Remember this line in her speech?

“That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.”

Huge applause.

Except that, well, it’s only kinda-sorta true. Palin did indeed put the jet up for auction on eBay, but it didn’t sell (as we were clearly supposed to think it did).

The state finally gave the plane to an aircraft broker, who sold it for $2.1 million—or $400, 000 less than the price the state wanted when it put the plane on eBay.

(And, coincidentally, the amount that Palin spent on an ad campaign trying to convince Alaskans to support shooting wolves from helicopters.)

What’s telling about this, I think, is that the line edges right up to the proximity of falsehood—in order to make a political point and generate applause.

In other words, it’s not so much the single instance that is disturbing, it’s the technique. How far can we push this without actually being dishonest?

It was a great line, yes. Absolutely worked. But to the extent that this is Palin’s modus operandi, will it hurt her credibility over the next few weeks?