Newsweek: Palin Spending Spree Far Exceeded $150,000

[VolcanoJen]

And the hits just keep on comin'! Priceless Paragraphs, emphasis mine, man those Palin Aides hate her, don't they?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581/page/1

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. 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.

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

[EFerrari]

1. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of wallets. n/t

[VolcanoJen]

2. Totally!! And I can't stop laughing at "Wasilla Hillbillies!"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Gotta love the Circular Firing Squad. ;-)

[Buzz Clik]

6. seriously....

[EFerrari]

12. Shopping Barbie!

[npincus]

15. me, too!

Precious! :rofl:

[DeepBlueDem]

41. the Wasilla Hillbillies

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. LMAO!!

Who was it, John Stewart, who called the Palins a "family of grifters"?

[VolcanoJen]

4. Todd got $40,000 in new clothes!!! WTF!!!!

:rofl: :rofl:

[Blaze Diem]

11. They probably pulled a 'grifter' and returned half of them for a cash refund

Check Todd's closet for new snowmobile & hunting attire.

[BrightKnight]

32. If they used clothes to steal campaign money it would not be difficult to prove. - n/t

[smb]

55. How Does A Guy Even SPEND $40K On Clothes?

What, did he buy a dozen of the most expensive custom-tailored suits known to man?

[thereismore]

5. There is a word in AK for Wasilla hillbillies:

Valley trash.

[demo dutch]

7. Campaign complaining??? I'm they're also eager to throw her under the bus

[Matariki]

8. Well I'm grateful to Steve Schmidt for not letting her ruin McCain's classy consession speech.

[polichick]

10. Ditto. I was holding my breath, hoping she wouldn't speak after McCain.

[VolcanoJen]

14. Me too.

McCain was 100 times classier than his supporters, and I actually felt for him, for the first time in this entire campaign.

I, for one, enjoy watching the Republican Circular Firing Squad take their shots at the Wasilla Hillbillies, though!! Damn I love campaign postmortems. :-)

[Ignis]

39. No kidding. Who let those yahoos out in public?

Horrible campaign, but good concession speech. It was nice to see a little touch of the "old" McCain, before he bought into the Rovian bullshit and sold his soul to win at any cost.

He actually looked angry at the idiots booing Obama. I had a brief moment of hope that there's still a real person somewhere in there when he told them to STFU so he could lose gracefully.

[smb]

56. Perhaps McCain Is Ultimately Redeemable

It'll take a lot to overcome his "Karl Rove Is My Master Now" period, but there's always hope.

[nichomachus]

20. Not classy -- hypocritical

As late as Monday, McCain was robocalling Cubans in Miami claiming that Obama was worse than Castro. He has accused Obama of anything you can think of, and has allowed Palin to whip up actual hatred.

That speech was totally out of sync with his campaign. The speech wasn't classy at all. I found it nauseating, knowing how he had behaved during the campaign.

[Matariki]

29. The speech was classy. His campaign was sleazy.

Frankly I wonder how much control he actually had over his own campaign. I'm not excusing him. The fact that he seemed to have so little control over his campaign and choice of running mate makes it even more important that he lost.

[polichick]

9. Can't wait for the movie...

:popcorn:

[glitch]

47. That's what I said. I want the Coen brothers to do it and Frances McDormand to play her

She's best at likeable but she can do dumb evil too.

[Cronopio]

13. More proof that no matter how many times a Rethuglican or libertarian rails against welfare ...

... they will never turn down a handout for themselves.

[Splinter Cell]

16. Typical

What a bunch of fuckin' assholes. They lie about EVERYTHING, even wardrobe. WTF was McSame thinking? He has got to be kicking himself over choosing Palin.

[avaistheone1]

17. Palin was really porking out at the RNC's and staff's expense.

Figures that they "lost" some of the articles. Our can't we just say stolen.

So Palin is also ripping out the charities the clothing was supposed to be delivered to.

[smb]

57. Palin's Designated Charity -- "The Human Fund"

:rofl:

[BrklynLiberal]

18. Didn't the original story say that the barracuda did not do the actual shopping herself?

Obviously, when their lips were moving, they were lying.

No offense to real people who live in trailers. My parents lived in one for a while. But the barracuda and her family give trailer trash a bad name..

I believe it was Jon Stewart who called them grifters..and that is such a perfect description.

A grifter is someone who swindles you through deception or fraud.

Synonyms include fraudster, con artist, cheater, confidence man, scammer, hustler, swindler, etc.

