Hmmm...so Palin stretched the truth, maybe even lied a little last night, isn't that what politicians particularly Republicans are all about? I guess that crap about her being just an ordinary person was just that...crap.
Interesting though that this comes out of the largest newspaper in Alaska.
Sure, except for the fact that their "facts" aren't accurately representative of the actual public record, so let's see what we can do about filling in the FACTS that were left out of their "facts", shall we?
Gov. Sarah Palin's remarks to the Republican National Convention about her record in state government stretched the truth.
GAS PIPELINE
PALIN: "I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence. That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
THE FACTS: Palin implies that construction has begun on a major natural gas pipeline from the top of Alaska into Canada. That is not correct.
In fact, no building has begun and actual construction is years away, if it ever happens. This summer the Alaska Legislature, at Palin's request, passed a bill under which the state will issue a "license" to a Canadian energy company, TransCanada Corp., and pay it up to $500 million as an incentive to someday build this enormous project, which Alaska politicians have long sought with little success. The license is not a construction contract, and federal energy regulators have not yet approved the project.
What they've conveniently left out is the fact that what she has fought for is KILLING the "sweetheart deals" that their former Governor handed out to BP and Conoco Phillips like they were S&H Greenstamps, and fought to get the AGIA (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act) passed through the State legislature, which mandated that ANY company wishing to do the project MUST comply with a very specific bidding process (no more "no bid contracts"), of which ONLY TransCanada met, and was therefore awarded the contract. Now, while it is true that the actual physical construction hasn't begun, they ARE still in the process of the early phases of the contract like environmental impact studies, planning, scheduling, getting sub-contractor bids, and all of the thousands of other things that have to be done before the first shovel of dirt is moved, but then again, not many people are really aware of what it really takes to get a project of this magnitude out of the ground. Having been involved in many, many projects of this size, and larger, I can tell you that it can take as much as 3 years, OR MORE, in "behind the scenes" work before anyone even moves the first piece of equipment onto the site.
.EARMARKS
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million.
In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation, although she has cut, by more than half, the amount the state sought from Washington this year. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
I note that they are clear that Alaska REQUESTED nearly $750 million, but they fail to note how much they ACTUALLY GOT!!! Then they throw in there, almost as an afterthought, that she DID cut the amount sought from Washington, and that is the
worst sort of BS journalism.
I have already addressed the Bridge fiasco. The infrastructure funding that Alaska got after the earmark failed was totally insufficient for the bridge project, some $300 million short by the time Palin finally cancelled it. She knew that the only way for the bridge to get built under those conditions was to call for a tax increase from everyone in the State to build a bridge that would benefit only one community with a population of 7500. In case you didn't catch the math on that one, that's $53,333.00 for every citizen of Ketchikan in order to save the $6.00 ferry fee for a car, and $35.00 for a tractor trailor. Rather than saddle the citizens of Alaska with a CRUSHING tax increase, she used some of the infrastructure funding to continue building the approach road, and has pursued less expensive means of getting people to the airport;
Sarah Palin said:
“Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer,” said Governor Palin. “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,” Governor Palin added.
“Much of the public’s attitude toward Alaska bridges is based on inaccurate portrayals of the projects here. But we need to focus on what we can do, rather than fight over what has happened.” The Department of Transportation has approximately $36 million in federal funds that will become available for other projects with the shutdown of the Gravina Island bridge project. Governor Palin has directed Commissioner Leo von Scheben to review transportation projects statewide to prepare a list of possible uses for the funds, while the department also looks for a more affordable answer for Gravina Island access.
SOURCE
All of that aside Poopeye, it's extremely disingenuous,...no, strike that,...it's a DOWNRIGHT LIE for you to sit there and even attempt to ridicule her for doing the very thing that you, and 100 million other Americans were railing against for more than 2 YEARS! If you had even one honest bone in your body, you'd be THANKING her for having the intestinal fortitude to take on her own party's heirarchy, and do the RIGHT THING, instead of playing these assinine "gotcha games" that are based on nothing but, at best, half-truths, and at worst, outright LIES. You're even so invested in your Libtard "party politics" that you refuse to acknowledge that John McCain was one of the very Senators who worked to kill the earmarks for the bridge project!! You are truly one more pathetic excuse for a human being.
