"A LIE TOO FAR"

The McCain/Palin attempt to portray the ticket as two mavericks went off the rail with a new ad that boasts that Palin blocked the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. You can see why Hannity is not anxious for Palin to do any real interviews.

Here's what the narrator in the ad said (from USA Today)

Narrator: "The original mavericks. He fights pork barrel spending. She stopped the 'Bridge to Nowhere.' He took on the drug industry. She took on big oil. He battled Republicans and reformed Washington. She battled Republicans and reformed Alaska.

"They'll make history. They'll change Washington.

USA Today noted that:

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

Even the WSJ gets it:

Record Contradicts Palin's 'Bridge' Claims
By ELIZABETH HOLMES and LAURA MECKLER
September 9, 2008
Wall Street Journal

The Bridge to Nowhere argument isn't going much of anywhere.

Despite significant evidence to the contrary, the McCain campaign continues to assert that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the federal government "thanks but no thanks" to the now-famous bridge to an island in her home state.

Even FAUX News realizes that this lie can't be denied:

McCain-Palin Camp Puts out New Ad: “Original Mavericks”
by Shushannah Walshe
September 8th, 2008 12:28 PM Eastern

Lee’s Summit, Missouri—

The commercial lists their accomplishments, “He fights pork barrel spending. She stopped the Bridge to Nowhere. He took on the drug industry. She took on big oil.”

The ad does not reveal that Governor Palin did support the Bridge to Nowhere, the much-maligned bridge to a tiny populated island in her home state when she ran for governor in 2006,...

CQ Politics also notes that:

Four Things You Need to Know About the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff
Sept. 9, 2008 – 12:05 a.m.

Contrary to most recent reports on the subject, Palin did not switch from proponent to opponent when Congress removed the money specifically for the bridge. In fact, she continued to say she would build the bridge in 2006 as she campaigned for governor, long after it was no longer necessary for Alaska to spend the money on the project.

It appears that she wanted to appeal to voters in that part of the state by promising to give them the money their federal legislators already had secured for them.

“Part of my agenda is making sure that Southeast is heard. That your projects are important. That we go to bat for Southeast when we’re up against federal influences that aren’t in the best interest of Southeast,” Palin said in October 2006 -- nearly a year after Congress removed the requirement that the money be spent on the bridges -- according to the Ketchikan Daily News.