Obama has talent!

[Harlowe]

She's dropping her "I said thanks but no thanks" story now.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3125537020080901

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008 ... -speeches/

[Lurker]

Kulaf, Congress removed the specific earmark in 2005. They still sent Alaska the 450 million but the "Bridge to Nowhere" earmark was gone. It was entirely up to Alaska to build the bridges if they wanted to.

So......yes she favored the bridge.......that's what governors do.......they seek federal matching funds for state infrastructure projects. And at the same time she cancelled the go ahead on the bridge because there were not sufficient state funds to complete it.

Right. She cancelled because there weren't enough state funds and she couldn't get more money from Congress, not because she was a champion of reform trying to end earmarks.

Here's Palins lie about what happened, repeated at least 30 times now.

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."

Here is Palin's statement from 2007 on why she ended Alaska's plan to build the bridge. This was a year after after Congress had removed the specific earmark and it was clear there would be no more money coming.

Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island.

She didn't tell Congress anything because they had washed their hands of it a year earlier, she kept the money they did send, and it's pretty obvious from her statement in 2006 that if Congress had offered to send her 329 million more she would have happily accepted it.

There's no truth in what she's currently saying. I'd hope people would be worried about someone that can lie that brazenly.

[Kulaf]

Kulaf, Congress removed the specific earmark in 2005. They still sent Alaska the 450 million but the "Bridge to Nowhere" earmark was gone. It was entirely up to Alaska to build the bridges if they wanted to.

Ok see there is the problem.....on the one hand you say she didn't say no to the earmark......yet on the other you admit that the money still went to AK and it was her discretion as to where it was spent.

That's the gray area that let's her claim that she "said no" to the earmark. Clearly she thought other infrastructure projects were of more importance.

So again the story is not just black and white.

[Lurker]

/facepalm

She didn't say no to the earmark because the earmark didn't exist anymore. Congress had removed the earmark a year before she claims she stood up for reform and told Congress "No".

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."

There is no part of this statement that is accurate. The fact is Congress killed the earmark a year before she canceled plans to build the bridge, and she only canceled the plans because she realized there was no chance to get more money from Congress, money she would have happily taken. The champion of reform part is a lie. The told congress no part is a lie. And the most laughable part is where she tries to make it look like Alaska was turning down federal money because they would build the bridge themselves if they wanted to. That's ass backwards.

If your gray areas are large enough to see truth in Palin's claim then you have some re-evaluating to do.

[jookkor]

I thought he was pretty nice about the whole thing. He used a harmless little analogy instead of directly pointing out her faults. Maybe he is saving that for Biden, so I wouldnt exactly say that he was "getting into a tar-baby of enormous proportions" with this particular soundbite.

[Lurker]

She's dropping her "I said thanks but no thanks" story now.

Turns out she only dropped the line while traveling in Alaska because they would know she was lying. She's out of Alaska now and the lie is back.