NOWHERE TO GO….Sarah Palin is getting props in the media for her decision last year to cancel Alaska’s notorious “bridge to nowhere,” but it’s worth pointing out that this was hardly a brave decision. Originally, while she was running for governor and stumping for votes, she thought the bridge was a fine idea:
As for the infamous “bridges to nowhere,” [debate moderator Steve] MacDonald asked if the candidates would forge ahead with the proposed Knik Arm crossing between Anchorage and Point MacKenzie and Ketchikan’s Gravina Island bridge. Each has received more than $90 million in federal funding and drew nationwide attacks as being unnecessary and expensive. He also asked if they support building an access road from Juneau toward — but not completely connecting to — Skagway and Haines.
“I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the state of Alaska that our congressional delegations worked hard for,” Palin said. She said the projects link communities and create jobs.
She later changed her tune, but only after Congress had already decided not to fully fund the Gravina bridge and it was clear that Alaska itself would have to put up most of the money for the project. What’s more, it’s not as if she was giving up anything: the funding that had been approved still went to Alaska. It just wasn’t earmarked for the bridge. So this wasn’t quite the profile in courage that the McCain campaign would have us believe.
