GOP hopes to skirt Minn. bridge issue

[brooklynite]

from Politico.com:

t’s a year today since the Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, but don’t expect Gov. Tim Pawlenty to showcase the reconstruction.

Indeed, with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul just a month away and Pawlenty reported to be high on John McCain’s running mate list, Republicans want to drive attention away from the infrastructure disaster that spotlighted the nation’s crumbling bridges and from the criticism the governor faced for what some critics said was a slow response.

The governor’s staff reports there are no plans to hold any events near the site of the bridge collapse, about 10 miles from the convention hall. And GOP convention planners have organized hundreds of buses to ease the congestion expected when some 45,000 conventioneers, guests and media commute to the hall.

...snip...

Republicans say they would rather not dampen the convention by revisiting an old tragedy.

Aww, how thoughtful of them...

[Deja Q]

1. And yet they still refer to 9/11 all the time. That's an old tragedy too.

And no less nor any more valid than the bridge collapse. Maintaining infrastructure is surely equally important to national security as protecting it?

[AndyA]

2. Today would be the perfect day for Democrats to remind America

that there are thousands of bridges in this country that have been neglected and are unsafe, and there's no money to make repairs due to a war in Iraq that is sucking us dry. A war based on LIES. A war that didn't need to be fought, and should have never been fought.

Today would be a good day for that, but the Dems will quietly march in lockstep, just as they've done all along.

[unhappycamper]

3. It's gonna be difficult to ignore.

Like, parts of the bridge is still in the water. I'll also bet the traffic pattern has changed.