According to John McCain, on the trail in Wisconsin:
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.
In fact, the luxury jet was sold through a private broker for a $500k loss. According to the Anchorage Daily News’ story from August 20, 2007:
The state paid about $2.6 million for the jet — about half a million more than Reynolds would pay.
Though there are technically two lies, since the plane neither sold on Ebay or was sold for a profit, we’ll consider this a two-for-one special.
Tags: McCain
September 11th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
How is this a lie? It was put on on ebay. Who the heck cares if an ebay user didn’t buy it? SOMEONE did. It was sold. Who cares who bought it?
September 11th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Great question - During her speech at the RNC Sarah Palin was specific that she only listed the plane on Ebay. She didn’t mention selling it.
Why is it important? Well in a general sense we determine character and develop trust based on the actions we see and the words we hear. When those words are untrue it’s an important insight into the character of the candidates.
If no one cared who bought the plane (the ‘who’ is not really in question), then why bring it up at all? If her decision led to a profit or loss was irrelevant, John McCain would not have lied about that detail. I don’t know why he lied, only that he did.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
well said nathan. i want to re-iterate that the point of the site isn’t to point out relevant, big or particularly devious lies as much as it is to point out all lies. “who cares” really isnt as much of a question in this format as it might be in other formats. While we still will ask ourselves personally that question for each lie, our duties continue to point out and tally every lie that we run across - no matter how seemingly mundane.
Thanks for your comments, KMV