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MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS POLITICIZE 35-W BRIDGE COLLAPSE – STATE SENATOR KEITH LANGSETH
By Michael B. Brodkorb | August 3, 2007
"Some state Democrats say the 35W bridge collapse is symbolic of the shortchanging of transportation funding throughout Minnesota. They say Pawlenty vetoed a transportation bill that had support on both sides of the aisle, saying it was too expensive. They also say he shot down a 30-million dollar bridge repair-bonding bill for the same reason. State Senator Keith Langseth chaired the Transportation Committee for 14 years. He says infrastructure has gone under-funded for a decade. Republican State Representative Torrey Westrom says the Governor vetoed the bonding bill because it was filled with pork. Westrom says he's amazed anyone would try to play politics with an issue like this, less than 24 hours after it happened." Source: KVLY-TV 11, August 2, 2007
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34 Responses to “MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS POLITICIZE 35-W BRIDGE COLLAPSE – STATE SENATOR KEITH LANGSETH”
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August 3rd, 2007 at 10:05 AM
“Republican State Representative Torrey Westrom says the Governor vetoed the bonding bill because it was filled with pork.”
Makes for a nice sounds bite, but the reality is he could have line-itemed vetoed any item in the bonding bill he viewed as “pork” and passed the rest but he chose not to.
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:08 AM
and how much money was in that sacred bonding bill for highways and bridges compared to how much was in the sacred swine for trains?
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:28 AM
Debbie, you’re a idiot. By the time he line item vetoed that pile of crap spending bill, his pen would be out of ink.
If 98 percent of the bill is trash, then trash the bill.
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:41 AM
There’s a lot of self-righteous indignation coming from all sides of the aisle right now… they are all morons and they all should go. Dems and Repubs alike.
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2007/08/pointing-fingers-and-moving-forward.html
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:43 AM
If it was a “pile of crap” why did it pass the Senate on a 60-6 vote, and the House by a 111-21 vote?
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:47 AM
Michael,
Will you be condemning President Bush for politicizing this tragedy?
Transcript of President Bush’s statement yesterday:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070802-2.html
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:57 AM
It’s a pile of crap because it was a pile of crap. The public opposed that crappy bill. Thank God Pawlenty has the leadership skills and the grapes to stand up to that crap.
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:58 AM
Tim… idiot… really?
The President’s discussion about the budget was forward looking. It had nothing to do with the bridge accident. He was discussing concern that this DO NOTHING congress have sent him no spending bills, though they are due very soon as the current legislation expires. We’re heading for a government shut down.
Democrats, liars, assholes. Can’t win in the market of ideas. Can’t win with facts. Always have to try to change the subject.
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:59 AM
Tim from Woodbury,
Nice try, but the President had a press conference yesterday and talked about several things, leading with the bridge collapse. He was right to nudge Congress for not passing a single spending bill.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:04 AM
Actually those who say we have way underfunded our infrastructure are correct. Those who say it’s Bush and T-Paws fault (and theirs only) are wrong.
Nick Coleman could have written a nice column saying this yesterday. He started out okay, but then his BDS showed.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:04 AM
Chestnut, be nice.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:05 AM
That was also one of the subject discussed during yesterday’s cabinet meeting and I believe the president was providing the press with a summary of that meeting at the time of those remarks.
Still waiting for the comparison between highway/bridge funding and trainsit funding in the porker of a bonding bill.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:07 AM
Yeah it takes great leadership skills to put a veto stamp on a piece of paper… Thanks to him we’ll have to pay millions more in interest for delaying projects that in the end will end up getting funded.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:08 AM
… and then Harry Reid closed the door on the session, ignoring a plea for $250 million in assistance for clean up, recovery and reconstruction.
Thanks Harry. Thanks Do Nothing Democrats!
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:30 AM
Johnny,
You are a glittering jewel of colossal ignorance. Pawlenty proposed $1.7 billion in highway/bridge projects last session. The DFL wouldn’t even consider his bill. It got killed in the Senate Transportation Committee. What will the cost be of delaying the projects Pawlenty proposed to build in one year?
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:30 AM
Well, Dave, you know… I always knew that Democrats lie their their teeth, corrupt government and pander to special interests.
The display this week is more than shocking. It’s blood boiling. And the liberal clowns who come here, none of which have a grip on the essential facts or an ability to process them (dishonest, ignorant… and borderline retarded), have the gall to blame Republicans for a mess nobody really knows anything about, and defend the outrageous behavior of some of the worst DFL thugs.
Disgusting.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:46 AM
I’ve been slow to comment on the barrage of attacks circulating in the news and on the internet regarding the 35W bridge collapse. I’ve been perhaps overly deliberate because under the circumstances one can’t unring the accusation bell.
The left is way out of line in my opinion. Of course it’s a free country and they can say whatever they want. But their decison to attack so vehemently WHEN WE STILL HAVE BODIES IN THE RIVER is morally reprehensible!
