Height of Arrogance ....

... This headline is why Republicans are some of the people I dislike most in politics.

AP: Stevens guilty on 7 counts, won't quit Senate race (Full Article Here)

I'd MUCH rather have someone honestly disagree with me on the issues than pretend to hold my values ... take and hold a position of leadership ... and then betray and sully those values for the sake of self-enrichment and power.

To then demand that he be re-elected, just shows that Stevens cares nothing for his values, nothing for his Party, nothing for his colleagues or the institution to which he was elected.

I've discussed in great detail on here my disappointment with how Sen. Obama sold out his stated values of "post-partisanship" for the sake of misleading and racially divisive ads/speeches for the sake of winning election.

Well, Sen. Stevens is the most recent example of that within the Republican establishment ... He should have been challenged long ago for his efforts to pork up EVERY spending bill (not to mention his decidedly mixed record on abortion issues), but the leadership valued incumbency and a safe Senate seat over values they tell the voters they stand for ... Why? Because that's what the Democrats do and how they maintain power (that ever present reason for everything bad in politics), and because they don't want anyone to challange THEIR power.

How much better the party, the state of Alaska and the nation as a whole (especially, our budget deficit) would have been if a conservative challenger would have taken out Sen. Stevens years ago ... as Palin took out Murkowski ... instead of leaving it to a federal jury.

At some point, we need to learn what Rick Warren has been trying to teach us for years ... "it's NOT about [me]" ... and any politician who begins to think it IS about him/her has ceased to be effective for the common good and should be taken out by a challenger (preferably in a primary if its a Republican) as quickly as possible.

UPDATE:
National Review: From Bridge to Troubled Water (Calling for Stevens to step aside in July)

Red State: Don't Vote For Ted Stevens For Senate or Don Young for House At Large in Alaska
Party Loyalty Has Its Limits

Pertinent Portion:

We have no illusions that Begich will be a good Senator (although perhaps
he can bring to DC some bipartisan oomph to theneed to exploit Alaska's energy
resources for the good of thenation), or Berkowitz a good Congressman. But Ted
Stevens and Don Young have been a pox on the Republican house for too long - too addicted to the pork barrel, too fast and loose with ethics. Stevens' conviction in federal court today is the exclamation point on an era in Republican politics in general and Alaska politics in particular that needs to end (and which Gov. Sarah Palin has beenbattling to clean up). Republicans need to clean our own house. Washington cannot too soon see the end of Stevens and Young.