Dem Uses Anti-Kerry Line on Palin

Borrowing a phrase from Republicans four years ago, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Wednesday that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) “was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it.”

Van Hollen, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was referring to news reports that indicate Palin campaigned in 2006 in favor of the infamous bridge that was eventually scrapped.

Soon after she was announced as Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) running mate on Friday, Palin said she told Congress “no thanks” to the funding for the Ketchikan’s Gravina Island bridge in Alaska.

Government watchdogs note that while Palin did play a role in killing the bridge project, she did so only after it was on life support in the wake of negative publicity about the earmark.

In using the for-it-before-she-was-against-it line to Fox News, Van Hollen sought to turn the tables on the GOP.

Republicans in 2004 repeatedly cited Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) statement that he voted for troop funding before he voted against it. The remark was regarded as one of Kerry’s biggest gaffes in his unsuccessful bid to defeat President Bush.