Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying

The Politico reports that Republican donors are unhappy with Sarah Palin’s outrageous shopping spree at their expense:

The Republican National Committee’s $150,000 investment in Sarah Palin’s wardrobe has prompted some teeth gnashing among the party’s big donors about its political sensibility and a feisty debate among campaign finance specialists about its legality.

“As a Republican Eagle and a maxed-out contributor to McCain’s general campaign, I’d like my money back – he can still have my vote,” complained one irate donor on Tuesday.

“I’m not one who says a candidate shouldn’t wear fine clothes,” he added. “I’d just like to think they were successful enough in the private sector to have afforded their wardrobe with their own money, not the party’s or the campaign’s, which is really our money as contributors.”

Republican strategist and former McCain advisor, Mike Murphy, has some suggestions for possible GOP spin lines. Among them:

What’s the difference between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom? You can feed a pit-bull for 483 years with 150 grand.

Clearly, Republicans are upset by her $75,000 trip to Nieman Marcus and $49,000 trip to Saks Fifth Avenue, among other things.

Since $150,000 has become so cheap that only a few trips to the clothing store can rack up such numbers, it is worth considering what else can be done with $150,000:

There is probably an insult in there somewhere, but I can’t really be sure.

It must be nice to file and then doctor expense reports while you take your children on trips at taxpayer expense:

Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

…

On Aug. 6, three weeks before Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin his running mate, and after Alaska reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters’ travel.

Not too shabby fleecing the taxpayers. Who wouldn’t mind having the taxpayers put up their children at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel while on "business". Where I come from, this kind of bilking and then doctoring documents is usually called fraud. But, then again, I am not mavericky.

Sarah Palin spends about as much on clothes in a couple of months as Joe The Plumber makes in four years. The Republican National Committee has spent $150,000 on Sarah Palin and her family’s clothes since she was selected as the vice presidential nominee in late August.

Some of Sarah the Hockey Mom’s notable shopping sprees:

• $49,4425.74 at Saks Fifth Avenue
• $75,062.63 at Neiman Marcus

I am going to take a wild guess here. I am going to guess that the simple folks and hockey moms she claims to represent probably do not shop at Saks or Neiman Marcus. This woman is a joke and a fraud.

The Politico reports on Sarah Palin’s excellent adventure:

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

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.

Politico asked the McCain campaign for comment, explicitly noting the $150,000 in expenses for department store shopping and makeup consultation that were incurred immediately after Palin’s announcement. Pre-September reports do not include similar costs.

Spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether it was necessary to spend that much and whether it amounted to one early investment in Palin or if shopping for the vice presidential nominee was ongoing.

“The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent," she said.