Did Palin Lie About Putting That Plane On eBay?
One of the most memorable moments of the most watched political speech this campaign cycle was when Sarah Palin said that she’d fought government waste in Alaska by putting her predecessor’s state-owned private jet on eBay.
The media (this time in the form of Obama’s hometown newspaper), scrambling for anything negative to bash Palin with, is claiming that The Barracuda was being somewhat less than honest about that.
When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin sought to illustrate her frugality and flair to delegates at the GOP convention Wednesday, she described how she disposed of a corporate jet acquired by her unpopular predecessor.
“That luxury jet was over the top,” Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said to loud cheers. “I put it on eBay.”
Palin’s statement implied the plane was sold through the online auction site revered for empowering millions of small entrepreneurs, and Palin’s spokeswoman insisted Thursday that the transaction occurred. But the plane failed to sell on eBay.
Instead, the 23-year-old 10-seat Westwind II was sold in August 2007 for $2.1 million to a Valdez, Alaska, entrepreneur; that’s about $300,000 less than a broker’s asking price, according to news accounts.
I don’t know anything about Palin’s spokesperson “insisting” that the plane was actually sold on eBay (I’m certainly not taking the Chicago Tribune’s word on what was said) it’s worth noting that Palin herself never claimed that the plane was sold on eBay. She said she put it on eBay. And she did. She listed the plane on eBay three different times, but unfortunately it failed to sell so in order to unload it she sold it to a local Alaskan businessman.
So not only did Palin not lie, she did put the plane on eBay, her larger point about downsizing government for Alaskan taxpayers is absolutely true. She got rid of the plane.
And good on her for that.
It’s this sort of shallow, baseless attack that is causing most Americans to rally behind Sarah Palin instead of join the liberals and the media (same thing) in their attacks on her.













