posted September 09, 2008 10:43 PM            

Let's look at the timeline:

"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 in August 2006, according to the Ketchikan Daily News.

The Anchorage Daily News quoted her in October 2006 as saying she would continue state funding for the bridge. "The window is now, while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist," she said. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-08-31-palin-bridge_N.htm

The project came into national prominence when Taxpayers for Common Sense, an advocacy group that opposes wasteful spending, cited it as an extreme example of pork-barrel spending. The bridge's national notoriety was cemented with a Parade magazine cover story that ran Nov. 6, 2005, under the headline, “Are Your Tax Dollars Being Wasted?” http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/sep/08/bridge-barrage/

“She put the final stake in the project,” Ashdown said. “But there was already tremendous momentum for the project to be scrapped. She gets credit for saying that they were not to go forward with the bridge, but it was at death’s door.” http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/sep/08/bridge-barrage/

The transportation bill did include a total of $223 million earmarked for the Gravina bridge – $100 million for construction, plus $18.75 million a year for four years, and an additional $48 million to build an access road. Several months later, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) tried to divert the Gravina funds to a bridge in need of repair over Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans. McCain was not present to vote on Coburn’s amendment proposing this change, which did not pass. Instead, Congress removed Gravina’s earmarks, tossing that money into Alaska’s general transportation pot to be used however the state chose. http://www.factcheck.org/outrageous_exaggerations.html

These are the facts, and they are not in dispute.

Obama and Biden didn't vote for a change to the bill that didn't pass anyway. Obama and Biden didn't vote for the "Bridge to Nowhere," because by the time the bill came to a vote the "Bridge to Nowhere" had been so ridiculed that language alluding to it was completely gone from the bill (Alaska still got the money).

Now, Jwhop, let's not try to say that Palin can't request earmarks. Of course she's not a member of Congress, and can't add any language to Federal budgets, but she's sure as hell no stranger to asking anyway.

Shall we consider:

And as mayor of the small town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste and lobbying documents.

Wasilla's lobbying firm was headed by Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a key proponent of the bridge project. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-08-31-palin-bridge_N.htm

"The window is now, while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist," she said. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-08-31-palin-bridge_N.htm

posted September 09, 2008 11:34 PM            

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Now, Jwhop, let's not try to say that Palin can't request earmarks. Of course she's not a member of Congress, and can't add any language to Federal budgets, but she's sure as hell no stranger to asking anyway....acoustic

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Hahahaha, I knew you'd eventually get it. Palin, as Governor can't initiate earmarks in the Congress of the United States. Palin is not the boss of federal representatives..such as Congressmen/Congresswomen and US Senators.

Senator Ted Stevens inserted an earmark for the "Bridge to Nowhere" and Palin gave Stevens a biaatch slap up along his earmarking head.

Right again acoustic. O'Bomber and O'Biden actually did vote for the "Bridge to Nowhere" and against reallocating the money to rebuilding the bridge Katrina destroyed in New Orleans.

So acoustic, the hypocrisy of O'Bomber and O'Biden in bringing up this particular subject boggles the mind...the minds of those who actually have a mind.

posted September 09, 2008 11:52 PM            

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Senator Ted Stevens inserted an earmark for the "Bridge to Nowhere" and Palin gave Stevens a biaatch slap up along his earmarking head.

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That's NOT AT ALL accurate. She ditched her support for the project once it became incredibly unpopular in Washington. It had nothing to do with Stevens, and everything to do with the fact that it was perceived as an egregious earmark.

And let's not FORGET that she hired someone connected to Stevens to go lobby for her city when she was mayor.

Wasilla's lobbying firm was headed by Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a key proponent of the bridge project.
Link

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Right again acoustic. O'Bomber and O'Biden actually did vote for the "Bridge to Nowhere" and against reallocating the money to rebuilding the bridge Katrina destroyed in New Orleans.

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A repeat here: There was NO Alaskan bridge project on that bill when it passed. As such your article's assertion is ludicrous.

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Palin was for a bridge, but not that damned bridge...as her remarks prove.

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Her remarks:

posted September 10, 2008 07:11 PM            

The one thing I can count on with you is that you will always take the side of the Liberal masses regardless of what the outcome could be.

posted September 10, 2008 09:42 PM            

I don't think it's kneejerk at all. I think reading an article, believing it wholeheartedly, and reposting it is closer to a kneejerk reaction, than my response with the actual facts.

