I mentioned " Flip-flopping on the 'Bridge To Nowhere'" as the #3 "point of concern" in my diary, "Forgetting Sarah Palin--It's McCain's CHARACTER, Stupid!", where I quoted from TNR's website. But there's nothing like checking in with a local Alaska POV from a local Alaska blog, such as Mudflats, and getting the feel for this sort of lie from a local perspective. Who among us has not had the experience of hearing a lie spread wide which we know ahead of time is a lie, but have virtually no power to speak against? And isn't it one of the joys of the intertubes that we can at least tell someone, and they, perhaps can tell someone else? And someone else again? Well, why shouldn't Open Left be that someone else? Especially when Mudflats brings us the diary, "Palin is McCain's Bridge to Nowhere. Thanks, But No Thanks.":
Perhaps the brain was still a little fuzzy from the shock of McCain's new VP pick, Alaska's own governor Sarah Palin. Perhaps it was still stuck in the endless loop of wondering - why? why? why? Whatever the reason, it took more than 24 hours for Palin's first big untruth to register with me.
Today, while I watched her hop out of the "Straight Talk Express" bus, and give the second reading of her acceptance speech, one of my fellow viewers said, "You know, I don't remember her opposing the Bridge." And it hit me. I don't remember that either. A quick double-check with the third member of our watch party confirmed our confusion. We all live here. We all watch the news, read the paper, and pay attention to the local political circus, but none of us connected Sarah with her claims of rebuffing the controversial earmark. If you weren't watching, here's the quote from her speech:
"I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress - I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that Bridge to Nowhere. 'If our state wanted a bridge', I said, 'we'd build it ourselves'.
Mudflats continues, with a scouring of the local press:
Check out these entries from the Ketchikan Daily News:
"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'.
8-8-06
'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
Sounds downright boosterish to me? How about you?
The failed earmark version of "You can't fire me....I quit!"
Mudflats continues:
Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (currently under indictment) and Representative Don Young (currently under investigation) were the bridge's two biggest proponents. But they were unable to convince Congress to fund the infamous bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island at the levels it had hoped. Now, instead of Alaska paying $160 million, the cost to Alaska skyrocketed to $349 million.
After federal funding had been slashed, Palin was asked if she was still in support of funding the project. She said:
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.
Well that assistance never materialized, and Alaska's congressional powerhouse is tumbling like a house of cards. Senior Senator Ted Stevens is under indictment on seven felony counts. Representative Don Young is under investigation and has spent more than a million dollars of his campaign fund on legal fees...and he hasn't even been indicted yet. And although Stevens just won his primary bid handily, Young is hanging on by his fingernails while a recount is performed to determine the winner of his contest. His challenger? Sean Parnell, Palin's Lt. Governor and also the head of the Division of Elections that is in charge of recounting the votes for his own race. You can't make this stuff up. The third member of the delegation, Lisa Murkowski, was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat by her own father, Senator Frank Murkowski who left the senate to become the governor that Sarah Palin defeated in the 2006 primary. (Are you keeping up with me?) I could keep going, but those are the highlights.
So, if Congress had gone along and coughed up what Stevens and Young had asked for, guess what....that bridge to nowhere would have become a reality during the Palin administration. She supported the bridge every step of the way...until the funding was cut. So we decided to say, "Thanks, but no thanks. If we want a bridge we'll build it ourselves?!" Is that like the failed earmark version of "You can't fire me....I quit!"
The fact that "Thanks, but no thanks" was the money line for her debut as Vice Presidential candidate, and yet is a total fabrication, makes the mind reel. Is there no fact checker on McCain's staff?
Um... that would be a "no". And that's what's Bringing It All Back Home where it belongs, to the issue of McCain's fitness and competence to be mayor of a small town like Wasilla, Alaska, much less President of the United States.
While there are, potentially, a lot of wrong ways to go in responding to the latest GOP travesty, I just can't help but think that one of the right ways to go is to pay a lot more attention to what the blogs up there are saying. I've excerpted a lot of this one particular diary, but far from the whole thing. And there's a whole series of diaries about Palin to check out there, so you can get a real feel for a local perspective on her that's not just last minute.
I'd like to encourage everyone here to check them out, and to look into other Alaska blogs as well (Mudflats has a local blogroll to help get you started), such as Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis (soon to be a sister Soapblox blog), which has a very helpful post, " Alaska Blogs are dispelling the Sarah Palin "myths" running rampant across the MSM and the blogosphere". I'm by no means an expert here, just some dude poking around, same as anyone else on the tubes. It'd sure be helpful if you'd do the same and share what you find the comments.
Let's give some props and some traffic to our hardworking friends in Alaska who have much to teach us.
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