+++
UPDATE: SARAH PALIN REACTS ON FACEOOK, MENTIONS THE FAKE PREGNANCY ALLEGATIONS AND TAKES A STAB AT PALINGATES!
I absolutely knew that this would happen. Sarah Palin is just too predictable.
Sarah, I have a message for you:
You are liar and a fraud who has not only faked a pregnancy while being a Governor and then used the child constantly as a prop, but you are also severely mentally disturbed and should have no place in politics.
By the way, we are still waiting for the letter from your lawyer, for over a year now! Has it gone into the spam-folder?
Sarah, if you have nothing to hide about your "bus tour": Can you tell me why Harper Collins distorted the reality of your trip yesterday in a statement? (see below!)
Hey Sarah, now we have a conversation going!
Sarah, I would like to show you so many things - what about this clip - say hello to Michael Carey:
More will follow! ;-)
Well, here is more (click to enlarge):
Graphics created by our reader WayOfPeace,
Slideshow courtesy of our fellow blogger and Trig Truther Bree Palin!
Sarah wrote today on her facebook:
"Media's Priorities Shine Bright, Again! :)
Today at 1:40pm
It’s really comical at this point! Despite all of the important events happening in the world today – the president’s speech tonight on the strategy in Afghanistan, the Senate debate over health care reform, the disturbing details of the “Climategate” scandal, the continuing challenges facing the world economy – the media is concerned about my travel and lodging arrangements on my book tour?! Does this sound familiar? It should. The media showed the same out-of-proportion obsession with my personal arrangements, clothes, and hairstyles last year instead of focusing on the crucial issues involving the election.
So what is this news “story”? That I fly on an airplane to complete some of the stops on my book tour when it’s impractical or physically impossible to reach the next event on time by bus. Some news outlets are behaving as if my travel was a secret that they didn’t know about – despite the fact that I’ve tweeted about my flights and at least one local newspaper reported on the arrival of my flight into Rochester, NY. What’s even funnier is that these same media outlets think it’s shocking that we stay in hotels. I guess they expected us to pitch a tent alongside the road. We love the great outdoors, but such an arrangement is hardly practical for a book tour. Using common sense, it was determined that traveling by plane between some stops would save time and energy and allow me to go to more events. Economically speaking for HarperCollins, it’s more efficient to travel by charter, and I am very grateful to the publisher for providing my family and me with this incredible opportunity to shake hands with as many Americans as possible on this book tour.
If you’re scratching your head wondering why my flight and hotel logistics warrant news coverage, join the club. They can, of course, report on whatever they like, but in my opinion CBS loses whatever professional integrity it still has when it links in its report to a website devoted to the bizarre conspiracy theory that I’m not the real mother of my son Trig.
I’m truly humbled by the response to my book tour by everyday Americans, and if traveling by plane means that I can meet more of these wonderful people, I’ll travel by plane (or bus or train or canoe or dog sled or whatever it takes). Please enjoy the photos below!
- Sarah Palin"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (end of update)
Start of original post:
When I was nearing the end of this blog post, CNN reported that in contrast to the original statement by Harper Collins, Jason Rechter, an aide to Sarah Palin, had now admitted that Sarah Palin actually was present on five flights with the hired Gulfstream plane during the book tour (not counting the flight back to Tri-Cities for Thanksgiving, which would have been the sixth flight!).
The premise of this post was to prove that the original statement which was given by Tina Andreadis of Harper Collins was wrong – she had confirmed yesterday that Sarah used the Gulfstream plane only on three occasions during the book tour, which was a factually wrong statement.
The original statement by Harper Collins as reported by theplumline.com:
"Tina Andreadis, a spokesperson for Palin publisher HarperCollins, confirmed to me that Palin did in fact take three plane trips by privately chartered jet, flying to stops in Michigan, Rochester, NY, and Birmingham, AL."
Therefore, the post has now been overtaken by the events, but I will still publish it in order to show the exact extent of the travel. Furthermore, I still cannot understand why Harper Collins decided yesterday to release a false statement (after they first announced that they would not comment on the "logistics" of the bus tour at all!).
CNN reported today:
"An aide to Sarah Palin downplayed reports Tuesday about the former Alaska governor's use of a private jet during certain legs of a national bus tour to promote her memoir, "Going Rogue."
While it's not unusual for political figures to fly from state to state before hopping on a bus to head to events, Palin is taking heat for using a private jet for some of her travels, with one report claiming that the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee flew in style while leaving her staff behind to ride the bus during long journeys.
But Jason Recher, who is traveling with Palin and coordinating logistics for the tour, said that's not true.
Palin was joined by her family and a handful of staffers on each flight leg, said Recher, who noted that the jet was paid for by Palin's publisher, Harper Collins. He said the publisher originally wanted all of the book tour travel to be by plane, but Palin lobbied for a bus tour.
