“I have not been convicted of anything yet,” --is this man senile?

[spanone]

SEVEN FELONY CONVICTIONS

ANCHORAGE — If Senator Ted Stevens is feeling down about his felony convictions, his uphill battle for re-election or the sudden supremacy of another Republican, Gov. Sarah Palin, on the Alaskan political stage, it would be tough to tell from the crunch of determination that has long shaped his face.

Even in good times, Mr. Stevens was never much of a smiler — though he was wearing a rare grin this week when he arrived home.

“Is he down?” said Bill Sheffield, a former Alaska governor and a close friend. “No, he’s pretty up and thinks he’ll be vindicated.”

Mr. Sheffield said he spoke to Mr. Stevens on Wednesday, two days after the senator was convicted in federal court in Washington of seven counts of failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations. By Thursday night, at a debate with his Democratic rival this year, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, Mr. Stevens said that not only would he be vindicated but also that he had been the victim of a “massive abuse of government power,” one that legal scholars would study for years for the breadth of its injustice.

“I have not been convicted of anything yet,” he said, a reference to the fact that a conviction does not formally take place until a judge enters final judgment upon sentencing. The guilty verdicts, he said, were “a temporary situation,” an incremental setback until a judge throws them out or Mr. Stevens wins on appeal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/us/politics/01stevens.html?hp=&adxnnlx=1225508132-pZsrcUss%20rT7rgSgrQ%20Hag&pagewanted=print

[geckosfeet]

1. It won't sink in until he is behind bars where he belongs. eom

[ClarkJKent]

2. Who the hell knows?

He could go to jail, or he might not? For all we know, he could be "convicted" and then pardoned by Bush. I'll save my glee until he has been behind bars for more than a week.

[Uben]

3. He's in denial

He still can't believe he is a felon. It'll all hit him when they snap the cuffs on.

I am not a crook! Noooooooo!!

[Warpy]

6. He'll fit in just fine

with everybody else in prison. They're all innocent, you know.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. There seems to be a technicality

in federal court, unlike state court, that says you're not truly "convicted" until you're sentenced. I think that's a pretty fine distinction -- he looks convicted in my book.

[csziggy]

5. Schrödinger's Senator? n/t