Part of the McCain statement on Palin had me scratching my head:
In Alaska, Governor Palin challenged a corrupt system and passed a landmark ethics reform bill. She has actually used her veto and cut budgetary spending. She put a stop to the “bridge to nowhere” that would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars.
(emphasis added)
What kind of “stop” did she put to it? Let’s look:
Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer. 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. 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
She didn’t stop it to save the U.S. taxpayers. She stopped it to save her own taxpayers. I read that as she wanted Congress to give about double the money to the project, but since they wouldn’t she decided against it.