Four Letter Word

I recall my reaction when I listened to the roll-out of Sarah Palin the day after the Democratic Convention. I particularly remember this bit:

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."

That was impressive. For better or worse, the famous earmark to build a bridge connecting the town of Ketchikan on Gravina Island to the mainland became the poster image of rank Congressional pork. That made Palin's claim seem like a big deal: here was the governor of the very state that would have gotten the benefit telling Congress to keep its money. I was impressed by the thing itself, and also by the way it helped John McCain reclaim his reformist, maverick mantle.

The only trouble is that nothing like this is true. For a concise account of the whole mess, go to NPR's Morning Edition for September 4. The condensed version runs like this: the money stayed in Alaska. All $233 million of it.

Now one might say: it was Congress that said the money had to be used for something else. But here's a link to the statement from the Governor's office when the tide turned. If that sounds to you like some crusading reformer telling Congress to quit wasting their money when the noble, independent Alaskans can do things themselves, then you and I understand the English language very differently.

There's more. Seems that there was a $38 million earmark to build an approach road to the vanishing bridge. That road is being built.

And of course, there's even more. A while back, the Governor spoke at the Alaska Professional Design Council forum, and she had nothing but praise for Congressman Don Young. Here are some things she said. You can hear them in her own voice at the NPR link above.

The Congressional Delegation, God Bless 'em, they do great job for us. The strength of our delegation there in DC is the envy of all other states...

And on Congressman Young in particular:

Alaska did so well under the very basic provisions of the transportation act that he wrote just a couple of years ago. We had a nice bump there. We're very fortunate to have received the largesse that Don Young was able to put together for Alaska.

The NPR story also points out that Alaska receives about $500 per capita in earmarks, which is 10 times the national average. Whether that's as it should be is, of course, open to argument. But we can add: while Palin was mayor of Wasilla, that municipality did even better: it got about $1,000 per capita in earmarks.

What would any reasonable person take away from the bold statement Sarah Palin made when John McCain introduced her? That she was every bit as opposed to earmarks as John McCain ever claimed to be, and that she had, so to speak, put her money where her mouth was by turning down a particularly egregious one.

As Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein put it, Palin's claim "did not reflect reality."

Indeed. It was a deeply misleading statement, but one that could help to decide an election. Palin may be many things, but stupid is not one of them. She certainly knew how her words would be understood; she certainly knew what message people would carry away from what she said. She knew what anyone who listened to her but didn't know the back story would take her words to say.

Sarah Palin doesn't seem to be someone who shys away from strong language. And so perhaps she might see it as a backhand compliment that her words have provided the perfect four-letter label. Sarah Palin, quite simply, is a liar.