Lazy Gopher Pachyderm

It may be getting to the point that it’s too much to expect elected Democrats (or their media allies like Nick Coleman) to think, or even address sudden disaster without nasty political overtones, as evidenced by the anti-Pawlenty/Bush rapid (rabid?) response to the I-35 bridge collapse. First it was due to the lack if an increased gas tax in Minnesota during the Pawlenty administration. Now it’s the Iraq War, according to the supposedly gentle Senator Amy Klobuchar:

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, suggested Bush administration spending on the Iraq war may have crimped funding for domestic projects such as road and bridge construction, and for such infrastructure projects as new levees for New Orleans.

"We've spent $500 billion in Iraq and we have bridges falling down in this country," Klobuchar told MSNBC. "I see a connection between messed-up priorities."

Klobuchar’s case (and veracity) falls on three salient, unarguable points. 1) We don’t yet know why the bridge collapsed, 2) federal highway funding to Minnesota has surged under Bush, 3) MnDOT engineers didn’t think they needed to spend additional funds on the bridge.

It doesn’t take engineering expertise to conclude that Klobuchar is simply acting as a classless political hack.

# posted by Ricard : 2:44 PM