Originally posted by bnyced0:
I'm confused, who exactly interjected Bush into the conversation, albeit to seemingly to take a shot at political incompetence (amongst the Dems presumably) in Minnesota?
I never placed blame on the dems. However, the dems from Minnesota have been making comments in the media like:
"We've spent $500 billion in Iraq and we have bridges falling down in this country. I see a connection between messed-up priorities." (Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-MN)
and
"[Bush] failed to support a robust investment in surface transportation." (Rep, James Oberstar, D-MN-8)
This despite the fact that the state of Minnesota has been wasting millions of their own tax revenue on frivolous crap like seldom-used rail lines, theaters, bear exhibits at a zoo, ethanol subsidies to an industry already experiencing a 300% increase in profit, and other corporate welfare, and freakin' viking ships, and then wasting millions more of the more than generous share of federal transportation dollars they have received on more frivolities, when they should be using it for critical transportation needs.
Rep. Oberstar even sent out a press release a month ago bragging about a recent transportation and housing appropriations bill where $12 million was earmarked for Minnesota: $10 million for a rail line that already received over $100 million from the state and the federal government, and $2 million for new bike and walking paths. Then he has the nerve to turn around and say that the federal government isn't giving his state enough money for critical repairs?
My point (and it's kind of sad that I have to explain this), is that there is more than enough money out there for critical transportation needs in each state and from the federal government, and when politicians look to blame someone for a tragedy and claim they need more of your money to fix the issue, you should take a good hard look at what is happening with the billions of tax dollars that are already there.
Minnesota, it seems, has been especially wasteful, and it is particularly hypocrtical for its politicians to try to blame Bush and bring up Iraq and priorities, when they are the ones responsible for allocating the loads of available money to political pet projects...and nature trails, rather than the critical needs of the roads and bridges.
Speaking of "priorities," all of the $48 million earmarked for Minnesota nature trails in the 2005 federal transportation bill were listed as "high priority," and $13.8 million of these were in Oberstar's district. Think about that for a minute.
