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Palin and the Bridge to Nowhere

Here's a quick NYT report regarding the Bridge to Nowhere, filed long before it would help John McCain.

Gov. Sarah Palin ordered state transportation officials to abandon the ''bridge to nowhere'' project that became a nationwide symbol of federal pork-barrel spending.

The $398 million bridge would have connected Ketchikan, on one island in southeastern Alaska, to its airport on another nearby island. "Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport," Ms. Palin, a Republican, said in a news release, "but the $398 million bridge is not the answer."

Obama and his supporters are claiming that it's a lie to say that Palin stopped the Bridge to Nowhere, since the money that came to Alaska was already no longer earmarked for the Bridge.

I think that's a bad argument. The money wasn't earmarked, but it still went to Alaska. Palin could have spent it on the Bridge, but chose not to. In Alaska, that was a huge deal.

She should get credit for it, even if she had to come around to that viewpoint.

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on September 10, 2008 (boomark / email).