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Al Grillo

FILE - In this July 26, 2009, file photo, then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks in Fairbanks, Alaska. Oh, how the tables have turned. Nervous Democrats are on defense and emboldened Republicans sense opportunity heading into 2010 and the midterm elections. It was just three years ago that the GOP lost the House and Senate as well as governor's mansions in a cross-country Democratic wave. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, FILE)

READER FEEDBACK

FACT CHECK: Palin's book goes rogue on some facts

CALVIN WOODWARD

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Sarah Palin's new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time.

Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition.

Palin goes adrift, at times, on more contemporary issues, too. She criticizes President Barack Obama for pushing through a bailout package that actually was achieved by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush , a package she seemed to support at the time.

A look at some of her statements in "Going Rogue," obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Tuesday:

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PALIN: Says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers" hotels.

THE FACTS: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.

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PALIN: Boasts that she ran her campaign for governor on small donations, mostly from first-time givers, and turned back large checks from big donors if her campaign perceived a conflict of interest.

THE FACTS: Of the roughly $1.3 million she raised for her primary and general election campaigns for governor, more than half came from people and political action committees giving at least $500, according to an AP analysis of her campaign finance reports. The maximum that individual donors could give was $1,000; $2,000 for a PAC.

Of the rest, about $76,000 came from Republican Party committees.

She accepted $1,000 each from a state senator and his wife in the weeks after the two Republican lawmakers' offices were raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into a powerful Alaska oilfield services company. After AP reported those donations during the presidential campaign, she said she would give a comparative sum to charity after the general election in 2010, a date set by state election laws.

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PALIN: Rails against taxpayer-financed bailouts, which she attributes to Obama. She recounts telling daughter Bristol that to succeed in business, "you'll have to be brave enough to fail."

THE FACTS: Palin is blurring the lines between Obama's stimulus plan , a $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and government contracts , and the federal bailout that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed.

Palin's views on bailouts appeared to evolve as McCain's vice presidential running mate. In September 2008, she said "taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution, to the problems on Wall Street." A week later, she said "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy."

During the vice presidential debate in October, Palin praised McCain for being "instrumental in bringing folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout. After that, she said "it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in."

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PALIN: Says Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now, and "showed us how to get out of one. If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes and slay the death tax once and for all."

THE FACTS: The estate tax, which some call the death tax, was not repealed under Reagan and capital gains taxes are lower now than when Reagan was president.

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Comments

Posted 03:04 PM, 11/14/2009

SilverCTS

It is so obvious how biased the Media is. When are they going to write a fact check article on Obama?

Posted 03:25 PM, 11/14/2009

fgomarty

They'll never do that SilverCTS, he is a 'sacred cow'in their eyes. Their silence during the campaign is what enable this fraud to win.

Posted 03:30 PM, 11/14/2009

lester

Gee, I wonder how Matt Apuzzo, Sharon Theimer, Tom Raum, Rita Beamish, Beth Fouhy, H. Josef Hebert, Justin D. Pritchard, Garance Burke, Dan Joling and Lewis Shaine voted in the last election?

Posted 03:49 PM, 11/14/2009

PhillyPhantastico

Last year a similar story made sense. Now it is untimely.

Comment removed.

Posted 04:28 PM, 11/14/2009

bill at

I remember all the fact checking done on books by Obama and the Clintons. I'm sorry, what? lol, the jealousy of these tiny left wing failure media fairies is only exceeded by their weight.

Posted 04:44 PM, 11/14/2009

Jean Valjean

"...travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels," but once while in Manhattan stayed in a pricey hotel? Are there cheap hotels in Manhattan? Why isn't this on the Opinion page?

Posted 04:45 PM, 11/14/2009

Disco Dave

The media looked the other way when presidential wannabe John Edwards impregnated his mistress, however, the CHILDREN of Sarah Palin became front page news.

Posted 05:01 PM, 11/14/2009

Danny55

How about fact checking John Ensign, Terry Sanford, Carrie Prejean, Vitters and others. If you Repubs were smart, you would line up behind a classy, intelligent woman like Heather Wilson, former Republican Congress Woman from New Mexico. She should have been McCain's VP candidate. Unlike Palin, she knows what she is talking about and a person with the highest integrity.

Posted 05:15 PM, 11/14/2009

Fraz

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ for you people too lazy to use google I would advise you not look at the link though...they not only look at Obama but other politicians as well and for some of you FNC viewers your head might end up exploding because it is not used to receiving knowledge

Posted 05:16 PM, 11/14/2009

aam13

the children were front page news because she presses for abstinence and yet she her own daughter proves that it doesn't work. and i agree with Jean, why isn't this on the opinion page?

Posted 05:22 PM, 11/14/2009

Gratefulme

The AP assigned TEN people to fact check this one book and they found 11 things that they considered "rogue facts!" Important topics such as "frugality." What a complete waste of time. Is it any wonder that the old print media is on a rapid downward spiral to irrelevance?

Posted 05:34 PM, 11/14/2009

chilly88

Love the biased look by the liberal media. Fact you have your head so far up Obamas tail you cant see he is destroying the country. That is a fact.

Posted 05:39 PM, 11/14/2009

dude

To the wingnuts, Instead of considering the potential inaccuracy of Palin's claims, you instead immediately divert the attention toward attacks on Obama. This is an example of the mentality that is hurting this country. No problems can be solved when you instantly fight back like a defiant child on every point and issue, just because it's coming from a Dem. As Danny 55 stated, go support an intelligent woman to lead the Reps, but not Palin please. Do you really think that she would make a good Pres? And if you're picking your potential Pres because you like how she talks tough and says whatever is on her mind (even though in most cases she doesn't know what she's talking about), then I suggest that you reevaluate the criteria on which you base leadership.