The Governor is doing a great job of dealing with this catastrophe. Rybak, Dolan, et al are doing an awesome job as well. Where Ellison and Oberstar came up with their $250,000,000 cash call is beyond me.
Nincompoopism will be seen for what it is.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:53 AM
Not wanting to upset the sensitive ones that post her but just a quick question – Didn’t MN have a 2.1 Billion surplus when the Dem’s put forth their bonding bill?
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:32 PM
Chestnut’s Line
Start out with naming the person then make sure you swear, name anatomy or compare them to a farm animail.
Then usually go off on how outrageous Democrats are in general, that they are evil, dishonest and never as smart as Republicans. Make sure you also had a good helping of swear words, mention farm animals again, going back to the dog houses, yada, yada.
Keep going about how all Democrats are criminals, evil, disgusting, have no moral compass and use some more swear words. It is very important not to discuss, but attack and don’t forget the swear words. Never forget to swear, but also mention the strong moral compass of the Republican party.
Never mention the Bush administration as the prime example of complete incompetence in government.
He must have a form comment box all set up to go, your quite a guy there Chestnut.
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:38 PM
Anyone who reads these boards can’t help but notice Chestnut’s vulgarity and bathroom vocabulary.
I can still remember when the Republicans were the party of refined people. It wasn’t all that long ago. Chestnut was probably a Democrat back then just like his ex-hippie hero, Norm Coleman.
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:06 PM
Drew,
1. When have you ever felt the Democrats were in line? Your spare time is spent promoting everything Republican and devaluing everything Democratic.
2. When is a good time to speculate why?
I got hyper-partisan and very annoying the night of the collapse when I read both MDE’s mission to paint all Democrats with the same brush like singling out Tinklenberg and anonymous posters on a partisan left blog as being representative of Democrats. He completely ignored the Democrats in his face at the mics for the last two days who have been professional. RT Rybak is as lefty as they come but he has proven to be a leader through this working with the Governor and both Senators. Naw, that couldn’t be representative of that the Dems. How about we go to Free Republic and bring up their quotes as representative of the Republicans- or even Andy “I love Joe Repya” Aprilowski’s blog? Or my favorite mouthpiece for the right, Tom Swift “Swiftee”?
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:10 PM
DJZ… Democrats like Amy Klobuchar who blamed the accident on Tim Pawlenty the day after?
All Democrats are the same. Worthless, liars. They deserve to be painted with the same brush.
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:12 PM
‘come on Chuck. When you going to blame it on the Jew lobby? Anti-semitic jerk.
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:28 PM
The problem Chestnut is the “Drive by media” both
localy and nationally. Except for FOX as soon as they saw the R next to Tim Pawlenty’s name they were willing to accept any smear, by anyone, who would advance the “its the GOP’s fault” mantra !You notice how our DFL friends attack Chestnut and then avoid real debate !
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:37 PM
JJ, there is no real debate on MDE. Ever.
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:53 PM
Chestnut is too stupid to write complete sentences. He does however excel at name calling and vulgarity. If Chestnut’s lame rhetoric represents today’s Republican Party, no wonder the next election looks like a gigantic funeral pyre built to torch Bush and the whole mess of neocons who’ve grabbed power in this dishonest administration.
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:59 PM
Chuck, I’m just proud you haven’t blamed the jews yet. … yet.
August 3rd, 2007 at 3:38 PM
Hello, anyone out there!
Michael, do you have an answer to my question?
See post 18.
August 3rd, 2007 at 3:45 PM
Woodbury… yes, there was a $2.1 Billion surplus. It’s partially what made the $5 Billion additional TAXportation bill such an outrage.
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:39 PM
Thanks for the answer Chestnut– which brings me to my next question – with 2.1 billion in the bank as a surplus – above and beyond what the state received in tax revenue to cover all the spending going on- why in the hell would MN need this pork barrel bonding bill?
August 4th, 2007 at 3:44 PM
As a former member of the Legislature, I had plenty of opportunity to negotiate with Senator Langseth, particularly when we both chaired the Bonding Committees. Langseth always proposed spending substantially less in negotiations than requested on state bridge bonding. More money would probably not have made a difference in this case, but if Langseth wants to place blame a good place to start would be looking in the mirror.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Hey Jim, didn’t your own survey of your constituents in 2002 reveal that over 50% of them ranked transportation as the number one priority? Didn’t that include funding for a bridge in Sauk Rapids, more roads and the train?
How did that go for you? As a member of the majority, I’m sure you pushed forward on these things and proposed to spend surplus dollars on this so that we wouldn’t have raise taxes. Didn’t you?
I’m sure you stand opposed to those who poo-poo the choo-choo seeing that people who live along the mostly Republican Northstar Corridor are all for it. Including every chamber along the way.
So, you admit the DFL proposed less taxes in each case but, you fail to tell us what you supported.
August 7th, 2007 at 10:18 AM
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August 7th, 2007 at 1:20 PM
[...] Rick Olseen Keith Langseth Jeff Fecke Elwyn Tinklenberg [...]