MSM Leaves Out Key Point

Why do AP and the Chicago Tribune quote from the Washington Post story, but leave this out?:

Gubernatorial spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Monday that Palin's expenses are not unusual and that, under state policy, the first family could have claimed per diem expenses for each child taken on official business but has not done so.

Why do they leave this out? Because Sarah Palin is not your usual politician. She didn't claim expenses she was entitled to, for traveling to her job 600 miles away on state business.

She's real, in a way Barack Obama is not. And the MSM can't have that. (What's gotten into the Post?) More from the Post, unmentioned in the Trib/AP story:

Speaking from Palin's Anchorage office, Leighow said Palin dealt with the plane and also trimmed other expenses, including forgoing a chef in the governor's mansion because she preferred to cook for her family. The first family's travel is an expected part of the job, she said.

"As a matter of protocol, the governor and the first family are expected to attend community events across the state," she said. "It's absolutely reasonable that the first family participates in community events."

The state finance director, Kim Garnero, said Alaska law exempts the governor's office from elaborate travel regulations. Said Leighow: "The governor is entitled to a per diem, and she claims it."

The popular governor collected the per diem allowance from April 22, four days after the birth of her fifth child, until June 3, when she flew to Juneau for two days. Palin moved her family to the capital during the legislative session last year, but prefers to stay in Wasilla and drive 45 miles to Anchorage to a state office building where she conducts most of her business, aides have said.

Palin rarely sought reimbursement for meals while staying in Anchorage or Wasilla, the reports show.

A woman who dismisses the executive chef and cooks Mac and cheese for her kids in the governor's mansion is to be applauded. Would many do the same? I think not.

And for the record, the Alaskan legislative session lasts 3 months a year, so it is reasonable to expect much travel from home the other months of the year. It's a big state:

At 586,400 square miles, Alaska is the U.S.'s largest state, over twice the size of Texas.
North to South, Alaska is 1,400 miles long.
East to West, it is 2,700 miles wide.
Relative size of Alaska compared to the continental United States
The state's coastline extends over 47,000 miles.

One more point. Air travel is a necessity to the capital, Juneau, 500 miles from the nearest road. Oh, and by the way, Sarah knows how to fly a plane.