Quick fact: Cupp cites Palin putting AK's jet on eBay as the "practical answers" U.S. needs to implement
Criticizing President Obama's proposed job summit, right-wing columnist S.E. Cupp stated that "When Alaska was pelted by the economy, Sarah Palin put the plane up on eBay," suggesting that that is the sort of "practical answer" the United States should implement.
From the November 12 edition of Hannity:
S.E. CUPP: That's right, I mean this is [President Obama's job summit] I think, a clear manipulation and I think it's a transparent effort to sort of, you know, smoke and mirrors redirect our attention. When Alaska was pelted by the economy, Sarah Palin put the plane up on eBay. That's practical answers. This is theory, this is the kind of stuff that happens you know in academia.
Fact: Palin reportedly failed to sell the plane on eBay, eventually hiring an aircraft broker who sold it at a loss
During an interview with anchor Contessa Brewer on the September 9 edition of MSNBC Live, PolitiFact.com's Bill Adair said that Sarah Palin did put a jet airplane owned by the state of Alaska on the Internet auction site eBay, but that "[t]he state was unsuccessful selling it on eBay, and they had to hire an aircraft broker to sell it, ended up selling it for considerably less than the state had paid for it."
According to an April 22, 2007, Anchorage Daily News article:
The state has tried selling its unwanted jet online four times and failed. So last week, the Palin administration signed a contract with an Anchorage aircraft broker who thinks he can succeed where eBay couldn't. "The eBay thing didn't work out very well," said Dan Spencer, director of administrative services for the Department of Public Safety. He's the person charged with trying to get rid of the infamous Westwind II. The administration made a deal last week with Turbo North Aviation, promising the broker a 1.49 percent cut of the selling price.
Neither criticism makes any sense. It'd be like an executive taking a new high level position and being given exclusive use of a year old $90,000 Lexus and he says he doesn't need that for transportation, so he tells the office manager to sell it. So the guy tries to sell it on Ebay for the best offer he got from a broker and that isn't successful, so he sells it to him for $82,000. The fact is, the executive sold an expensive means of transportation that he didn't need that the company can do better things with the money now.
What the hell is wrong with that?
How "practical" are the answers when they're based on a myth? Will Mr. Cupp next suggest buying magic beans that will allow us to climb to a giant's castle so that we can steal a goose that produces golden eggs?
If I put my used car on Ebay to sell and get 10 inquiries, but someone drives by and sees a for sale sign on it and calls me to buy it, what difference does it make. I sold the car and I tried a few different ways to sell it? You guys seem to think the fact Palin's plane wasn't sold 'through Ebay' is of paramount importance, and it's not. It's just nit-picking of the highest order and weird pretentiousness to act like it's a bigger story than the fact she got rid of a wasteful item.
And again, what she said was true, that Palin did in fact put the plane up on eBay. That is a practical solution. The fact the plane sold through a broker does not make what Ms. Cupp said in any way a false statement, and it's false and wrong to depict it that way. It's simply a manipulation of the truth.
Your bad on supporting "manipulation of the truth."
Yes, Palin put the plane up on eBay--AND FAILED TO SELL IT THERE. How is this FAILURE a "practical solution?"
The answer--it's not. It's just more Sarah myth making that can be filed alongside her refusing the funds for the bridge to nowhere (she didn't) and her rejection of the stimulus (she didn't).
If I was going to sell anything of significance, it behooves me as a seller to use as many means of sale as I can. ebay is one of those means.
Sweet Jesus, Midnight, suppose Palin had put an ad in the Anchorage Daily News to sell the plane and see told people that when she got into the office she put an ad out to sell her plane. Would the fact that a broker who was also working on selling the plane nullify the statement that she put an ad out? Really, you guys are weirdly trying to make an issue out of something that is immaterial to the notion that it was a practical thing to do for Palin to sell the jet.
You see, hoosier, that's the thing with Palin. No one has to "suppose" any scenarios with her. Her own words and deeds speak volumes at just how inept she is.
The blog post said she 'implied' she had sold it on eBay. It doesn't say she stated that she had sold it that way, because she didn't. Even the implied is conjecture, though.
The NY 23rd District had been Republican since US Grant was President. In a major Republican victory, they lost the seat to the Democratic candidate!
President Obama lost in Virginia and New Jersey without even being on the ballot! Now in one state the party in the White House had last won in 1985. In the other it was 1977. No matter! It was a referendum on our President and he lost!
Just where the heck have you been, MidnightWriter?
MidnightWriter doesn't respond because he didn't watch the tape before responding; he didn't read the entire blog post; and he didn't even know the original quote from Sarah Palin correctly. All of which he got wrong.
Now you enter to save face for him with off-topic straw man arguments.
Nice system you guys got going here.
