Alaskan senator Ted Stevens was convicted today on all seven counts against him. Stevens, the senior senator from Alaska, has long held his power in his state for being the type of politician who puts money into the hands of his constituents. That’s a hard act to compete with. Today he has out done himself by simply being guilty of failing to properly account for all the money, gifts, and contributions he’s received.

In a way I am sorry to see this character begin his final act. Stevens once described the inter-web as “a series of tubes” as a means of explaining what exactly this internet contraption is in ordinary terms, while making a case that we ought to get behind the idea that ordinary people ought never have real access to high speed internet, but premium customers should be able to pay for priority service and deliver faster, more responsive results. Yeah Ted, that’s awesome. I want the final frontier of independent expression, reporting, opinion, and community to slow to a crawl and then stop. Awesome.

Stevens, like Bush and his generation are undoing themselves. Finally the old “I got mine” tactic just isn’t enough. While I don’t think this accounting snafu will be enough to unseat the senator, it’s the beginning of the end. And for that, however sorry I’ll be to see this chuckle head go, is something to celebrate. It’s time we began to resist these illusions of shameless abundance and ask our leaders to do better. Better than we are, more than we can, and become the example we truly need.

Just imagine a world leader, one who represents you and me, behaving like a true statesman, creating alliances, and asking us all to be accountable. Just imagine…

Ted, just admit it…