(I have seen this mentioned elsewhere, but it doesn't seem to have made it to the front page or the Rec list.)
One of the big Republican talking points we keep hearing about John McCain's VP pick is that she's some kind of reformer who took on the Cheney-Bush contingent in her own party... unlike McCain himself, who tried to get himself photographed hugging George W. Bush as often as possible back when Bush had OK poll numbers.
Palin -- and the Beltway Republican geniuses desperately trying to spin her these days --keep citing the fact that Palin allegedly turned down the Federal government when the big bad Beltway Republican meanies wanted to give Alaska its infamous, Ted Stevens-requested "Bridge to Nowhere."
Says Palin these days: "I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere"
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a flat-out LIE. Sarah Palin is lying through her teeth about the "Bridge to Nowhere."
(more)
The real facts of the matter:
-- Palin supported the "Bridge to Nowhere" whole-heartedly.
-- She only backed away from the project when the Federal Government itself removed the earmark, after it became a national joke, and therefore political poision.
-- She took the Federal money anyway, and just redirected to a road rather than a bridge. Total savings to U.S. taxpayers: ZERO dollars.
Here's an Anchorage Daily News article on that very subject:
Palin touts stance on 'Bridge to Nowhere,' doesn't note flip-flop
When John McCain introduced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate Friday, her reputation as a tough-minded budget-cutter was front and center.
"I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere," Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to Ketchikan's Gravina Island bridge.
But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.
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.
"I think that's when the campaign for national office began," said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone -- because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government.
So what Palin actually did was flip-flop shamelessly on something she supported, when it became impossible to do so politically.
Kinda like John McCain does on EVERYTHING.
More from the Anchorage paper:
BRIDGE TO NOWHERE
But it is the federally funded Bridge to Nowhere in Ketchikan that seems destined to make or break Palin's national reputation as a cost-cutting conservative.
The bridge was intended to provide access to Ketchikan's airport on lightly populated Gravina Island, opening up new territory for expansion at the same time. Alaska's congressional delegation endured withering criticism for earmarking $223 million for Ketchikan and a similar amount for a crossing of Knik Arm at Anchorage.
Congress eventually removed the earmark language but the money still went to Alaska, leaving it up to the administration of then-Gov. Frank Murkowski to decide whether to go ahead with the bridges or spend the money on something else.
In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town's prosperity.
So Palin made a big hairy deal out of her support for the bridge to the locals. In fact, if you read the article you can see that she even implied that the word "nowhere" itself was deeply offensive to the salt-of-the-earth people in Ketchikan who deserved tht bridge... as long as Ted Stevens and the Feds were willing to pony up the $$$$$.
Now she uses the term "bridge to nowhere" proudly, derisively, flip-flopping on her previous, defiant pro-Ketchikan stance and telling these people that they DO, in fact, live "nowhere."
*******
The more you learn about Palin, the more she does seem like John McCain's soul mate: she's a phony.
Like McCain, Sarah Palin has decided that it's very useful politically to be branded as a reformer, especially with Republicans in general being as popular as the plague these days.
But between this and Palin's clear abuse of power in her very own Troopergate, it's clear that she's all talk; all P.R. Like McCain, she's oily and arrogant enough keep insisting that she's something special -- more honest and pure than your average politician -- all the while acting just like a typical corrupt Republican.
Let's make sure that this "bridge to nowhere" LIE gets debunked at every turn.
As the Anchorage Daily News article above says, "it is the federally funded Bridge to Nowhere in Ketchikan that seems destined to make or break Palin's national reputation as a cost-cutting conservative."
Let's BREAK that reputation. It's a big lie.
The Bridge to Nowhere lie is a major key to showing that the McCain-Palin brand of political b.s. is identical to the Bush-Cheney brand: lie shamelessly about how much integrity you have, and then govern like a typical, corrupt Republican politician.
Sarah Palin has been caught in several big lies just days after being announced. In this way, she certainly is a good match for John "Keating Five" McCain.