Monday, September 22, 2008

Stevens Wants Alaskans to "Have Faith"

Senator Stevens has, in recent days, advanced a relatively interesting counter-narrative aimed at combating--or at least coloring--coverage of his corruption trial.

The Senator is asking Alaskans to have faith.

"Uncle Ted" is asking Alaska to believe in him.

"Alaskans work on the basis of faith. I have faith in them and they have faith in me," said Stevens, the Senate's longest-serving Republican. "If they have faith in me, this is just another bump in the road."

Though pundits and media who observe from the Lower 48 may not fully appreciate this tactic, it's an extremely smart move by Stevens--perhaps the best of his available options. Alaskans have a tendency to hang together, particularly when a threat or intrusion is perceived as originating from Outside. This effect is magnified when the threat seems to come from "elitists and lawyers" in Washington. By identifying himself as One of Us, Stevens may be able to successfully portray his corruption trial as an anti-Alaskan witch hunt designed to take away our things.

If he can do this, and get Alaskans to believe in him one more time, he may just have given himself a real shot at survival.

2 comments:

purplebackpack89 said...

it's interesting to view stevens' comments in the wake of the vice-presidential candidacy of his governor, a born-again christian

Aly said...

I post this link 10% for the actual content of the artile, and 90% for the comments below it, particularly the one that reads "Stevens is exactly the type of corruption that Palin will clear out of Washington" and the argument that surrounds it. I'm sure you're familiar with nearly all of the content of this article, but the comments are fantastic.
http://tinyurl.com/3ovbr9