Bloghouse: After a moment of unity, it's politics as usual

For a brief moment, there was just the bridge. There was the heroism displayed by anonymous Minnesotans who leapt from their cars to aid the victims of the collapses. There was the valiant effort by first responders to help the injured.

All that mattered were the people whose lives were touched -- or ended -- by the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge.

But shock and grief has given way what some call the "blame game," others an accountability moment.

On the left, some bloggers started pointing fingers in the direction of the Republican Party, saying its "no new taxes" fixation played a role in the bridge collapse. As Mark Gisleson at Norwegianity (1) put it, "There were no guilty people on the I-35 bridge, but there are plenty of guilty politicians. ... I can forgive those who confess to having been wrong. I will not, however, be charitable to those who refuse to acknowledge that this tragedy stemmed from specific legislative votes and a governor who used his veto power to herd legislators in the wrong direction. This is not about blame but rather accountability. If hands are not raised, fingers will be pointed."

And on the right, bloggers, such as Michael Brodkorb at Minnesota Democrats Exposed (2) who had a string of "Minnesota Democrats Politicize" posts, were trying to spark outrage against the DFL à la the Wellstone memorial service. Brodkorb even channeled his inner psychic to read the mind of Rep. Melissa Hortman. Hortman told the Denver Post that "you wonder if this bridge was built to withstand the massive heat we have had this summer." In Brodkorb's partisan translator, that meant she was claiming that global warming brought down the bridge. There's blogging, and there's fiction writing -- you be the judge.

In the end, Gisleson may be right. Or Brodkorb may be right (except about Hortman). Perhaps even both.

But, former Stribber Eric Black (3). making a welcome return to the blogosphere, found the perfect balance for the still-unfolding story. "Republicans will accuse (already have) Democrats of trying to capitalize on a tragedy, and that will also be a political assertion. For obvious reasons and in roughly 100 percent of cases, the party that truly doesn't want something politicized is the party that expects to lose politically by said politicization. The bridge was known to be structurally deficient. The Pawlenty-Molnau administration has been in office for four and a half years. Fair or unfair, they will wear this tragedy as a blot on their collective escutcheon. But is it fair? ... Fairness requires acknowledging that although Pawlenty vetoed two gas tax bills that would have provided funds for roads and bridges, he also proposed to increase transportation spending with borrowed money. Fairness requires noting that, although MnDOT turned down a proposal to attach steel plates to shore up the 35W bridge, even if the proposal had been accepted, the work would not have been done in time to prevent the tragedy. But toughness requires that we note that the option MnDOT chose -- more frequent inspections -- didn't do the job. And the fact that the state was worried that drilling the holes necessary to attach the steel plates might have further weakened the already cracking bridge certainly establishes how clearly MnDOT understood that it was leaving a very troubled bridge over the waters."

Return of the gas tax hike

After the disaster, it was almost a given that a hike in the state gas tax would become a reality. Even Gov. Tim Pawlenty signaled that he was willing to compromise on one. But a Survey USA poll this week showed that 57 percent of Minnesotans are opposed to a hike in the tax. Conservative bloggers were quick to jump all over that news.

"Shocking, the politicians are out of touch with the people," wrote Andy Aplikowski at Residual Forces (4). "... And what is more heart warming for me, the higher the tax gets, the lower the support for more is."

Any gas-tax increase is likely to be considered in a special session later this year. Gary Gross at Let Freedom Ring (5) warned DFLers not to try to take advantage of the situation and overreach. "If the DFL ... starts thinking that they can run roughshod over House Republicans, they'll have to contend with our all star goalie [Pawlenty] before facing an electorate that expects people to work together to solve Minnesota's problems. If Democrats [take] the same 'my way or the highway' approach that [they] took last winter, they'll squander what little advantage they had going into the 2007 legislative session."

What about Carol?

It's been a bad week and a half for our lieutenant governor/transportation commissioner. In China when the collapse occurred, Carol Molnau immediately flew back in time to hold an extremely defensive news conference. Her performance at MnDOT had Jeff Fecke of the Blog of the Moderate Left (6) calling for new confirmation hearings for the unconfirmed commissioner. "Bring her forward, and ask her what she knew, and when she knew it. Who knows? Maybe she'll be able to give a reason why she shouldn't be defenestrated from MnDOT. One suspects not, but one never knows."

tobrien@startribune.com

SEE FOR YOURSELF HOW TO FIND THE BLOGS ONLINE

1 Norwegianity • norwegianity.com

2 Minnesota Democrats Exposed • minnesotademocratsexposed.com

3 Eric Black Ink • ericblackink.com

4 Residual Forces • residualforces.com

5 Let Freedom Ring • letfreedomringblog.com

6 Blog of the Moderate Left • moderateleft.com

Oh, that lucky Edwards family!

They couldn't have planned it any better. First, John Edwards runs for president. Then Elizabeth Edwards' cancer returns -- this time an aggressive form that will likely kill her. Sure, he's going to lose his wife and his kids their mother. But think of the donations. That seems to be the belief of Fox News' John Gibson, who has yet to disagree with his radio producer's assertion that Edwards was "a man who whored his wife's cancer as a fundraising gimmick." Really, no shame.