Via TPMTV: Sarah Palin, then and now, on the Bridge to Nowhere:
And, to answer the question posed by the title: She's still tellin' it. Read on....
Today at a rally with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in Ohio, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) once again repeated the lie that she opposed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska:
You’re going to hear a lot about the abusive practice of earmarks in Congress from our good senator here. We championed, in Alaska, the reform of the old earmark process. We told Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks for that Bridge to Nowhere up in Alaska." If our state wanted a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves. (Think Progress; emphasis in original)
The Wall Street Journal notes today that in August 2006, Palin said, "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." (TP update)
TP now calculates that she is up to 23 lies.
Maybe people don't know what the Bridge to Nowhere was and that's why it doesn't really bother them. Let's ask the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation!
From The Bridge to Nowhere: A National Embarrassment (Oct 20, 2005):
Today, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) will offer an amendment to the Senate’s appropriation bill to transfer the $223 million that Congress had previously approved for a bridge in Ketchikan, Alaska, to fund reconstruction of a hurricane-damaged bridge in Louisiana. Dubbed the “Bridge to Nowhere,” the bridge in Alaska would connect the town of Ketchikan (population 8,900) with its airport on the Island of Gravina (population 50) at a cost to federal taxpayers of $320 million, by way of three separate earmarks in the recent highway bill. At present, a ferry service runs to the island, but some in the town complain about its wait (15 to 30 minutes) and fee ($6 per car). The Gravina Island bridge project is an embarrassment to the people of Alaska and the U.S. Congress. Fiscally responsible Members of Congress should be eager to zero out its funding....
The bridge has become an object of national ridicule and a symbol of the fiscal irresponsibility of many in Congress toward the money entrusted to them by the taxpayers. It has also become an embarrassment to the people of Alaska and to responsible members of Congress who now find themselves tarred by the same brush dipped in the muck of the highway.
If you're wondering where all those tax dollars are going....here was an excellent example.
More on the Bridge to Nowhere here at Memeorandum.
Sarah Palin: Still Telling the $320 Million Whopper About the Bridge to Nowhere?
Obama on Palin & McCain as Agents of Change: "How Do They Have the Nerve?"
McTemper, McTemper! or, "He Ain't Mad, He's Just Intense." Also: Ed Koch's Fear of Palin
Needful Diversions: Gangsta Teletubbies; Spongebob Sings Eminem
McCain Campaign Ignores Heart's Request to Stop Using Their Songs
Obama: "They Must Think You're Stupid"
Bill Maher New Rules (Sep 5)---"Sarah Barracuda, Meet Joey the Shark"
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