For The Bridge To Nowhere Before She Started Pretending to Have Been Against It
Every time I’ve heard conservatives discuss Sarah Palin for the past 48 hours they’ve acted as if the main liberal critique of their nominee has to do with her daughter’s pregnancy. In fact, progressives have raised a lot of substantive queries about the veracity of policy-related claims she’s made and claims that have been made on her behalf. For example, she was introduced to the public as an opponent of the infamous “bridge to nowhere” but it seems clear that she was no such thing. Here, thanks to Andrew Halcro is some photographic evidence:
And it seems that “under her leadership, Alaska has asked the federal government for almost $300 per person in requests for pet projects this year. That’s more than any other state received, per person, from Congress and runs counter to the image the GOP ticket is pushing.”
31 Responses to “For The Bridge To Nowhere Before She Started Pretending to Have Been Against It”
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September 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Stop making fun of small government conservatives. It’s not their fault if they happen to get & spend more federal funds; all that changes if you say “small government” a lot.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Ouch.
Frank Zappa’s ‘I Come From Nowhere’, sure to be retooled:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xl77Wdla6o
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Nice LATimes piece, including porky Palin facts and:
This year!
And:
Here’s that LA Times piece.
NOTE: This is a comment about policy, with nothing about the personal lives of any nominee.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
In addition to what El Said cid, spending like hers prevents the funds from getting put to some valuable use, which might mislead people into thinking that funds well spent can be beneficial.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
She was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she wanted to go somewhere.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
C’mon, if they didn’t invent stuff that she did, she wouldn’t have any record. So she’s a proven reformer who hates earmarks. It doesn’t matter that she loved earmarks like she loved mooseburgers, or that she ran Ted Stevens PAC and is investigated for ethics charges. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good narrative.
http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
It would be helpful if there was some context given with that picture.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I thought Milwaukee had the Bridge to Nowhere . At least that made for a bitchin’ chase scene in The Blues Brothers…
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Gack. link didn’t come out
http://www.wisconsinhighways.org/indepth/hoan_bridge.html
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
From a local Wasillian:
“Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.”
Sound familiar?
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
More important than the flip-flop, her claim that “I told Congress ‘thanks, but no thanks’ on that Bridge to Nowhere” is untrue. The Bridge to Nowhere earmark was killed in 2005, well before she came governor. THEN Palin supported using general infrastructure funding for the bridge during her gubernatorial campaign, and decided to use the funding for other projects once elected. She didn’t tell Congress “no thanks” about anything.
http://www.votegopher.com/blog/?p=110
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Oh Matthew,
Talking points acquire their potency not through accuracy, but through repetition.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
btw, she may not be for the Bridge to Nowhere, but she’s for the Road to the Bridge to Nowhere (or does that make it, simply, the Road to Nowhere?…)
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Well, hopefully she still has the shirt, so she can continue to be proud of the place she will continue to live.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
please correct for color.
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Perhaps what she should say is:
“I told congress thanks, then no thanks on that bridge to nowhere”
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Remember, AK residents get annual checks of $1,500 instead of paying state income tax. With the state gov’t so flush, why are they trying to steal the hard-earned tax money from the people of the lower 48?
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Just leave the poor woman alone. Hasn’t she been through enough?
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:14 pm
From what I understand she had to cancel the project, as well as another federal highway project because of the initial funding – from a federal transportation bill was almost completely removed in a subsequent bill.
They ended up with 36 million, something like 330 mln short of what was going to be used for a down payment on another section of federal highway, this bridge plus access, plus funds for some 4 years of maintenance.
Federal highway funds are to be determined by the individual states on just exactly how they need to use them and the last I heard was that they she’s asked the state controller’s office to come up with options on where to best use the funds.
This bridge was to connect the town of Ketchikan to it’s own airport on the island of Gravina which carries around about 200,000 passengers per year and is a large eco-tourist destination and a port of call for cruise lines.
In my opinion she was acting in the interest of her constituents and when funds fell short, as determined by Congress, not Palin herself, it was the end of the project.
This was right around the time of Katrina and there was a vocal minority in Congress saying that the funds were to be diverted from this bridge project to rebuild a section of highway 10 near New Orleans. However that bill was voted down, so was a subsequent request by Ted Stephens to halt all federal funding until this section of highway 10 could be rebuilt. Instead, much to the dismay of Stephens, who threatened to resign (he probably should have) the funds were removed in a subsequent transportation, HUD and independent agency appropriations act.
Tell me, if a blogger reports something incorrectly or inaccurately, are they required or expected to post a correction? Or is it just all freestyle?
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Tell me, if a blogger reports something incorrectly or inaccurately, are they required or expected to post a correction? Or is it just all freestyle?
I don’t get it, Snowballs, what did Matthew write that was inaccurate or incorrect? Maybe she had good reason to change her mind on the Gravina Island Bridge, but that doesn’t change the fact that she was misleading about it in her speech on Friday.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Used blogger in generic terms – but is the question still valid?
Also, these funds were introduced into the a Transportation bill in 2005, so… ?
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