The Palin Bus Hoax has gotten a little play in the mainstream media, fueled by the Alaska bloggers who brought it to their attention. The result is the usual consternation by her supporters that she's being hard done by, instead of ebing seen as the obvious fraud she most certainly is. CNN had a story, as did CBS. And ABC had this on Good Morning America:

It was billed as a bus tour, but Sarah Palin's travels across the country to promote her new book have included several flights on an expensive private jet, her publisher told ABC News.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor, who sold off a private jet belonging to the state calling it "over the top," has been getting around the United States to promote her book aboard a Gulfstream 2 private jet -- at a cost of $4,000 per hour.

And a good piece by Joe McGinniss at The Daily Beast gets it just right:

As much of her entourage, including HarperCollins publicist Tina Andreadis, risked a collective case of White Line Fever, covering more than 3,000 road miles during the book tour’s first week, Sarah Palin herself seems to have remained above it all, apparently cosseted in the luxury of a Gulfstream II 12-passenger jet rented from Universal Jet Aviation of Boca Raton, Florida, at a cost of more than $4,000 per hour.

More than two weeks ago, quoting Andreadis, USA Today reported that Palin would be “making two and sometimes three stops a day, traveling in a bus painted with the cover of her book.” And just before the tour started, Palin herself said on her Facebook page: “I’ll post our progress from the road.” To further the illusion, the populist heroine gave televised interviews from the bus, including one to Greta Van Susteren en route to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. [...]

It seems now that Palin hasn’t been on the bus, except for short hops between local airports and hotels and book-signing sites. Instead, as first reported by the Alaskan blog Palingates, she’s apparently been aboard UJT750, the Gulfstream American twin-jet ...

Both Palin and the publishing house that has invested so many millions of dollars in her seem to have felt it would send the wrong message to let the “common-sense conservative” be seen winging her away across the country just like any other good old-fashioned Republican CEO.