Matt Yglesias

26 Responses to “The Bridge to Nowhere”

1. aaron Says:
   August 31st, 2008 at 10:00 am

   This claim of hers struck we as strange as soon as she said it. It was pretty clear after a few minutes of looking up Alaska news articles that the claim was bogus. I was hoping someone would start harping on it, given that it was such a large portion of her introduction — not to mention that later in the night on the News Hour David Brooks was flogging her bridge-to-nowhere cred as his sole answer to why she was a strong VP pick.

2. right Says:
   August 31st, 2008 at 10:14 am

   Nothing in the linked posts, or its links, suggests that she “fought hard” for the funding. At most, she was triangulating, since it was a bit of a national story before she even ran for statewide office, and says (a) they should generally make progress on infrastructure appropriations while they have senior congressional representation, and (b) the state would be willing to fund their part of the bridge, but it’s moot because Congress eliminated it.

   Now it seems she and McCain overstated her role in killing it pretty significantly, but I haven’t seen any evidence that she “fought hard” for it.

3. Edmund in Tokyo Says:
   August 31st, 2008 at 10:31 am

   Not only that, she apparently still approved using federal money to build a Road To Nowhere to the Bridge To Nowhere that wasn’t going to be built…

   “State officials said last year they were going ahead with the $25 million road because the money would otherwise have to be returned to the federal government.”

   http://www.adn.com/front/story/511471.html

   Now let’s see those attack ads…

4. SLC Says:
   August 31st, 2008 at 10:39 am

   Considering the brouhaha that the Rethuglican smear machine made about Reverend Wright and Senator Obama, attached ia a couple of links concerning Governor Palins’ association with religious nutcases. The first is an article about a band of whackjobs calling themselves Joels’ Army. The second is an article about links between Governor Palins’ church and this so called army. If this is true, will the main stream media show the same zeal in pursuing it that they showed in pursuing the Wright story?

   http://www.alternet.org/story/96945/theocratic_sect_prays_for_real_armageddon/?page=entire

   http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/29/163234/559/495/579213

5. Azelie Says:
   August 31st, 2008 at 10:54 am

   It’s also not like she returned the earmarked money that Alaska could no longer use for the bridge:
   http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_08/014468.php

6. tomemos Says:
   August 31st, 2008 at 11:23 am

   I agree that “fought hard” is an overstatement. Let’s keep our claims supportable lest there be a backlash.

7. Morisey Says:
   August 31st, 2008 at 11:37 am

   A story in the Anchorage Daily News today, “Palin Touts Stance on Bridge to Nowhere” states that:

   The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them “nowhere.” They’re still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin’s subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects — and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

   http://www.adn.com/sarahpalin/story/511471.html

8. tomemos Says:
   August 31st, 2008 at 12:11 pm

   Morisey: That’s hilarious. I like the detail that Palin still built the road that leads up to where the bridge would go, which is actually even more pointless than the bridge would have been.

9. mrspeel Says:
   August 31st, 2008 at 2:15 pm

   I’m shocked,shocked that the McCain campaign would stoop to using a mistruth in introducing his VP running mate!

10. gord Says:
    August 31st, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    Someday that bridge is going to go somewhere.

11. Aatos Says:
    August 31st, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    I guess pork and horse trading concern me less than what all that unpleasantness buys. Frankly, if a half dozen bridges to nowhere were the price of passing universal health insurance, I’d say build a dozen bridges and throw in dental care too.

12. phi Says:
    August 31st, 2008 at 8:29 pm

    “On Oct. 22, 2006, the Anchorage Daily News asked Palin and the other candidates, ‘Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?’

    “Her response: ‘Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now — while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.’”

    http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/aug/31/sarah-palin-supported-ketchikan-bridge-nowhere-dur/

13. aaron Says:
    September 1st, 2008 at 12:58 am

    This puts her a little closer to “fighting hard” for the bridge.

    “People across the nation struggle with the idea of building a bridge because they’ve been under these misperceptions about the bridge and the purpose,’ said Palin, who described the link as the Ketchikan area’s potential for expansion and growth.

    Palin said Alaska’s congressional delegation worked hard to obtain funding for the bridge and that she ‘would not stand in the way of the progress toward that bridge’.

    ‘We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative,’ Palin said.

    Ketchikan Daily News 9-28-06

14. michael novak Says:
    September 1st, 2008 at 1:27 am

    Well since we are letting it hang out, pseudo related. A friend of mine’s father was in Pensacola flight training with John McCain. Coincidentally like McCain, he was shot down in Nam, and got a stay, not with McCain, in the hilton also. His father is a staunch Republican, but he is telling us that McCain’s house was known as “animal house” to everyone in training. Nothing new there, McCain admits as much. What is more interesting is that his two roommates washed out and never made it pass Lt. JG. Only the Admiral’s grandson and son seemed to overcome insufficient quality of work and make it. McCain is surely aware of this and I believe when given the opportunity to leave the Hanoi Hilton early, report to the families of his fellow inmates their status, and help assure that they would be better treated by noting and publishing their condition, McCain instead decided to pay for his sins and stay for his own personal purgatory and probably was already thinking about this negating his string pulling and partying for his future career in politics.

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