At the RNC Convention she said "we put the plane on eBay." That is the truth and nothing but the truth.
But it is not the whole truth - and that is why truth has 3 pillars.
She allowed people to assume the plane was sold on eBay when it was not. That is why she mislead those who were foolish enough to listen to her.
The best thing would have been for her to simply say "So we sold the dang thing." What would have been wrong with that? Only that it just doesn't have the right ring - so she added the eBay part to the story.
Now her "Bridge to Nowhere" story was an out and out lie. No possible defense for that whopper!
You betcha!
She did in fact put it on eBay. How do you or MMFA or anyone for that matter know that the level of interest generated from putting the Governor's jet on eBay wasn't instrumental on its eventual sale through the broker? You don't know that.
Just because it sounds better to say she put it on eBay than to say she did AND she also hired a broker does not make what she said a 'myth', as you are describing it.
You're simply wrong here.
Shame on you, MidnightWriter.
Yet that is the tax program Mrs. Palin pushed through in Alaska.
We, the taxpayers in the other 49 states, subsidize this; those corporations then take that state tax off their income before paying Federal income tax (if any of them do, in fact, actually pay and the odds are better than 2:1 they don't).
Mrs. Palin slammed Mr. Obama for his alleged schemes to redistribute wealth. Yet Sen. McCain stated on national televison it is perfectly fair that people with higher incomes pay higher taxes.
You're making no sense whatsoever; you're just airing gripes you have.
While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for.
That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.
You are right, she doesn't say it was sold there. However, I think the implication is clear. Clear enough to convince her running mate, John McCain to say this while introducing her at a rally...
"You know what i enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay — made a profit,"
So the running mate actually is the one that lied about it (and added another lie about making a profit) however, I have never heard anything about her correcting gramps.
And not to quibble, but the plane could have been sold at less than the original price they paid for it, but still been sold at a profit. Depends on the depreciation factor they used. The fact that she even tried to sell it on eBay is noteworthy for a governor you guys all think is completely clueless, no. It's nothing more than political gimmickry that Bill Clinton was the master of for her to word it like she did in her speech and lets people know she's a little bit more hip than the dumb twit you guys make her out to be. It doesn't mean she was dishonest. It's such a small thing that the left has made such a huge deal out of it that even the reference by someone like SE Cupp still rankles your feathers a full year and four months later.
How much did it cost the state of Alaska to fly Gov'nor Palin and her extended family all over the place?
Almost 3 hours before you posted I quoted precisely what she said at the RNC. Your statement "Every single person here was of the opinion..." is a lie. LIE!
It's not an opinion - it's a fact. One is either right or wrong. We all understand conservatives aren't factually based - that's why so many have an "opinion" about evolution and man-made climate change.
So you're a liar, a fool, or both. Based on your inability to comprehend simple English, I'm going with "Both."
stop, take a breather. you are all talking about politicians. who are out to get as many of you as possible to drink the kool-aid. Hoosier, you've been taking deep gulps of whatever Sarah's been pouring(fruit punch?), you come off as a conserva-nut, even if you are not. you know a white lie when you hear it, and you know that these are all political maneuverings to keep us, you and me, off balance, you know this, there are parts within telling you, but you ignore them, I wonder why?
Midnight - take a breath - you are also sucking down the left-wing(?)kool-aid, I think it's called Mellow-yellow.
The quotes are not the truth. The truth is that Sarah, like any other politician used a "white Lie" to propogate the idea that she's practical, to get into your good graces (hoosier). guess it worked, look at how many words you've spent on her behalf.
tell me something, what's practical about selling something at a loss, when it can still be used for other causes or even traded with then government for other goods? isn't that more practical that just selling it at a loss?
what's practical about not preparing for an interview? The continents, really? and I bet you probably have a defense for this too, I betchat.
What's practical about leaving your elected office a year + early, didn't the people elect you to do a Job? had I voted for her, I'd be really offended.
What's practical about not knowing when you're in over your head?
and with that, I leave you with this...
Politicians never tell you the truth, they just say what you think you want to hear.
Think for yourself My fellow american.
Sarah didn't say that she could see Russia from her house, that was Tina Fey.
Sarah said, "They're our next door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska."
Big difference.
Zogby Poll: Almost No Obama Voters Ace Election Test.
This is what liberal fact-checking websites do for their liberal base, they contribute to the dumbing down of America.
You go around condescending to lefties here, casting aspersions everywhere, calling our intelligence into question. Yet it's you righties who tell people that we libs are the intellectual snobs! People like you are ridiculous and your hypocrisy is astounding.
Look, regardless of your attempts to control the discussion, the point is Sarah said that being geographically close to Russia gave her some credibility on foreign policy. It's a retarded statement and you know it, you just can't get it through your thick, rigidly partisan head that the woman was a miserable VP choice.
