Post Script: Palin Even Worse Than we Thought

OK, I said the last post was my last, but this is a kind of post script. Turns out Palin was more of a thorn in the side of the McCain campaign than previously thought. It also turns out her shopping spree was even more splendrific than earlier reported.

This woman truly is a disaster.






Here's the ABC report that finally brings the truth to light:

Strains Between McCain and Palin Aides Go Public

Report: Palin's Wardrobe Is to Be Audited by GOP

By KATE SNOW

Nov. 6, 2008 —

Now that the defeated team of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have gone their separate ways, the knives are out and Palin is the one who is getting filleted.

Revelations from anonymous critics from within the McCain-Palin campaign suggest a number of complaints about the Alaskan governor:

Fox News reports that Palin didn't know Africa was a continent and did not know the member nations of the North American Free Trade Agreement -- the United States, Mexico and Canada -- when she was picked for vice president.

The New York Times reports that McCain aides were outraged when Palin staffers scheduled her to speak with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, a conversation that turned out to be a radio station prank.

Newsweek reports that Palin spent far more than the previously reported $150,000 on clothes for herself and her family.

Several publications say she irked the McCain campaign by asking to make her own concession speech on election night.

The tension is likely to continue or get worse. Lawyers for the Republican National Committee are heading to Alaska to try to account for all the money that was spent on clothing, jewelry and luggage, according to The New York Times.

Reports of agitation between the two camps bubbled up in the final weeks of the campaign as Barack Obama began pulling away and the GOP duo was unable to regain the momentum.

But those reports are no longer in the rumor stage as McCain loyalists are now blasting away at the Alaska governor, who was a favorite of the Republican right during the campaign, but was cited in numerous polls as a reason why many Americans wouldn't vote for the Arizona Republican.

Perhaps the most dangerous allegation for Palin are reports in The New York Times and Newsweek that when she was urged by McCain adviser Nicole Wallace to buy three suits for the Republican convention and three suits for the campaign trail, she went on the now-infamous shopping spree at swank stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

A Republican donor who agreed to foot a majority of the expenses was stunned when he received the bill, Newsweek reported. Both the Times and Newsweek report that the budget for the clothing was expected to be between $20,000 and $25,000. Instead, the amount reported by the Republican National Committee was $150,000.

That wasn't the whole tab, however, according to Newsweek. The magazine claims that Palin leaned on some low-level staffers to put thousands of dollars of additional purchases on their credit cards. The national committee and McCain became aware of the extra expenditures, including clothes for husband Todd Palin, when the staffers sought reimbursement, Newsweek reported.

McCain Aide Calls Palin Family 'Wasilla Hillbillies'

There is one comment in particular from a McCain aide that guaranteed to heighten friction between the two camps. The angry aide described the Palin family shopping spree to Newsweek as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."

It's unclear how much McCain knew about the clothing debacle. Reports suggest that he was kept out of the loop for fear that he would not approve.

Both Newsweek and The New York Times say McCain and Palin had little contact with each other.

"I think it was a difficult relationship," one top McCain official confided to The New York Times. But a high level McCain adviser told ABC News that the two had a good working relationship.

"He likes her," this senior McCain adviser said last week. "He's had no problem with her. He's very appreciative of what she's done."

The adviser said McCain and Palin talked at least once a day. He also said McCain frequently joked about how large Palin's crowds were compared to his.

However, press accounts today suggest that Palin rubbed many of the McCain aides the wrong way. On election night when it was clear that McCain would be giving a concession speech instead of an acceptance speech, Palin approached McCain with a speech in hand hoping to make her own concession speech, according to published reports.

Vice presidential candidates traditionally leave the spotlight to the top of the ticket on election night and McCain aides made it clear to Palin that she would be a spectator that night, not a speaker, The New York Times reported.

And when McCain and Palin split up in Arizona Wednesday, the personal differences were stark.

McCain drove himself home in a Toyota sport utility vehicle. Palin's departure was a grander event. She left with an entourage of 18 family members and friends and a Secret Service detail, heading to the airport in a motorcade stretching more than a dozen vehicles, flanked by a dozen more cops on motorcycles.

FULL ARTICLE

Dress Like Sarah Palin: What Could You Buy with Sarah's Clothing Budget?

This one is just for fun, but thoughtful at the same time.

Let's start with the facts. Verifiable, undeniable facts. Sarah Palin spent $150,000 on clothing and accessories for herself and her family. No one forced her to do this. She did it because she could.

The question is, what could you do with that money, money that represents more than an average American family would spend on clothes IN 80 YEARS!

To play the game - click on the picture:

How Do You Know When Sarah Palin is Lying?

Of the many endearing traits of Sarah Palin that have been revealed to us in the two months she's been in the public eye, none is less attractive than her penchant for lying. And I'm not just talking about little white lies. I'm talking about the kind of whoppers that deserve a whole bar of soap.

What's most unnerving is how good she is at it; the kind of good that says "red" is "yellow"so convincingly that people actually believe it. She's sure got a lot of Republicans fooled. They not only listen to her lies. They repeat them as though they came straight from the mouth of God.

Her biggest whopper was when she was confronted with this:

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 2952.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 2952.110(a) provides

“The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”

to which she responded with this:

"Well, I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."

Then, confronted with the evidence of her excessive expenditures on clothing and accessories to the tune of 150,000 which broke down like this:

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August."

she responds with this:

"It's kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention.

She's also been telling some whoppers about Obama. True, they come mostly from her Republican handlers. But she says them with such relish that you know she's speaking from her heart.

