broadcast flag provisions that would have required electronics manufacturers to bar users from recording digital audio or video flagged by rightsholders.

The investigation by the Department of Justice has been going on for four years, having raided the senator's remodeled home last year. But it's clear that corporations have known that Senator Stevens's vote has been for sale for some time now. The bad news alone might spell doom for the senator's re-election campaign, which would count as good news for open Internet advocates — the Democratic challenger, Anchorage mayor Mark Begich, is a strong supporter of network neutrality legislation.

Things the FBI and IRS found in their raid of Senator Ted "Series of Tubes" Steven's house

Nick Douglas — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 23:39:46 EDT

The Internet for Dummies

FBI, IRS Search Home of Sen. Ted Stevens [AP] A series of obvious comments [Wonkette]