The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin XXIV: "The Rebate Check"

13 Nov 2008 09:55 am

Amanda Coyne of the Alaska Dispatch notices another Palin lie - this time in the infomercial with Greta Van Susteren. Here's the relevant passage:

VAN SUSTEREN: …Most Americans don't understand. What is this $1,200 check these Alaskans are getting?

PALIN: It is the Alaska permanent fund dividend check. Every year as oil development takes place and revenues derived from this development, a chunk of the money goes into the stock market and makes the money for Alaskans and it goes into the permanent fund.

Coyne points out that in fact, this year, Alaskans got a $2,069 Permanent fund check, something one presumes Palin knows. The extra $1,200 came from a massive windfall profits tax on the oil companies. Coyne:

That $1200 was just too specific. The rebate check was one of [Palin's] crowning achievements this year. She took criticism from it from her own party. To some Republican lawmakers, it smelled suspiciously like Socialism.

Actually, just mindless populism, like much of what passes for Palin's "conservatism". But she reflexively lied nonetheless, as she does in almost every interview she has given since she star-burst into Rich Lowry's living room.

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