Sarah Palin's perpetual problem with planes.

I recently sat down in a local coffee shop with a source close to an ex-staff member of Governor Palin's. I had heard that this person had some very interesting information concerning Sarah Palin and the challenges air travel seemed to present for her. And they did indeed.

When Governor Palin came into office there were three planes available for her to use. Two King Air's and, of course, the jet Governor Murkowski had purchased and that Palin had used as an example of extravagance during her battle for the Republican nomination.

Since Sarah had used the jet as an example of overspending by the previous administration, she obviously could not be seen flying around in it during her term. This was, of course, before she ultimately sold it, not on E-bay like she claimed, but instead to the owner of a sporting goods company. However to cut costs she also did away with one of the two remaining King Air's.

Which left the Governor with only one plane to use for flying around Alaska. A plane that she also had to share with the state troopers, who used it to transport prisoners back and forth across the state.

Often the Governor would request the plane only to learn that it was not available. This caused Sarah to form a conspiracy theory in which she suspected that she was purposefully being denied access to the plane, as punishment for getting rid of the other two planes. In fact it was simply that the single plane did not adequately meet the needs of both the governor and the state troopers.

So this meant that when Governor Palin did fly she would often have to fly on a commercial airline.

Now the state will pay to fly the governor just about anywhere on state business, but that entitlement does not extend to the rest of the family. The state will pay to fly the whole family to Juneau at beginning of the legislative session, and then back home at the end, but all other family travel expenses come out of the Governor's pocket. This was something that Sarah Palin did not fully understand.

When Sarah was finally confronted with a bill for her family's transportation expense she was, according to my source, "livid"! You see even in the early days of her administration Sarah took Piper with her just about everywhere, including on plane trips for official business. After she received the bill Palin decided that if the event did not specifically invite her children, or at least Piper, than she was simply not going. And she didn't. As matter of fact, Palin flew less than any other governor before her.

And another thing that set her apart from her predecessors was what she DID while flying. Both Tony Knowles and Frank Murkowski always carried huge briefcases stuffed with work in need of attention. But Sarah flew almost completely unencumbered with such distractions, and instead spent her time reading US magazine or some other gossip filled rag. (Too bad Katie Couric did not ask Sarah about the goings on with "Brangelina" THAT might have been a topic in which she was conversant.)

Since I was talking to somebody who had access to such interesting and intimate details of Palin's air travels, I realized I needed to ask about the most famous Palin flight of all. The Wild Ride.

And this is what I learned.

There was a lot of concern expressed by the Governor's staff concerning her flying to Texas for that energy conference so late in her “pregnancy”, but the governor ignored them. (No surprise there.)

Before departure from the Anchorage airport she, and Todd, were met by her security detail who cleared her so she did not have to go through the regular airport screenings and escorted her right onto the airplane. No one from her security detail flew to Texas, which was highly unusual, but they did arrange for her to be met by somebody at the airport. When she was ready to return from Texas she was again allowed to bypass security and simply board the plane. (Remember how everybody wondered over at Palin's Deceptions how Sarah could have manged to get through airport security if she was wearing an Empathy Belly? And why she would have risked discovery? Well now we learn that she did NOT have to go through the security checkpoints like everybody else. And of course she knew that, now didn't she?)

When she arrived back in town there is no record of any security detail meeting her, as is common, and she and Todd drove from the airport all the way to the Mat-Su hospital without escort. Now WHY would anybody, who had felt “a strange sensation” low in their belly and told the Anchorage Daily News they were leaking amniotic fluid, NOT have asked for a security detail to meet them at the airport and help them to get to a hospital all the way in the Valley in a timely manner?

Even considering how bizarre Sarah's thinking may have been, what husband whose wife was about to give birth would pass up the opportunity to have a security detail escort them to the hospital? Personally I would have jumped on that in a heart beat.

All of this information fits very well with other things we have heard from those who were once close to Palin's administration, and are now talking. She is consistently described as somebody who was never ready for the job, and had no idea how to do it.

It is just crazy that ANYBODY would consider this person equipped for the job of President of the United States.