Philly Inquirer's New Palin Slam: She Sold her State's Plane? So What?

http://conservablogs.com/publiusforum/2008/09/10/philly-inquirers-new-palin-slam-she-sold-her-states-plane-so-what/ ^ | 09/10/08 | Warner Todd Huston

[Mobile Vulgus]

Mario Cattabiani of the Philadelphia Inquirer wants you to know that Governor Sarah Palin's selling of her state's plane is no big deal. Why? Well, because Democrat Governor Ed "Fast Eddie" Rendell sold his state's plane, too, and he got a better deal. So, Palin's plane purveying pales next to Rendell's according to Cattabiani. Only, there are quite a few facts that Cattabiani seems to have skipped in his story. So, apparently, the only way for the Philly Inquirer to pooh pooh Palin's efforts is to mislead us about Rendell's. Unfortunately for Cattabiani, his piece ends up being just another way to lie about Palin's record.

Starting out suitably flippant, Cattabiani takes a sarcastic jab at Palin telling her that she should "take a lesson from the Rendell administration on how to sell a state airplane," and then goes on to relate how Rendell sold his state plane at a profit. And Cattabiani then quotes a Rendell crony to the effect that Palin is "inexperienced" because of it all. Naturally, there is no investigation into what sorts of planes the two Governors sold, nor what they were worth because it turns out the Pennsylvanian plane was worth more than the Alaskan plane in the first place -- nor does Cattabiani give the Palin camp any space to reply to the political jab.

According to the Inquirer story, Rendell sold his state plane for "$1.375 million – above its appraised value and several hundred thousand more than the state paid for it 16 years ago." On the other hand, the story claims, Palin sold the Alaskan plane for "$2.1 million - less than the $2.7 million that Alaskan taxpayers paid for it under a past administration."

On the surface, it sounds like Palin ended up with a bad deal. The truth, however, is a bit more complicated than that. It is also something that Cattabiani didn't bother to look into...

Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

[Mobile Vulgus]

These media guys really have gall, eh?

[mortal19440]

This is why I canceled my subscription to this Fishwrapper during the last presidential election.

[LRS]

How long before the National Enquirer comes up with a story quoting unnamed sources, that the Alaskan plane couldn't sell because of all the caribou antlers, moose guts, and drug residue from wild Oxycontin smoking parties?

[RexBeach]

Not only do they have a lot of nerve, they are running scared.

Very, very scared.

I’ll bet Gov. Rendell has never field dressed a moose!

[pburgh01]

Who cares about Philly, another liberal craphole ciity, like Detroit. One half the city, effite WASPy, animal loving, white wine drinking, Volvo driving, $150 new Balance running shoes wearing white guilt socialist the other half well we know who they are, card carrying memmbers of the parasite class. The suburbs there is hope but the city, if the earth opened up and swallowed it up, I would’nt cry one tear.

[Yo-Yo]

Michigan Govenor John Engler(R) started this craze back in 1991 by selling off the helicopter that was used by Govenor Jim Blanchard(D) whom he defeated. Engler instead drove a (Lansing built) Oldsmobile around the state.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Well, it’s just time for another pissing contest. Good Democrat Ed Rendell did a better job of selling unneeded airplanes. Evil Republican Sarah Palin didn’t make back money for the taxpayers. Advantage : Democrat

[RexBeach]

Yup. Once upon a time, Philly was a fine city. But now it has turned into something out of the Third World(like much of DC, btw).

[RexBeach]

Yup. Once upon a time, Philly was a fine city. But now it has turned into something out of the Third World(like much of DC, btw).

[Russ]

Rendell raised our income taxes here in Pa. Palin gave money back to the people of Alaska.

Palin fought special interest groups in Alaska, Rendell curries their favor (the gambling interests and trial lawyers to name two) here in Pa.

Which one would you rather have as your governor?

[secret garden]

Wait a minute. I am a WASP, drive a Volvo, love and own several animals, and wear expensive running shoes. I also vote republican. You can’t judge a book by its cover.

[NativeSon]

I was born, raised and grew up in Philly... It was a great place. We never locked our doors, everyone knew each other.

It was a fun place to be a kid. It was my entire world and my extended family had been there for generations.

By the late 70's, early 80's only my immediate family held out. Philly was heading into the toilet. It was becoming "us vs them" in many ways. The city started to resemble a bullseye of class/crime. Good places to live surrounded by bands of h*ll that fed off of the good citizens.

[Oatka]

A rough calculation (difference in cost of flying divided into loss incurred in sale - ($800 into $600,000) shows that 750 hours of flying by other means would make up for the loss. So the question is, if Alaska pols who usually flew the State jet flew commercial for a total of more than 750 hours, Alaska is ahead of the game.

I didn’t count the airfares (first class no doubt) but a few more flying hours at $800 an hour would cancel that out.

So, how many air hours have Alaskan pols flown since the sale? Inquiring minds and all that.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I would much rather have Palin as my governor than Ed Rendell. And maybe soon we’ll all call her Madame Vice-President.

[domeika]

I'm outside of Philly and every once in a while they call offering subscriptions. I tell them "No thanks, it's a leftist rag, have a nice day". BTW...This is the same viewspaper that ran an article recently stating that if b. husseiny loses there might be race riots. Oh golly gee I better vote for obama then or there's gonna be trouble! (Puh-Lease.)

[School of Rational Thought]

It is important to read the comments below to get to the bottom of this puff piece.

The Enquirer is losing circulation like most leftist rags.

[Eagle of Liberty]

Contrast Palin selling HER plane with what Pelosi did:

Pelosi Jet Request Sparks Debate:

Before the 2006 elections, the speaker was Republican Dennis Hastert of Illinois. Now it's California Democrat Nancy Pelosi, and she may be getting some more leg room. Pelosi reportedly is asking for a much bigger jet — a government version of the Boeing 757 that can make the trip between Washington and her San Francisco home without stopping to refuel.

[basil]

ping!

[xp38]

She sold it and then flew commercial and saved the taxpayers a lot of money. It’s not just the initial sale but the ongoing savings as well.

[Tallguy]

Ed Rendell would rather have his State Police driven Limo run people over on the PA Turnpike while doing 90-100 mph so that he can get out of the State Capitol & back to Philly for the next Eagles game. When he got called on it he promised to have his driver keep it "under 80 mph". FYI: the posted limit for the PA Turnpike is 65 mph and it drops down to 55 between Valley Forge & the Delaware River.

Jon Corzine, Gov. of New Jersey, was involved in a major accident while his limo was driving a similar profile. They tried to pin the accident on some guy in a "red pickup" when it was their sheer speed in overtaking another vehicle that contributed to the loss of control. Imagine being the other driver when your state's governor tries to hang that one on ya?