Is Sarah lying...

or does her household just consume more meat, eggs, milk and butter, do you think, than ... flour, rice, bread, chicken,tomatoes, and beans?

I don't know, quite frankly, I don't much care, but I think it's kinda debatable if gas and food prices have fallen off dramatically in recent years. (In terms of per gallon price, it all depends on when you first beginning measuring, it seems. $2.95/gal. currently for gas here, and if you want to get around...)

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sept. 09 to Sept. 10 increases for specific items:

Ground beef: 12 percent
Bacon: 27 percent
Ham: 15 percent
Eggs: 7.7 percent
Milk: 10 percent
Butter: 27 percent
Sugar: 8.6 percent

If you want to argue that double digit increases in American staples such as bacon, milk, and butter don't represent a significant increase because you can buy more bananas, then go right ahead. Is Palin stretching the argument? Maybe. But in terms of a "lie" from a politician, this one is as benign as they come. Selective use of facts is a tried and true practice for politicians. You should focus on the outright lies.

Sullivan: Selective use of facts is not a direct lie - unless it is designed to propagate a general argument which is untrue. So to pick some foodstuffs and not others to confirm your view is dishonest, which is why the overall rate of food prices (which includes declines in, say, flour, rice, bread, chicken,tomatoes, beans) is the only fair measure of grocery prices. And when this modest increase follows a year in which food price increases have been lower than in two decades, you are a liar.

News must be slow this week on the Sarah Palin beat?