[VolcanoJen]

22. Sure did.

And it's obvious from the Newsweek article that Nicolle Wallace herself is providing a lot of this information to reporters. ;-)

[glitch]

48. Republicons are used to grifters with more finesse, like bushes and cheneys.

And they prefer the taxpayers be the victims, not themselves.

[okieinpain]

19. what's sad to me is they were more then willing to allow this person

to be elected to the vice-president job. it did not matter that she is a complete kook, it was all about winning to them. could you imagine her as president of the united states.

[ErinBerin84]

21. well according to Contessa Brewer just now

liberals should learn from Sarah Palin's authenticity, because that's why people loved her...they WANTED her to wear just jeans, as she "did in the end".


:rofl:

[VolcanoJen]

25. shut UP!!!!

Seriously???? I'm sure Mika Mouse feels the same!!!

:rofl:

[Dukkha]

23. the hillbillies after like they've never seen fine clothing before

well considering some of Palin's outfits look like they came out of Donova's yard sale

[malik flavors]

24. Wow, who gives a shit. Let celebrate Barack! I don't want to be reminded of Palin ever again.

[VolcanoJen]

26. Thanks for kickin my thread

Of course we're celebrating Obama... but we're also a bunch of political junkies around here who enjoy stories like these, and we can actually hold more than one thought or sentiment in our minds at one time.

:dem:

[Kukesa]

28. Oh, let's make fun of her just a little longer. nt

[book_worm]

27. One thing about the Beverly Hillbillies they kept all their old clothes and wore 'em.

[RiverStone]

30. When do we get to see the list of her charitable clothing contributions?

:shrug:

[live love laugh]

31. Obviously she stepped on some toes (and hands). OUCH!!!! nt

[Zomby Woof]

33. This story inspired me

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7792960

[LynneSin]

34. Who wants to take a guess that those close won't go near charity or....

just a few select items.

I won't believe it until we see an itemized list of everything she bought and then an accounting of all those items in a pile that is ready to be turned over to charity.

[yellowcanine]

35. Whoa. If this is true, it is nasty stuff and points to a complete implosion of the McCain Palin

alliance. And if it is not true it is nasty stuff and points to a complete implosion of the McCain Palin alliance. Oy vey.

[glitch]

49. Lol! nt

[smb]

58. "Now, You Die, And We All Move Up In Rank!"

I see it as some mid-level people looking to make their bones and gain a place with one of the other potential GOP contenders for 2012 by taking out the upstart.

[trueblue2007]

36. what would this BITCH have done with the US money if she'd been VP

She would have stolen $$$ from the treasury. She belongs in JAIL !!!!!

[VolcanoJen]

37. From Page Two: Palin in a TOWEL

What the hell!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581/page/2

At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Palin was completely unfazed by the boys' club fraternity she had just joined. One night, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her. After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. "I'll be just a minute," she said.

Actually, there's way juicier stuff for political junkies in that Newsweek piece. For example, McCain's aides huddled the Sunday before the third and final debate, trying to decide if they should tell the candidate the race was essentially over. Wow!! And Secret Service threats to the Obama's increased in mid-September and October, around the time Palin's rallies turned ugly. Be sure to read the whole thing!

[Kukesa]

38. And Dana Bash of CNN found her just hangin' out in the Biltmore lobby

in Arizona today. Just talkin' and waitin' for people to interview her, don't ya know.

Came right over when Dana called out to her, and denied the "diva" title she was given by some of the staffers (wink, wink).

Off to Alaska with her!

:rofl:

[MadinMo]

40. Why wasn't the Barbie on the first plane outta town?

Why was she still hanging around for interviews?

[Flirtus]

42. maybe gramps cut off her allowance?

[Kukesa]

43. Dana Bash thought that was odd, as well. Hmmm . . . nt

[TexasObserver]

44. GREEN ACRES is the place to be.

Darlin' I love you, but give me Park Avenueeee.


If they don't make a sitcom called Palintology, they've missed an opportunity for tv gold.

[RedEarth]

45. Palin is a "Nieman Marxist"

[VolcanoJen]

46. Pffffffffft!!!

:rofl:

[Hieronymus]

50. Wasilla Hillbillies ... A good description of them. She bought a Louis Vuitton

bag for her little kid ... gross.

[Mr. Sparkle]

51. Sarah Palin, The gift that keeps on giving !

:)

[DeepModem Mom]

52. K&R

[SweetieD]

53. Grifter Mentality. Thank god the White House was spared of these people.

[Jed Dilligan]

54. Jumped-up trailer trash behavior at its best.

Before anyone jumps on me, I know it from my own damned family.