There's the one about Obama being a Marxist (which was convincing enough that a dim-witted local TV reporter fed it back to Biden who was so astonished that he could only say: "Are you kidding?"). And, of course, the one she's been repeating over and over and over again: "He's paling around with terrorists!" (notice the plural). Even McCain found that whopper to be over the top. "Well, you know. Sometimes things get exaggerated in a campaign."

Politicians, we're told, do this kind of thing. They lie. But this is the big leagues; humongous, hit em out of the ballpark lies; all told with such a straight face that some commentators have wondered if she isn't pathological.

The richest part of all this is to hear lying Sarah Palin say that Obama can't be trusted. Not her. Obama. He can't be trusted.

Which for some reason brings to mind that old lawyer joke:



How do you know when Sarah Palin is lying?

Her lips are moving.

Sarah Palin, Hypocrite

In recent interviews Sarah Palin has decried the abuse she has taken from the press over such things as her $150,000 wardrobe and the troopergate scandal. It's because she's a woman, she says, that she gets such negative press. She's "hurt" that they would treat her that way.

But then she turns around yesterday and says this about Obama's associations with Bill Ayers and Dr. Jeremiah Wright in an interview with the scurrilous Sean Hannity:

"What did those characters see in Barack Obama? Why would they have wanted to be associated with him?"

Note what she's insinuating here, that there must be something wrong not with Obama's policies, but with his character. It is character assassination of the most vile form. A man she labels a "terrorist" another "anti-American" are attracted to Obama because they see something of themselves in him. And then she repeats the canard that is patently untrue - that Obama launched his campaign in Ayer's living room as though Ayers himself was behind it.

So what are we to assume here? That it's OK for Sarah Palin to traffic in character assassination and National Enquirer-type slander, but not for the press to take a critical look at her own behaivor? Are we to do as she does - simply dismiss the finding of the investigative body that shows without a doubt that she was guilty of abusing her governor's office, or ask no questions about why it was necessary for her to use Republican campaign funds to buy an extravagant wardrobe for herself and her family while claiming middle-class angst?

The Obama campaign has studiously avoided engaging in the kind of spurious, slanderous attacks Palin and McCain have used to try to discredit their opponents. They have not questioned her character, even though there is good reason to do so. In fact, the one time Obama was asked to speak directly to the question of whether or not he felt Palin was qualified to be president, he did what he could to praise her. Her response has been to find more ways to slime Obama.

There is no reason whatsoever for anyone to feel sorry for what the press has done to Sarah Palin. If anything they've been far too lenient. It's time they took off the kid gloves to expose what she is really about -- pure, unbridled self aggrandizing power.

Champagne Sarah Palin

Here's what the Press is saying about Champagne Sarah's $150,000 wardrobe.

But she feels your pain . . .


CHAMPAGNE SARAH:

$150000 Wardrobe for Palin May Alter Tailor-Made Image
New York Times

Expensive Wardrobe Goes Against McCain-Palin Story Line
Washington Post

Palin's Spending Spree Sheds Light on Campaign's Priorities
ABC News

Did Palin really need 150k for a new wardrobe?
Christian Science Monitor, MA

Hillary Designer: Palin Spending Strange
CBS News, NY - 3 hours ago

Fashion Experts on Palin's $150000 Wardrobe
The Weekly Standard

GOP spent $150000 in donations on Palin's look
The Associated Press

Palin's New Clothes Augur Tax Troubles
Huffington Post, NY

Sarah "I'm Just a Hockey Mom" Palin Spends $150,000 on Clothing and Accessories this Month Alone!

This just in from the New York Daily News.

Turns out that the same Sarah Palin who wants us to believe that she's just a normal down home, struggle-to-make-ends-meet, working class, hockey mom, Joe Six-Pack-loving kind of gal, has been on a clothes shopping spree since she was chosen as the VP candidate. And the Republican National Committee has been picking up the tab. All $150,000 of it!

$150,000 for clothing and accessories for herself and her family. In one month. From some of the ritziest stores in America. The kind that Joe the Plumber would never shop at.

But she feels your pain, so that's OK. Whatever this woman wants, get it for her. She feels your pain.

----------------

Here's the story from the New York Daily News (not that liberal rag from the same city):

RNC spends thousands on dresses, make-up for Sarah Palin & family

By KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Updated Wednesday, October 22nd 2008, 6:25 AM

Jamison/AP

Dressing up Sarah Palin and her family has cost the RNC upwards of $150,000, according to a report. Click HERE to see more of Palin's pricey fashions.

WASHINGTON - Lipstick isn't the only difference between America's top hockey mom and a pit bull.

Sarah Palin also has a spectacular new wardrobe, and Republican campaign donors picked up the breathtaking tab.

The Republican National Committee spent $150,000 on clothing and accessories for the vice presidential candidate and her family since early September, according to a report by the Politico Web site.

At Saks Fifth Avenue stores in Manhattan and St. Louis, the RNC paid for $49,425.74 in Palin apparel, the report said, citing financial disclosure records.

There also was a $75,062.63 shopping spree at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, where the Palins stayed during the Republican National Convention last month; $9.447.71 at Macy's in Minneapolis; and $5,102.71 at Bloomingdale's in New York.

That much cash can buy a closet full of the pumps, hot red leather jackets and form-fitting business suits for the Alaska governor to wear on the stump

Another $4,716.49 on hair and makeup came from the GOP while wooing "Joe Six-Pack" to vote for John McCain, the records showed. And more than $5,000 went to a men's store and a baby clothing store.

FULL ARTICLE