Quick fact: Cupp cites Palin putting AK's jet on eBay as the “practical answers” U.S. needs to implement

Written by Brooke Obie

Published

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.