political style

Sarah Palin May Have Spent More Than $150,000 on Clothes!

We’re not done talking about Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe. She might have returned some of her designer stash, but last night she wore a $498 Elie Tahari suit, incidentally sold at Neiman Marcus. Going back to her old clothes didn’t last long now, did it? And it sounds like her wardrobe didn’t cost $150,000, but somewhere closer to $200,000. Newsweek is reporting that according to a senior aide, Palin was told to purchase three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. Palin took that to mean she could buy expensive clothes for herself and her family from luxury retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. A source also tells Newsweek a wealthy donor purchased the clothes for Palin and was “shocked” at how much she spent. What’s more, the McCain campaign was furious at Palin’s gratuitous shopping sprees.

But there’s more: Palin reportedly asked low-level staffers to buy clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign wasn’t aware of this until those staffers sought reimbursement last week. Tricky!

One aide estimated that she spent “tens of thousands” more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as “Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast,” and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.


This sentence is so great we’re going to print it again:

An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as “Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast.”


Now that that’s out of our system, let’s see what Palin’s people have to say! An aide told Newsweek:

“Governor Palin was not directing staffers to put anything on their personal credit cards, and anything that staffers put on their credit cards has been reimbursed, like an expense. Nasty and false accusations following a defeat say more about the person who made them than they do about Governor Palin.”


Fbpmpt. They’re right — the truth-seeking media are such haters, and Palin is a poor, poor Valentino-clad victim.

No — you know what? A lot of people defended Palin’s wardrobe because the clothes were seemingly just given to her and it wasn’t really her choice. But all this just proves she knew exactly what she was doing by buying and wearing those clothes. Considering she had the nerve to wear that $498 suit last night, she must really not care how incongruous all this is with her image. Furthermore, aides didn’t tell McCain about Palin’s extravagant spending because they thought he’d be “offended.” In fact, Palin and McCain rarely spoke during the campaign. Now that is horseshit.

Hackers and Spending Sprees [Newsweek via Jezebel]

Sarah Palin May Have Spent More Than $150,000 on Clothes!