I also don't believe Jwhop is calling anyone out in this instance. I believe he posted an accusation he didn't write himself; an accusation that is more wrong than it is right. The facts are that Palin did express support publicly for the bridge (whether she was soft on the idea is of little consequence, to her potential constituents she expressed support), it became unpopular, was struck down as an earmark, and then she dropped the issue.

posted September 11, 2008 02:13 AM            

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So, O'Bomber and O'Biden both voted for the "Bridge to Nowhere", and also voted against reallocating the money to rebuild the Twin Spans Bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina twice. But wait, acoustic says that's not true, that O'Bomber and O'Biden did not vote for the appropriations bill with the earmark for the bridge.

So now, it's been shown they both did vote for it exactly as I said they did. Got to love it.

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Voting on an amendment is different than voting on a bill. The bill they voted for does not contain language for bridge-building in Alaska.

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Then this pair of frauds make a big deal out of Governor Palin saying she went against her own Republican Senator and killed the Bridge to Nowhere. As usual, leftists just don't see their own hypocrisy.

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Obama's campaign didn't bring the Bridge to Nowhere into the conversation. Sarah Palin did, and since she talked tough about it after telling potential constituents that she was for it, the media was all over her for it, and rightly so. Only then did it start coming out on the trail from the Obama camp. There is absolutely no reason to believe that Biden or Obama cared about the bridge. It wasn't their constituencies, and it wasn't their concern. It was a Republican congress that passed the bill without the bridge to nowhere, and without the diversion to the Louisiana bridge. Later when Palin officially took the bridge off the agenda, she wasn't standing up to ANYONE. She was more like, "Ah, no one's really passionate about this, I'm gonna table it." Whoopdee doo! To make it sound as if she took some tough stance on it is totally absurd and ridiculous. The press nailed her on it, and they've reported accurately about it.

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Palin did not express strong support for the Bridge to Nowhere. In fact, she is quoted as saying she was wishy washy about the bridge, at the time it was being discussed

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I've already posted quotes of hers from the campaign trail. I believe that she may have been wishy washy about it, but that didn't stop her from taking a convenient populist stance on it while with the people it might affect.

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Now, someone here...acoustic is attempting to justify O'Bomber and O'Biden voting for the Bridge to Nowhere and voting against reallocating the funds to help the people of New Orleans rebuild the Twin Spans Bridge, by saying lots of other Senators did too. But that's not the point at all.

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It is the point. There is no reason to believe that Obama or Biden had any stake in that amendment vote, so when they voted with the majority, it doesn't mean a whole lot. To drag it out here like it's some "gotcha" is ridiculous.

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The dud duo did vote for it and are now attempting to use Palin's wishy washy support for A bridge against her in their political campaign.

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She brought it up in her campaign, so it's fair game is it not? If she never tried to create a story out of the affair, no one would have had reason to say anything, now would they?

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None of the other Senators who voted for the Bridge to Nowhere are attempting to use that politically.

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She tried to use it politically first. What don't you understand about that? What don't you understand about the fact that she went so far as to twist the story for political use? At least Obama's line tells the truth of the matter: she was for it, before she was against it.

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Even the democrats in the Alaska state legislature credit Palin with stopping the project.

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posted September 11, 2008 05:06 PM            

Obama is a socialist. He wants states to depend on federal. He wants citizens to pay more taxes , he wants more bigger government at the federal level. He wants to bring back monarchy in to the country except that the monarchy is controlled by a group of people his croonies.

He is no reformist as projected by the media. But another Liberal , another Castro another Marxist.

Palin is the reformist. The real change this country needs.

Obama brings his ghetto policies in this country. Say no to Obama, say no to ghetto.
A vote against Palin is a vote for Obama, an communist.

posted September 11, 2008 10:49 PM            

SEC. 186. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any amounts made available pursuant to Public Law 109-59 for the Gravina Island bridge and the Knik Arm bridge shall be made available to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities for any purpose eligible under section 133(b) of title 23, United States Code: Provided, That in allocating funds for the equity bonus program under section 105 of such title, the Secretary shall make the calculations required under that section as if this section had not been enacted: Provided further, That the descriptions for High Priority Projects #406, the Gravina Island bridge, and #2465, the Knik Arm bridge, in section 1702 of Public Law 109-59 are hereby deleted and in their place is inserted ''the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities''.
(Bold added by me. Italics appear in the original text.)
Entire Bill

So, I was wrong about the Bill not containing language about the bridges, but the news accounts I've read reported correctly that funding specifically for the bridges was removed, and the amount of the funding was still made available for Alaska.