And your Zogby poll, besides the fact that it's a blatantly unbalanced political attack, does not necessarily make the point you think it does.
"The 12-question, multiple-choice survey found questions regarding statements linked to Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his vice-presidential running-mate Sarah Palin were far more likely to be answered correctly by Obama voters than questions about statements associated with Obama and Vice-President - Elect Joe Biden."
All that says to me is that Obama voters were more informed about their opponents than Republicans were about their own candidates. Which is the EXACT SAME criticism being levied at Obama voters in the poll. However, Zogby doesn't offer a poll of McCain voters concerning knowledge of their own candidate vs. their opponent. Go figure.
87% of the people polled got a "correct" answer (according to what you quoted) and that means "Almost No Obama Voters Ace Election Test?"
Whiskey Tango Foxtwat?
Other than being a poster child for that series of events, what do you know about it? You can't read and you can't write and you can't think.
We need to trim the fat out of Government. We all win, if we sell the assets that the government isn't producing anything with to someone who will expand the economy with it. This is why we need people like Palin with practical business experience running government. When you have leaders like Obama, whose only experience is with wasteful government programs you get trillions in wasteful spending
However, I'm very sure Mrs. Palin did a terrible job of running Alaska.
Let's just look at one of her projects - the pipeline she brags so much about.
Apparently in her book she says it's a great thing. What are the facts? From her new book:
PALIN: She says her team overseeing the development of a natural gas pipeline set up an open, competitive bidding process that allowed any company to compete for the right to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48.
THE FACTS: Palin characterized the pipeline deal the same way before an AP investigation found her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited a company with ties to her administration, TransCanada Corp. Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders during the process, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.
___
PALIN: Criticizes an aide to her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, for a conflict of interest because the aide represented the state in negotiations over a gas pipeline and then left to work as a handsomely paid lobbyist for ExxonMobil. Palin asserts her administration ended all such arrangements, shoving a wedge in the revolving door between special interests and the state capital.
THE FACTS: Palin ignores her own "revolving door" issue in office; the leader of her own pipeline team was a former lobbyist for a subsidiary of TransCanada, the company that ended up winning the rights to build the pipeline.
- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_palin_book_fact_check
The fact is the pipeline is shaping up to be an absolutely horrible deal for Alaska. And since Alaska is a Federal welfare state, it's going to prove to be an awful deal for the rest of us. If you don't believe that, read:
http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2009/03/17/Governor-Palins-Big-Energy-Battles/
It's well-written, eye-opening - and very, very scary...
The eBay sale attempt had failed by April 22, 2007.
But per-capita personal income in Alaska had risen every year from 2001-2006, and every seasonally-adjusted quarter from 2003 through 2Q2007. Alaska's GDP in 2006 was $41.1B, in 2007 $44.5B. Why would Alaska have been in trouble in 2007? Oil, the underpinning for one-third of Alaska's economy, and most of its government's tax revenue, had doubled in price since 2004.
The recession did not begin until 4Q2007, six months later. GDP did not actually shrink until 1Q2008.
In fact in April of 2007 the economy of Alaska, like that of the rest of the United States, was doing quite well.
In fact the jet was sold because, as the New York Times said, it "came to symbolize the troubles of the former Alaska governor" -- symbols being, of course, the opposite of "practical."
So not only the success of the eBay plane sale, but the entire narrative of Sarah Palin having "practical answers" for "the economy," is an invention.
http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2007/11%20November/D_pages/1107dpg_i.pdf
http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2008/12%20December/D-Pages/1208dpg_i.pdf
http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2009/10%20October/D-Pages/1009dpg_i.pdf
http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/TableView.asp?SelectedTable=1&ViewSeries=NO&Java=no&Request3Place=N&3Place=N&FromView=YES&Freq=Qtr&FirstYear=2006&LastYear=2008&3Place=N&Update=Update&JavaBox=no#Mid
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/25/us/25jet.html
Now once she sold the plane she still attended events throughout Alaska. How did she get there? Did she hire a private plane? Did she end up spending more that way than had she kept the plane in the first place? Also if the next governor ends up deeming it necessary to have a plane, the taxpayers will probably loose money on the whole deal.
My read on this is that it was a publicity stunt. And how no positive impact on the state budget and it likely had a negative impact.
Wonder who paid for those "hunting" expeditions, her or the state of AK?
bsherman makes a charge without any knowledge whatsoever of the numbers involved of owning and maintaining an expensive jet versus what it cost Palin to travel by her own means. mickechuck 1976 agrees and offers none. roundhouse just makes a flat-out false statement. This is how liberals roll.
You need to sell your surliness on eBay and see if you can't find yourself a sense of humor while you're there, drama queen.