Anyone watching the town hall from Anchorage on C-SPAN? I can't take it.

Our view: Playing both sides
Murkowski brings home bacon while disparaging government

Sen. Lisa Murkowski may have been trying for a laugh line when she said the following at her town hall meeting Thursday evening: "I don't believe the government should be running health care. The government is good at some things, but don't ask me to tell you what they are."
Or maybe she was just pandering to the anti-government sentiment in that night's crowd.

This much is clear: One thing she thinks "the government" is "good at" is writing checks from the federal treasury to Alaska:

Here's a recent sampling of things she has bragged about in press releases since the last week in June:

Alaska stood to get $24.5 million from a bill funding rural water and waste water disposal grants, Sen. Murkowski announced on Aug. 3.

In the same release, she described rescuing "a $17.5 million high energy cost grant program important to Alaska rural communities." (Leading the attack on that program was none other than her party's 2008 nominee for president, John McCain, who carried Alaska with 59 percent of the vote.)

Sen. Murkowski's July 30 press release touted this news: "Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Labor, Health and Education Appropriations Bill that Includes $20.1 Million for Alaska Projects." That one came right behind a release with this boast: "More than $54 million in projects for Alaska has been included in the Energy and Water Development spending bill that cleared the full Senate today."

July 29: "U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, secured $200,000 for the Abused Women's Aid in Crisis, or AWAIC, shelter in Anchorage."

July 28: "Murkowski Announces $16.8 Million in Funding for Alaska Projects in Appropriations Bill for Health, Education and Labor Departments."

On July 24, she said she would introduce a bill that "would authorize $750 million for 2011 and 2012 for the construction of two polar capable icebreakers." (A good idea, perhaps, but a pretty high price tag coming from someone who has warned against running up the federal deficit.)

On July 6: "The Defense Department would spend nearly $336 million in military construction on Alaska's Army and Air Force installations."

June 25, she noted 14 Alaska items totaling nearly $45 million in the Interior Appropriations bill.

The same day, Sen. Murkowski boasted about $82 million worth of spending in the Commerce, Justice and Science funding bill.

Add it all up, and Sen. Murkowski is aiming to steer well more than $1 billion federal dollars toward Alaska.

Sen. Murkowski continues the congressional tradition of having it both ways: Get all the federal money you can get, while also complaining about federal spending. It would be well for her to at least assure Alaskans that she'll ensure that the money she got will be spent well -- something she didn't do Thursday night. Otherwise she only helps fuel the current popular resentment of the federal government, a process she described to the Daily News editorial board Thursday:

"There is -- I don't know, call it a tipping point or a boiling point, where people are saying, 'Enough already ... You guys -- you're spending a heckuva a lot of money ... It's not only my money, but my kids' money and potentially my grandkids' money and are you sure you're getting it right?'"

BOTTOM LINE: Sen. Murkowski works to bring home federal money while playing to anti-government sentiment.