How about this from Ted Stevens himself? From the Washington Post:
Stevens: No Action for ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ by Palin
By Paul Kane
Count Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) as a defender of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s position on the controversial “Bridge to Nowhere” project.
Stevens, who once threatened to resign his Senate seat in 2005 if $223 million for the bridge project was defeated, told reporters today that Palin was never a supporter of the project, which has quickly become a bone of contention in defining the GOP vice-presidential nominee’s self proclaimed image as a maverick reformer who took on “the good ol’ boys network” of Alaska Republicans.
“I don’t remember her ever campaigning for it. As a matter of fact, she was very critical of it at the time. And she took the money and did not use it for the bridge, so you’re wrong, as far as I’m concerned,” Stevens said today.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/08/stevens_no_action_for_bridge_t.html
It is the WAPO, so of course the author feels the need to suggest Stevens might not want to say anything to piss off Sarah, since he’s both recently indicted AND running for re-election, but he seems pretty adamant that she was supportive of the bridge project.
oops - that last sentence should read “he seems pretty adamant that she was NOT supportive of the bridge project.”
Again, the point is that Palin was supportive of the bridge—in fact, she probably still supports the idea of linking the two points; she was not campaigning to get federal funds for the project. When it was clear that the state could not fund the project without state funds, she cancelled it. I don’t see that position as flip-flopping, contradictory, hypocritical, or anything of the sort.