Pawlenty: McCain Bridge Collapse Blame is Theoretical
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty warned Thursday against a rush to judgment about the cause of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, a day after Republican John McCain blamed it on wasteful pork-barrel spending.
Pawlenty is a national co-chairman of McCain’s presidential campaign and is often mentioned as a possible running mate.
In the past, the governor has criticized Democrats for politicizing the collapse that killed 13 people and injured 145 last summer. Pawlenty is stepping gingerly around the McCain comments that the Minneapolis bridge failure could be traced to money spent on pork-barrel projects.
Pawlenty told reporters that McCain’s theory is the senator’s opinion and everyone should reserve judgment until federal investigators release findings later this year. Investigators have said a design flaw and construction weight are their leading theories.
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, a Democrat, said it wasn’t appropriate for McCain to use the collapse as he did.
“The bridge in Minneapolis didn’t collapse because there wasn’t enough money,” McCain told reporters Wednesday while campaigning in Pennsylvania. “The bridge in Minneapolis collapsed because so much money was spent on wasteful, unnecessary pork-barrel projects.”
The bridge collapse was a horrible thing for our community to go through, even if we did’t know anyone on the bridge that day. This should not become part of the political games. We need to find out what went wrong and make sure that it never…never happens again. Beth in St Paul
New bridges should be built here and not in Iraq. Vote Ron Paul!