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The US senate would not sign the Kyoto protocol in 1997 (see Hagel/Byrd resolution.) In fact, it was never presented. Gore and Lieberman indicated the protocol would not be acted upon by the Senate until there was participation by developing nations. Bush could sign the treaty, as Clinton did, but it would never pass the Senate.

Profits for a gallon of gas are on par with those in the 90's. Pharmacutical companies, Tobacco (Gore) chemical and the computer industries are the profit leaders in the US.

Clinton and Gore awarded a no bid contract to Halliburton to continue work in the Balkans. Al Gore singled out Halliburton for praise for its military logistics work. (See Logcap, 1992)

Bin Ladens first attack against the US was in 1992, culminating with the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Clinton wasn't concerned about him until after the 1998 embassy bombings.

Can't disagree about FEMA though!

There is no doubt that we need to fix our broken system of corruption and earmarking in Washington. Trillions have been wasted...

But it is not the reason Minnesota chose inspection over maintenance for this bridge. Nor is it a reason to raise taxes.

Wrong John! The state of Minnesota is totally responsible here. The state of Minnesota is given federal tax dollars every year for road infrastructure. And the state of Minnesota collects plenty of road taxes on its own.., every year. So it is the state of Minnesota's responsibility to wisely use that money on actual road repairs instead of things like new roads, traffic camera's, HOV lanes, computers and additional bureaucracy. No one else is at fault here but the state. And when the next bridge collapses, in like say Georgia. That too will be the state's fault and I will be looking to hold them accountable.

I have said and I will repeat!! WE need to take care of our own country.

I heard someone one day say we need to unelect the Senators, Congressmen and Representatives every election period to teach them that WE run this country and we want it done right.

And....how much did it cost for the President's wife to fly to see the bridge and the President? Gee all they have to do is see a video of the disaster to get the full impact of what our leaders didn't do.

Health insurance are another issue!! We have people dying w/o insurance.

Gas prices, food prices...do I need to say more!!

We are in a terrible mess in the US and someone needs to bail it out before this cancer spreads!!

How about the $5.3 bn that Bush is spending killing GI's and Iraqis every month, and YOU favor continuing this crime!?!

The Senator did not mention the billions sent to fight the Iraq war which he supports, that money should be spent on our needs here in the US it it our money and I would rather we have pet projects that benefit us than fight a war that was uncalled for.

McCain is at it again, He's one of the "Lord of the Lies" evil american Terroist that fight his own war not and that of the citizens of Arizona. Bush is the one who cut the money to the Department of Transporation more then half. GOP is totally responsible.

Yep, its that old tried-and-true "Flip" Flop" political strategy again. Worked the first time on someone, why not try again? Flip,flop,flip,flop,flip,flop.

Get a life.

Bloggers are for the most part a poorly disciplined bunch who think viscerally. A fundamental difference between bloggers and writers who get challenged by editors, copy editors, and fact checkers is quality of content. Bloggers may exercise a measurable amount of influence, but they must be regarded with a huge dose of scepticism. Left, right, populist, or free marketers, they are the first cousins of lobbyists.

Not one more person should blame the Bush administration for the bridge collapse...

These same people most likely fail to realize this war was funded by a deal with China... not our tax money.

Furthermore, the US highway system has been around with the 1950s, and concrete bridges are even older. There was plenty of time to properly setup in our tax system a way to have enough funds for our infrastructure.

Guess what... it either no one's fault, or everyones... stop pointing fingers at Bush. I disagree with alot of things they have done, but this is not one of them.

But hey, keep saying it's his fault. You only look foolish.

Earmarks? How about the billions spent on Iraq? That money surely could have been spent on bridge repairs and plenty of other domestic nessecities.

While McCain has a point (and has had a point) about asinine earmarks, any relationship it bears to this bridge collapse is minimal. The dollar investment needed for infrastructure overhaul in the US is so far beyond the annual total of earmarks it's ridiculous, and you can be guaranteed as long as we follow the course the nation's been on since 1980 we won't see a difference made. We could probably sink the total amount spent on Iraq into the problem and still have overhauls of sewage systems, roads and power grids undone.

