Oh I get it. Insulate the politician by letting the spouse take the fall. Unoriginal but it may work.

Huh. I guess the State of Alaska shouldn't have sold that plane after all. After all, everyone knows that the only way to get around Alaska is by small plane.

I thought there was a joke in the headline, but then I realized that when the first Airplane album came out Palin was, maybe, 2 years old.
On the other hand, last night they showed a movie version of McCain's Faith of our Fathers on TV. In one scene, the North Vietnamese were playing Jimi Hendrix for the prisoners. Was that supposed to represent torture? Bad McCain. You've lost my vote, my friend.

Apparently, the plane shouldn't have been used so damn much for its stated purpose, public safety, if the governor wanted it to make speeches and appearances.

So, there was a reason the previous governor had bought a plane for the governor's use - to preserve public safety usages for the public safety plane.

But hey, she got to pretend she'd sold the governor's plane on eBay! You betcha!

Yep, maybe I'll sell my car and start using my employees' cars myself. Good cost savings. Especially if my spouse is trying to get those employees to resign.

Did the First Dude have an official capacity within the governor's office? If not, why is he involved in this matter (Sarah's Airplane) at all?

After all, everyone knows that the only way to get around Alaska is by small plane.

Well, while that's laughable when said about Arizona (this is me flipping you off, Cindy, especially after the past couple of days' performance), to some extent it's true in Alaska. There are numerous towns that are only reachable by plane or the maritime highway (ferry system), and others so distant that reaching them by road is incredibly time consuming.

Actually the most interesting part of the deposition is on page 45 - it's a private investigator's report (hired by Sarah and Todd) about Wooten and some guy at the local dump arguing over a $5 charge for an uncovered load - I kid you not - proving Sarah a truly worthy inheritor of the Cheney mantle

Another piece of Todd Palin's testimony is interesting: his references to Wooten's worker's comp claim. This is the first time we've seen the Palin camp mention this.

Not sure from the ADN coverage whether he was directly questioned about it or brought it up on his own, but if it's the latter it seems like preemptive ass covering now that it's come out that the Palins ordered a state administrator to turn down Wooten's claim. That kind of gubernatorial interference is pretty hard to defend on the grounds that Wooten was a public menace; it reeks of a personal vendetta.

Oops! Here's link to 52 page pdf

After reading this, can you imagine Todd Palin at one of Sally Quinn's cocktail parties?

It's an aeroplane, you damned fool.

Please, please, can we hear more about this tussle over airplane use? Apparently Todd Palin thinks that's an entirely proper reason for firing Monegan, and I'm eager to hear Sarah's take on that. Please?

Why was this fuckwad snowmobile salesman allowed to have contact with public officials in the first place? Worse than Nancy Reagan's meddling.

So, is this excuse number 5 or 6? Really, can't they come up with one story and stick to it?

"snowmobile salesman"
- Apparently, in Alaska, the the term is snow machine, not snowmobile.

Did anybody besides the Palins and surrogates EVER register a complaint against Wooten?

Is it true that in 40+ years Palin only went to Canada once. Was that for the funeral of Alaska Independence Party founder Joe Volger?

Anon: "So, there was a reason the previous governor had bought a plane for the governor's use - to preserve public safety usages for the public safety plane."

Not exactly. The unwanted jet was ostensibly for the Dept. of Public Safety too, with governor trips on the side.

What doesn't make sense is why Monegan would be vindictive about the jet. He wasn't with DPS when they had a jet; he owed his position to Palin, who ran on a "sell the jet" platform.

At least it sounds better than the "fired him because he was too anti-rape" excuse.

Why does Todd Palin remind me so much of Liz Lemon's ex-boyfriend Denis on 30 Rock?

Apparently, in Alaska, the the term is snow machine, not snowmobile.Posted by: J from Wpg

Well, there's another thing they get wrong up there. Here in American we call them snowmobiles.

I'm still waiting to hear what happened to all those emails that Caribou Barbie has refused to turn over to the investigating committee that just happen to have cc: Scott Palin on them. For such a dumbass, she sure learns (from Cheney) fast!

I realize that I'm just an effete urban liberal, but I thought snow machines were what ski areas used when there hadn't been enough precipitation. Snowmobile, from the root words snow and -mobile, meaning to move, is what normal folk call those things. And by normal, I mean someone from America, not Alaska. (I figure that, since she's been "pallin' around" with those separatists up there, she'd consider that distinction a courtesy.)

Anyway, don't the Palin's own their own small plane? Couldn't she have just used that, and then not declared any reimbursement on her taxes? Why'd she get all pissy on the DPS guy?

Wow. Even though a McCain presidency would be a history-altering tragedy, I find myself wanting to know what this guy would do if he were the spouse of the VP. Train wreck? Rare depths of comedy?

Yes. Both of those.

Is it true that in 40+ years Palin only went to Canada once.

Not likely. She spent much of her childhood in Skagway, which is a border town.

I realize that I'm just an effete urban liberal, but I thought snow machines were what ski areas used when there hadn't been enough precipitation. Posted by: biggerbox

Yup. More precisely, snow making machines.