The private jet transported the Palin entourage for several legs of the tour, including from New York City to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the beginning of the tour last month. The bus then took them to book signings in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania before the group boarded the plane to Rochester, New York. The private plane was also used for flights from Rochester to Roanoke, Virginia; from Fayetteville, North Carolina to Birmingham, Alabama; and from Birmingham to Jacksonville, Florida.
Palin also took to the skies to visit with Billy and Franklin Graham in Montreat, North Carolina on November 22, but not on Harper Collins' dime. Instead, she was picked up in Roanoke on Franklin Graham's provate plane and flown to Billy Graham's mountaintop home. That plane took Palin on to Fayetteville after the private visit.
Recher calculated that Palin and the people traveling with her spent about 24 hours total on board the "Going Rogue" bus during the first seven days of the book tour."
THE GENERAL PROBLEM, IN SHORT:
"The tour will last about three weeks, with a break for Thanksgiving, and will end around Dec. 10, after which the increase in holiday shoppers makes it difficult for stores to hold events, Andreadis said. Palin will travel by bus for much of the time, likely accompanied by family and by aide Meg Stapleton."
Source: Harper Collins spokeswoman Tina Andreadis talks about "bus tour" - MSNBC
Source: Harper Collins spokeswoman Tina Andreadis talks about "bus tour" - MSNBC
In contrast:
"(Sarah Palin's aide) Recher calculated that Palin and the people traveling with her spent about 24 hours total on board the "Going Rogue" bus during the first seven days of the book tour."
Source: CNN reports about the facts of Palin's "bus tour"
+++
Source: CNN reports about the facts of Palin's "bus tour"
+++
However, in seven days, according to CNN, she only spent 24 hours in the bus! The rest of the transport was done by private plane. That qualifies as a "road trip"?
Click to enlarge:
(h/t ArmchairJane!)+++
Please also note that Harper Collins have still not corrected themselves about the number of the flights!
+++
Here is my post about the facts of the book tour:
The complete flight log of the plane (click to enlarge):
FIRST FLIGHT:
November 18: Teterboro – Westchester County
Departure 8:32 AM EST
Arrival 8:45 AM EST
THE FACTS:
Sarah did an interview with Barbara Walters on November 17, 2009 in New York.
I don’t think that Sarah was on the plane when it flew from Teterboro to Westchester County on the morning of November 18. I have spoken to somebody who knows both airports and I am convinced that she boarded the plane at Westchester County airport, which is an airport which allows much greater privacy.
CONCLUSION:
Sarah was not on this flight.
+++
SECOND FLIGHT:
November 18: Westchester County – Gerald Ford International, Grand Rapids, MI.
Departure 12:06 PM EST
Arrival 01:22 PM EST
THE FACTS:
Sarah Palin had a book signing in the evening of November 18 at Barnes & Nobles in Grand Rapids, MI. It is undisputed that she took her private plane to Grand Rapids.
CONCLUSION:
Sarah was definitely on this flight (COUNT: SARAH FLIGHT NO 1)
+++
THIRD FLIGHT:
November 18: Gerald R. Ford International, MI – Washington County Airport PA
Departure: 3:11 PM EST
Arrival: 4:00 PM EST
THE FACTS:
Sarah Palin had no more book signings on November 18, after the one in Grand Rapids, MI. She had two books signings in Indiana on November 19. Therefore the plane just flew to Washington County airport without her in order to pick her up again on November 21.
CONCLUSION:
Sarah was not on this flight.
+++
FOURTH FLIGHT:
November 21: Washington County WA – Greater Rochester International NY
Departure: 3:24 PM EST
Arrival: 3:56 PM EST
THE FACTS:
Sarah Palin had her first book signing on November 21 at 11:00 AM at the Sam's Club in Washington, PA. She then took the plane to Rochester NY, where she had another book signing at 6:00 PM. This flight is undisputed.
CONCLUSION:
Sarah was definitely on this flight (COUNT: SARAH FLIGHT NO 2)
+++
FIFTH FLIGHT:
November 21: Greater Rochester International NY – Roanoke Regional VA
Departure: 9:43 PM EST
Arrival: 10:38 PM EST
THE FACTS:
On November 22, Governor Palin had an 11:00 AM book signing at the Barnes & Noble in Roanoke, VA followed by dinner with the Rev. Billy Graham later that day at his home in Montreat, NC (to which she used a plane provided by “Samaritan Purse”).
This flight was not mentioned in the “three stops” that Harper Collins had admitted. This is inexplicable. Sarah Palin herself twittered on the morning of November 21:
"Landed in VA/swung by overnight campers to say "thx & we'll see u again tmorrw!" Reminiscent of Alaskan camping trips-slash-tailgate parties"
Therefore Sarah Palin admitted herself that she was on this flight, which is entirely consistent with the flight log. The conclusion is therefore inevitable that the statement by Harper Collins as reported by Greg Sargent at theplumline.com is FALSE, because the flight to VA is omitted in the statement.