It leaves us vulnerable to natural disasters. It leaves us vulnerable to attacks. Itr leaves us vulnerable to random accidents. And I doubt I'll see any meaningful efforts to address it in my lifetime.

Our infrastructure, including bridges has been declining from a safety standpoint for years, and only now do they all jump around the microphones talking about what's needed. It's a shame that we always need a disaster in order for the idiots that waste our precious tax dollars to wake up and do something. 9/11 comes to mind.

After the trip to Iraq, who would be foolish enough to listen to anything that McCain said?

No wonder this country is going to crap. Most people have no flippin' idea what they're talking about. None-the-less, it doesn't stop them from spouting off things like "it's Bush's falut"

Grow up, stop watching "dance with the stars" and Monday night football and LEARN a little about the country ahd the candidates!

Vote for an HONEST man – Ron Paul!

Casey, Orlando, Florida

Give Democrats a break about the bridge collapse! They have been running the Congress for about eight months. Bush and Republicans are to be blamed because they were focusing on Iraq more than anything else. That is why we voted for the Democrats in the first place.

They only ran congress for 40+ years and were did to money go in 1990 when the bridge failed inspection?
Oh yes they will fix SS & Medicare,
!! NOT !!

It's about time for that phony McCane to mention the bridge from Nevada to Harry Reids property in Arizona, enhansing the value of that property.

Yes – John (flip flop) Mc (flip flop) Cain is right Congress should have taken care of our infrastructure but, wasn't he so busy spending money on Iraq that the "fiscally responsible" republicans just couldn't afford to fix our crumbling infrastructure and keep giving tax breaks to the billionaires of this country?

Do people really think that any of the money that is being spent in Iraq would have been used on bridges? Bridges collapsed in the '70s and there was no Iraqi war. Face it. Congress is full of fools who only care about their own projects, Democrats and Republicans alike.

Bush would not sign the treaty that was to be an action the world was going to take to begin to slow Global warming.

FEMA was once a good organization, Bush turned it into nothing. “You are doing a heck of a job Brownie." Remember him walking out the mists in New Orleans to stage an address to the nation in which he proclaimed how New Orleans would be rebuilt? How is that going?

He has opposed any thing that would cut pollution. Says would raise cost and loose jobs.

Big Oil has made obscene profits by jacking up prices under Bush.

Halliburton’s no bid contracts that were never followed up on to see if done but was paid anyway.

Osama Bin Laden, Bush once stated he wasn’t really concerned about him anymore.

Yes, all those things existed before Bush and he has made all of them worse.

And yes, I do agree: Shame on him.

I proclaim a new party of the American people! I don't know what to call it yet, but it will damn well be free of scumbag liars like the ones in the two main parties.

Who's in?

I am sure that congress has some responsibility some where in this, but at the same time it’s impossible to put money into are economy if we keep throwing it down the drain on a lost war. There is one massive financial drain in are economy that we need to plug, before we go after any other “wasters”

Actually, you morons who think he's just being political should know that McCain was outspoken against the "bridge to nowhere" as a particularly egregious earmark when it was brought up.

Also, the earmark was technically removed, but the total dollar amount for Alaska was left unchanged, and the governor still plans to build it. So the guy who accused him of lying has got some serious truth issues himself

I agree 100%. When I worked at the Illinois Department of Transporataion, I saw how money was wasted on projects that were not needed when other bridges were in dire need of repair. There is a need for politics to stay out of the engineering processing and money spent when needed due to disrepair, not votes.

Yeah, its all Bush's fault. Global warming, natural disasters, collapsing bridges, pollution, big oil, Halliburton, Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban-none of this existed prior to George Bush.

Shame on him.

Weathervane McCain!

