NP: The Mars Volta, Octahedron

Duff McDonald at Daily Beast figures out just how much more lucrative going rogue is for Sarah Palin, versus finishing out her term. Sullivan is still stuck on the notion that this is about saving Alaskan taxpayers' money, but as I said yesterday, I think it's more about one single Alaskan household's money. Whether it's a persecution complex, bad math based on current legal fees, or knowledge that investigators have a lot more to find, I think the conclusion was made that being governor of Alaska was going to be a financial drain for her at this point.

Which gives the proclamations a slight veneer of being factual. She's doing what's best for, what, eight Alaskans? So saying it's for Alaskans or for Alaskan taxpayers is not incorrect, technically. If it's good for any Alaskans, the median level of goodness is raised, and thus it's good for all Alaskans. Apparently, she's learned something from the likes of Rove and Cheney about disprovable statements after all.

The taxpayer canard comes across as the "spending more time with the family" line in this instance, which is why it doesn't hold up at all to any scrutiny.