tomw,
The ‘thanks but no thanks’ was a response to a fiscally ridiculous project. I suppose you don’t think government should repair and develop infrastructure since you are confining governors to a strict no earmarks diet, eh? It seems a narrow standard for effective governance to me. If you are ever governor, let me know which state so I can avoid it.
Understanding the role that she has as governor is perhaps your greatest obstacle in this discussion. You are implying she misled you, I think she simply overestimated you. It doesn’t make her wrong, it makes you, well, thick.
When she says ‘if we want a bridge like that, Alaskans will build it’ she means that it was a bad investment for her state, and when she looked into it, the expense, the value for the dollar is what killed it. It’s not only the appropriate job of a governor to seek and best use federal funding, but it is the act of someone looking out for the interests of her people. Odd thing in government, I know. Of course the anti-earmark claim might be because of the 87 pages of single spaced items she vetoed in the state budget. She didn’t allocate the Nowhere funds; Biden, 0bama, and others voted for that money. If you don’t want Alaska to have it, get made at the ones who voted for it.
I wonder if you parse Obama’s words so carefully? Apparently even the Washington Post is calling his language ‘deceptive’ in this article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/18/AR2008091803159_pf.html
I know it’s really important to tear down Sarah Palin’s authenticity. It’s what is really killing Obama since most people in their heart of hearts doubt him. But this argument about the Bridge to Nowhere is a nonstarter. If she wasn’t for providing funds for her state you’d use that against her and say that she doesn’t put government on the side of the people. It’s a lose/lose argument for you guys. She did her job. I want someone like her looking at the huge wasteful spending in Washington and finding a better way to spend those dollars, and in the case of gas taxes, suspending taxes and offering refunds. It’s not the government’s money. It’s the people’s money.
