Wow Mabel, That’s One Big Well-Funded Post-Modern Symbol Of A Boat!

Despite the fact that it’s now stuck there, why would you keep the Intrepid around? To support the idea of the military without having to touch that whole Iraq business! And you assumed it was because they cared about the country’s proud military history . . . silly you:

As a Navy salvage team works to free the World War II aircraft carrier Intrepid from a mound of mud in the Hudson River, the cost of fixing up the floating museum and its dock is rising to more than $60 million.

And even though the museum is privately run, virtually every dollar for the overhaul will come from taxpayers. Before the Intrepid’s operators sent an S.O.S. call to the Navy two weeks ago, the renovation project had already received pledges of $31 million from the federal government, $23 million from the city and $5 million from the state. Now the Navy is joining in to spend about $3 million to dig the ship out.

This level of government largess for a private museum, though not unprecedented, is rare. But the Intrepid offers elected officials in New York something other museums do not: an opportunity to show their support for the military regardless of their positions on the war in Iraq. Some have been sympathetic to the Intrepid’s plight because the foundation that runs the museum has also provided aid to wounded veterans and their families.

. . .

“The local officials are not for Iraq, but they were for World War II,” said Henry J. Stern, a former city parks commissioner who serves on the board of the Hudson River Park Trust, which controls the Intrepid’s pier. “This is a way of showing their commitment for America’s troops in a manner which is politically correct. It’s almost as if they want a throwback to the good wars, the wars when the country was united.”

Christine C. Quinn, the speaker of the City Council, acknowledged as much. Ms. Quinn, who opposes the war in Iraq, has been one of the Intrepid’s staunchest backers. “Supporting the Intrepid is a way of supporting the men and women in the military,” she said. “It’s even more important for those of us who stood in opposition to be supporters of our troops.”