Dude
Faced with choosing the high road or using a tragedy for political gain, McCain goes for the gain:
Republican John McCain said Wednesday that the bridge collapse in Minnesota that killed 13 people last year would not have happened if Congress had not wasted so much money on pork-barrel spending.
I certainly wouldn’t argue that pork-barrel spending is out of control, and we continue to elect one of the worst offenders, Rep. Oberstar. But putting checks in place to limit this legal version of bribery sells itself; there is no need to exploit a tragedy caused by a defect in the design. Please Senator, leave the crass exploitation (think Katrina = global warming, no WMD = Bush lied, or bridge collapse = no new taxes) to the pros.
UPDATE: Oberstar takes a whack at McCain for exploiting the bridge tragedy:
“John McCain took aim at the wrong target. He is manipulating a tragedy that took 13 lives in order to advance his election campaign,” Oberstar said.
He then goes straight from scolding McCain for “manipulating a tragedy” to…manipulating a tragedy:
In fact, the administration of Gov.Tim Pawlenty had been using special contract authority granted to the states by Congress to shift funding out of bridge repair accounts to be used on other priorities, Oberstar claims.
Oh sweet hypocrisy. It’s almost as if they guys aren’t aware there is a reason the bridge fell that has nothing to do with who spent what where.
UPDATE II: Now Sen. Steve Murphy wants an apology from McCain. Of course, no one has attempted to exploit the tragedy for political gain more than Murphy. He used dead Minnesotans to attack Pawlenty and Molnau in a way that was almost gleeful. Murphy epitomizes the crass exploitation and in fact was an inspiration for the last sentence of the original post. That he would turn around now and feign outrage at McCain is more than hypocrisy, it is a form of soulless opportunism unbecoming, but all too common, in politicians who exist simply to pander to the emotion of ignorance. The legislative version of ambulance chasing, only worse.