CONCLUSION:
Sarah was definitely on this flight (COUNT: SARAH FLIGHT NO 3) - NOW FINALLY CONFIRMED BY CNN!
+++
SIXTH FLIGHT:
November 21: Roanoke Regional VA – Fayetteville Regional NC
Departure: 11:43 PM EST
Arrival: 12:00 PM EST
THE FACTS:
The plane flew without Sarah Palin, who had her book signing at Fort Bragg, NC, which is just next to Fayetteville Regional, NC, only on November 23 at 11:00 AM. The plane waited for Sarah at Fayetteville Regional from November 21 – November 23.
CONCLUSION:
Sarah was not on this flight.
+++
SEVENTH FLIGHT:
November 23: Fayetteville Regional NC – Birmingham Shuttlesworth AL
Departure: 3:40 PM EST
Arrival: 3:47 PM CST
THE FACTS:
This trip is undisputed. Harper Collins acknowledges that she was on the plane.
CONCLUSION:
Sarah was definitely on this flight (COUNT: SARAH FLIGHT NO 4)
+++
EIGHTH FLIGHT:
November 23: Birmingham Shuttlesworth AL – Jacksonville International FL
Departure: 8:12 PM CST
Arrival: 10:09 PM EST
THE FACTS:
On the day before, on November 23, she started her last book signing at the Books-A-Million store in Birmingham at 4:30 PM.
On November 24, Sarah Palin had a busy day in Florida. She had three book signings. Her first book signing was at the Books-A-Million in Jacksonville at 9:00 AM.
Again, it is inexplicable that Harper Collins has omitted this flight in their statement.
In theory it’s possible that Sarah Palin could have taken the bus from Birmingam AL to Jacksonville FL. The map shows that the journey would have taken at least 7 ½ hours, therefore it would be “do-able” over night.
However, it seems extremely unlikely that this was the case. Sarah’s plane took off about one hour after her last book-signing in Birmingham had finished – should we really believe that it went without her and that Sarah instead preferred a long bus tour overnight, which she knew would be followed the next day by a gruelling bus tour through Florida with three stops on November 24 (Jacksonville, The Villages, Orlando). I don’t think so!
As I had noted in a previous post, even C4P believed that she took the plane to Jacksonville, in their article in which they showed their outrage about this “faux scandal”.
It defies all rules of logic to believe that Sarah was not on this plane, and it’s also not consistent with the overall pattern of the flights during this book tour. The only “empty” flights up to this point were those ones where she didn’t need to be on the plane. Here, the plane took off about an hour after the book signing was finished and she needed to be in Jacksonville early the next morning. It can safely be concluded that Sarah flew to Jacksonville and spent the night from November 23 to November 24 in a hotel.
There is one extremely interesting point about this trip to Jacksonville:
On the morning of November 24, Sarah Palin had twittered that she was “on bus to Jacksonville”, therefore deliberately setting an impression that she actually travelled to Jacksonville by bus:
The fact that Harper Collins and Sarah Palin were deliberately giving a false impression about the tour, saying right from the start that it would mainly be a bus tour, when in fact it was mainly a plane tour with overnight-stays in hotels, is the reason why we felt it was necessary to expose this behaviour, which was classic Palin style – “Bible Spice” in action.
CONCLUSION:
There can be no reasonable doubt that Sarah was on the flight (COUNT: SARAH FLIGHT NO 5) – NOW FINALLY CONFIRMED BY CNN!
+++
NINTH FLIGHT:
November 23: Jacksonville FL – Orlando FL
Departure: 11:01 PM EST
Arrival: 11:25 PM EST
THE FACTS:
It’s clear that this was an empty flight, and that the plane was flying to Orlando in order to pick her up on November 25.
CONCLUSION:
Sarah was not on this flight.
+++
TENTH FLIGHT:
November 25: Orlando FL – Tri-Cities WA
Departure: 2:40 PM EST
Arrival: 4:47 PM PST
THE FACTS:
This flight is undisputed, as the media reported her arrival at the airport in Tri-Cities. This event started the whole “planegate” saga, as our reader “snowbilly” found the registration number of the Gulfstream plane in the flight list, and palingates afterwards discovered the complete flight-logs and broke the story, which then went viral, nationally and internationally.
CONCLUSION:
Sarah was on the flight, but this flight arguably was not directly related to the book-tour, because she flew to a private gathering for Thanksgiving in Tri-Cities (where Todd was conspicuously absent, because he apparently had to “fix the roof” in icy-cold weather in Wasilla…).
+++
Word of advice to Harper Collins:
Don't throw yourself under the bus for the Quitter Queen! As others have found out before you: Sarah Palin is just about one thing, and that is: Sarah Palin.
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