I think that McCain is doing this purely to have the light shed on his political campaign. In the aftermath of such a tragedy it’s mind blowing that he is trying to push his own agenda. Also, if we all wanted, we could blame every tragedy of this sort on the fact that earmarks are taking money away and putting them towards “pet projects”. Yes, earmarks need to be dealt with, but it’s time for our elected officials to step up to the plate and fix America’s infrastructural problems as opposed to trying to score points by blaming the other side of the aisle.

What a loser.

The Stevens earmark was scuttled before the bill was signed into law. So that would make McCain a liar. Again.

Where's the mention of him voting against last week's ethics bill that passed and will make it very difficult to sneak these earmarks in? Just give up, John. You are a political whore who will say anything to get people to vote for you. Time to pack it in.

Shame on Congress. The American people need to pay closer attention to their State's congressional elections, and vote where a real difference in our government can be made.

To: Posted By Eric – Detroit

In 2002/2003 75% approved of the war.
Now that the going is tough 50% want to run and forget those who died and those who were killed before they could come here and enslave you and the women in you life.
20 years I spent in the NAVY so you can express you opinon. Under Islam YOU would be a robot. Face Mecca 5 times a day and hope you wife/mother/lover is no stoned for just being who they are.
Bush has make errors and so will his replacement. Just like L.B. Johnson remimber 50,000 dead becouse of his lies. 16 of them were my friends.

MCCain is so smart, then why is he not president?

Give Democrats a break about the bridge collapse! They have been running the Congress for about eight months. Bush and Republicans are to be blamed because they were focusing on Iraq more than anything else. That is why we voted for the Democrats in the first place.

There is enough blame to spread around throughout the government. Senator McCain is trying to make political points from stating that earmarks like those requested by Sen. Ted Stevens (AK), whom is currently under investigation by the FBI, are to blame for funds being diverted from inspections to older bridges.

While that may be a good point. It smacks more of an attempt to put himself back in the news as his presidential aspirations are going downhill fast.

Our Dept. of Transportation and teams of bridge inspection consultants are primarily to blame for our current situation. The DOT should be trumpeting the risks to the public in an effort to solidly secure the funds we need to replace our transportation infrastructure. And legislation should be put in place to forbid the continued use of a structure once it reaches a point where it could result in collapse. We condemn buildings, but our transportation system seems to be exempt from this. Why?

Angry Motorist from NH

(wynterdragon.blogspot.com)

Stevens is a crook, but Mccain certainly hasn't wasted any time politicizing this tragedy, has he? Anything for some presstime.

Stevens is a crook, but Mccain certainly hasn't wasted much time politicizing this tragedy has he? Anything for some presstime.

Huh?! He's either desperate, delusional or both. While it's true that governments have been remarkably short-sighted in not creating "sinking funds" to repair and replace crumbling infrastructure, blaming a do-nothing Congress of which he is a part is the sign of a hero who has fallen from favor.

McCain, so desperate.

It's nobody's fault but Bush.

He's to blame for most everything wrong with America today.

He's wildly spent up BILLIONS in Iraq on a war only 80% of the public disapproves of.

Another reason he needs to be impeached.

All that war money could have went to fixing bridges, health care and social security right here in the U.S.

But instead, we spend it on Iraq.

Smart move.

Now we all get to suffer thanks to the President.

Gotta love Bush.

I agree with McCain, and am in favor of doing away with "ear-marks," but let's not let let ourselves be deluded into believing that these are the "real" problems. Our budget is in such a mess not because our congress is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on pet projects, but because our President is wasting hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars on a war that doesn't need to be fought (a war that McCain supports), and by turning a blind eye to the tens of billions of dollars of corporate profits that are being diverted overseas where they are completely free of taxation. Let's fix THOSE problems first, then we can worry about the self-serving culture that has pervaded our congress.

Ted Stevens and his ilk should all be sacked. They are indirectly responsible for tying up hundreds of millions of dollars for their pork barrel projects to the detriment of the country as a whole. I have no respect for him as a lawmaker. He's just another "good ol boy" watchin out for his own.