ThinkProgress has the quote:
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.
USA Today calls out Palin's lie:
It's the claim that Palin "stopped the 'Bridge to Nowhere' " that sparked the dispute. The reference is to a proposed bridge to a remote Alaskan community that would have cost the U.S. government more than $200 million. Palin has said repeatedly that she told the federal government: "Thanks, but no thanks."
As a candidate for governor, however, Palin supported the bridge.
"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," Palin said in August 2006, according to the Ketchikan Daily News.
The non-partisan FactCheck.org has called Palin's claim that she blocked the project "a bridge too far."
Reuters also calls out Palin's lie:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - It garnered big applause in her first speech as Republican John McCain's vice presidential pick, but Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's assertion that she rejected Congressional funds for the so-called "bridge to nowhere" has upset many Alaskans.
During her first speech after being named as McCain's surprise pick as a running mate, Palin said she had told Congress "'thanks but no thanks' on that bridge to nowhere."
In the city Ketchikan, the planned site of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," political leaders of both parties said the claim was false and a betrayal of their community, because she had supported the bridge and the earmark for it secured by Alaska's Congressional delegation during her run for governor.
The bridge, a span from the city to Gravina Island, home to only a few dozen people, secured a $223 million earmark in 2005. The pricey designation raised a furor and critics, including McCain, used the bridge as an example of wasteful federal spending on politicians' pet projects.
When she was running for governor in 2006, Palin said she was insulted by the term "bridge to nowhere," according to Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein, a Democrat, and Mike Elerding, a Republican who was Palin's campaign coordinator in the southeast Alaska city.
"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.
Palin's spokeswoman in Alaska was not immediately available to comment.
Of course, Talking Points Memo has the video of Palin supporting the Bridge to Nowhere:
It also appears that Alaska knows the real story on the Bridge to Nowhere:
And the Palin lies continue on.
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