Another MSM Palin Smear

This time from the Washington Post:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.

QandO has the truth of the matter:

Ah, here’s the scandal:

Asked Monday about the official policy on charging for children’s travel expenses, Garnero said: "We cover the expenses of anyone who’s conducting state business. I can’t imagine kids could be doing that."

Uh, well maybe not:

Leighow noted that under state policy, all of the governor’s children are entitled to per diem expenses, even her infant son. "The first family declined the per diem [for] the children," Leighow said. "The amount that they had declined was $4,461, as of August 5."

State policy you say. Huh.

But she’s been abusing state policy, right?

Gov. Palin has spent far less on her personal travel than her predecessor: $93,000 on airfare in 2007, compared with $463,000 spent the year before by her predecessor, Frank Murkowski. He traveled often in an executive jet that Palin called an extravagance during her campaign. She sold it after she was sworn into office.

Good Lord. If this is all you get when you send the foreign legion of the press corp into the wilds of Alaska you can hardly claim to be getting "bang for your buck."

Will they ever tire of embarrassing themselves this year?

This concerted effort at gaining a political "death of a thousand cuts" is getting a little boring.