Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Some of the folks in Ketchikan, Alaska -- the city that the now infamous "bridge to nowhere" was to connect to Gravina Island -- are not happy with Sarah Palin's frequent lies about the issue. Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein told Reuters that Palin is playing political games with the bridge:
"People are learning that she pandered to us by saying, I'm for this' ... and then when she found it was politically advantageous for her nationally, abruptly she starts using the very term that she said was insulting," Weinstein said.
During her 2006 campaign for governor, Palin was an enthusiastic supporter of the bridge project and praised the Alaskan congressional delegation for securing federal funds for it. Mike Elerding, Palin's campaign coordinator in Ketchikan, even told Reuters that she said she was offended at the moniker "bridge to nowhere."
While she now claims that she turned down the money for the bridge and told Congress that if Alaska wanted a bridge they would pay for it themselves, the statement she made when canceling the project said that the reason it was canceled was because Congress had "little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island." Yet another Republican official in Alaska blasted that kind of double talk:
Former state House Speaker Gail Phillips, a Republican who represented the Kenai Peninsula city of Homer, is also critical about Palin's reversal on the bridge issue."You don't tell a group of Alaskans you support something and then go to someplace else and say you oppose it," said Phillips, who supported Palin's opponent, Democrat Tony Knowles, in the 2006 gubernatorial race.
Palin's statement about the cancellation of the project even said that public opposition was based on "inaccurate portrayals" of the project. Now she has not only joined the chorus in offering those portrayals, she's decided to lie and claim that she told Congress she didn't want the money she enthusiastically pursued before. Sounds like the perfect bridge to park the "Straight Talk Express."
Politics
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She claims she said, "If we want that bridge, we'll pay for it ourselves."
What she actually said, "If you're not going to pay for that bridge, we don't want it."
That's pretty much the opposite.
Oh, and instead of saying "thanks, but no thanks," she actually said "thanks for letting me keep all that money."
Posted by: Mr. Upright | September 14, 2008 11:00 AM
Too bad millions are going to vote for her anyway. Let's remember though, to Republicans, morals aren't subjective.
Posted by: Julian | September 14, 2008 11:19 AM
So is it too much to hope that during the veep debate, someone will ask the following?
Yeah, I suppose it is a vain hope.Posted by: James Hanley | September 14, 2008 12:39 PM
The religious right obviously doesn't care if the only candidate they passionately support is lying. She believes in their God so it doesn't matter how many lies she tells or personal vendettas she pursues, and it doesn't even matter how little she knows or competent she is.
But then, it's not as if she's really any worse than the rest of them. Studies have show, time after time, that religious conservatives are really no more "moral" than the rest of us. They lie, cheat and steal at least at the same rate as the rest of the population -- and given how full American prisons are compared to the much less religious countries of Western Europe, conservative and religious "values" would seem to be dragging America down and backwards these days.
I've just about given up pointing out the hypocrisy of the religious right. Even if you can get them to admit it, it's obvious they just don't care. Their moral values are just as flexible and subjective as anyone elses, they just like to believe that theirs are more objective and better than ours.
Posted by: tacitus | September 14, 2008 2:11 PM
tacitus:
One of the major problems that pathalogical liars have, of course, is that they don't see their lies as such. And, pathalogical lying seems to be a badge of honor for the GOP.
Posted by: democommie | September 14, 2008 3:51 PM
What I love is that she is still saying that same lie to this day. Of course I notice the applause level for that line has dropped, too.
You know when someone catches me not telling the truth-and I don't care if it was something I said knowing it was a lie or not-I immediately correct what I have to say and never use that line again.
"Mc Cain/Palin-that ticket's failin'!"
Posted by: Rev. AJB | September 14, 2008 7:07 PM
It's to be taken for granted that it is not sin itself that the religious right cares about, but how commits them. Their own can be excused, I mean we're all only human, right? Right? But those damn demonocrats, LIEberals, are all hypocrites and sinners and no one shou
Posted by: Bachalon | September 15, 2008 3:32 AM
Still and all, one good thing's come out of this: the Palin Baby-Name Generator. Your name, Ed, is just awesome.
Love,
Chin Trout Palin
Posted by: Dana Hunter | September 15, 2008 7:25 AM
what irks me most, i think, is that there's an EASY, HONEST answer that she could have given at any point:
"I was indeed for a $100 million Gravina bridge. But as the cost estimates climbed, I found I simply could not support a $400 million Gravina bridge."
but that just doesn't sound as good as "I told Congress ..." in a 2-second sound bite
*sigh*
"Sarah, don't please don't go! (Alaskans for Obama)"
Posted by: skyotter | September 15, 2008 4:33 PM