A PALIN HACK TWO-FER.

September 10, 2008

4:20 PM

It's not surprising to see Rachael Larimore make excuses for Palin's baldfaced lies about the Bridge to Nowhere by 1) carefully omitting her actual statements (she didn't merely claim to have "nixed" the project) and then 2) claiming that all politicians "exaggerate" anyway. Distorting and then making up reasons to ignore Palin's egregious howlers is by now as natural to her apologists as breathing. Having at least half-conceded that McCain's central selling point in favor of Palin is bogus, however, I guess she needed to repeat one undiluted Palin myth. Hence, Larimore discusses "that private jet that Palin sold on eBay."

Again, the facts here are not complex:

Palin didn't sell the jet on eBay. The jet was sold through a broker.
But because she tried to sell the jet on Ebay, the state was out more than a hundred grand in expenses.
And notwithstanding McCain's lie, the plane was ultimately sold at a loss, not a profit. (Larimore at least doesn't repeat this lie, although it's central to the myth.)

McCain and Palin are lying about "selling the jet on Ebay" just as they're lying about the Bridge to Nowhere. Whether Larimore is lying or simply doesn't know what she's talking about I can't say. And needless to say, Larimore's argument that pointing out Palin's lies is some kind of betrayal of feminism is utterly risible.

--Scott Lemieux