Seriously- you might get a few back as a token, but the vast majority are staying right in her closet.
I don’t really see why she should have to either. Her staffers’ salaries weren’t on loan. They didn’t loan the television station money to run the political advertisements. It was a campaign expense. A stupid one, but it was neither illegal nor immoral. Nor returnable, even. She’s worn them on national television! Good luck getting Neiman Marcus to take those back.
So what’s happening is they’re going to spend over $150,000 in legal fees chasing down $150,000 in clothing so they can turn around and donate it to charity. That makes sense.
The RNC is trying to take the clothes back? THEY picked HER right? I think they think that this will look like good money management, but in truth it just looks mean spirited and spiteful.
AND in the end I’m sure it’s going to waste money. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Who are these guys. Oh, right……
I voted for Barack. I’m glad he won. I really don’t have anything against Sara Palin though I thought she was a very poor choice by McCain. And I think ‘ol Todd is probably quite glad he is not going to become part of DC’s social circle. I know I would be.
Palin denies that anybody is coming to Alaska to get the clothes, as does the McCain staff. They are supposedly inventorying everything she brought back here and will either send it back or donate it to a local charity.
Moving thread from IMHO to MPSIMS.
These reports are all coming from anonymous sources. Wake me up when we have a reliable account instead.
Have a nice, long nap then! 
Ooh the indian givers! Of course they are not getting the clothes back that is why she took the campaign plane that held her going away prizes back home. She was the RNC VP contestant and imho she deserves those parting gifts. Besides I’m sure the plane has been emptied already by Todd and his friends and all the loot is now stashed in nondescript warehouses ready for transport to Wasilla.
I’ve done a few financial statements for campaigns and if national ones work the same as local ones they have to list their expenses in pre-defined categories. Using campaign money for personal expenses is against the rules but I think that a good case can be made for buying a reasonable amount of clothing and appearance-related items for campaigning. I think that her expenses are way over the top but I don’t think it was illegal in any way. The clothing for her kids and husband would be a problem if she bought them more than they would use for public appearances, I think. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for the RNC. If they wanted to control her spending then they should have paid more attention to it all along.
I’m sure no Palin fan but this is petty, if it’s true at all.
She and her family were thrust into the national spotlight. The actual dollar figure for the clothing veers all over the landscape but basically outfitting five (?) people for multiple public appearances wouldn’t have been cheap. Nowhere near $100K but still well within $10-$15K would be reasonable considering how many outfits they’d need.
Making the Palin family give the clothes back is just nasty. I’m soooo grateful Palin was defeated but that whole family went through a rigorous time during the election.
They earned the clothes.
Though I’ve wondered how many of these rumors were generated by Palin herself. It certainly casts her in a sympathetic victim/outsider role relative to those nasty Washington RNC insider types.
What is “smoking chronic”? Should that have been “crack”? I can’t keep up with you young folks and your slang.
Palin’s grabbiness doesn’t surprise me. My husband’s brother (also a Fundamentalist) runs a food bank in Colorado Springs. He sorts through it for the best stuff and takes it home.
Chronic = marijuana
Wow. That’s sickening.
WTF?? 
:mad:
What’s confusing about that?
Look, I loathe Palin but she was tapped for the campaign ticket. Silly or not, most often candidates’ families get dragged along for the ride. They were all put under intense public scrutiny and worked killer hours.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to kit out the family for the campaign trail. In fact, it made sense. She–they–needed to look their best because all that folksy, homespun schlock made good sound bytes but Palin needed, badly, to project a credible image. She needed all the frickin’ help she could get, visual or otherwise.
Jimmy Carter was mocked mercilessly for his deliberately down-home cardigans and overall style, and he was much credibility to burn compared to Palin. FWIW, I think Obama hit the exact note with his identical HartMarx suits and occasional jeans. Ditto w/ Michelle Obama with a few “name” pieces but most from standard stores/internet retailers. Palin & Co. couldn’t come across as hayseeds, their vaunted Washington outsiderness or not.
Again, I detest the woman and all she stands for. I hope her political career nosedives and she disappears into well-deserved obscurity. But she and her family did work hard, and did it on behalf of the RNC. I think she’s a liar, a career backstabber and just about as colorful and superficial as all the lipstick she nattered on about.
If they splurged out on obscenely expensive designer items then that’s rather telling, IMO, and a separate issue.
Specifically high-grade marijuana (i.e. not sexy mexy or dirty brown).
As an ex-employee of Neiman Marcus, I can say that it isn’t difficult to spend a ton of money on relatively few articles of clothing while in the store. Throw in a few purses and just a teeny bit of jewelry and you have a total cost that would bring the average person to his knees. If Palin went into that store thinking she had a blank check from the NRC, it’s not surprising that she ran up a big bill. Even so, I think less of the NRC for wanting them back and I didn’t think it was possible for me to think less of the NRC.
You do realize that campaign laws explicitly prohibit purchases of personal clothing, don’t you? If you think the law’s unfair to Republican hockey moms with inappropriate wardrobes, then please have the campaign laws amended–and good luck with that-- but don’t give her a retrospective pass because she didn’t have a blessed thing to wear, the poor dear. She violated the law. She needs to pay for the clothes if she keeps them, or give them–all of 'em–back. Now. Yesterday, in fact.
Or is she above the law?
Of course she earned the clothes. She helped keep McCain out of the White House, just as her Dark Master (Howard Dean) required. You don’t think she’s REALLY as stupid as she seems, do you? NOBODY’S that stupid.
The only question now is whether Dean will uphold his end and remove the explosive charges from the base of her children’s skulls.
Well, considering that she went on and on how they weren’t her clothes and they were on loan from the RNC then it’s only right that she give them back or she’d be a liar. And they don’t need to donate them to charity, they could sell them on ebay and make back some of their money.
But, personally, I don’t have a problem with her keeping the clothes as long as she pays taxes on them.
I seriously doubt she was walking around the state capitol in overalls or flannel shirts. :dubious: The woman was a beauty pageant contestant–tell me she doesn’t she know what looks best on her or the appropriateness of certain outfits. I also doubt she was ignorant of high end fashion–most women know something about it, even if they have no interest in it. I think she was on the take, which seems to run with her character (or lack of it). Paula Poundstone said it best (paraphrased):“She was in the campaign for let’s say 100 days. If you can’t dress well for less than $1500/day, I don’t want you anywhere near a federal budget.” I realize I’m biased, since I cannot see Palin as anything but jumped white trash. But I think the woman was familiar with a business suit and knows how to dress in a professional way. I disliked her jeans on the campaign trail–too casual for the rallies, IMO.
I would have been fine with her keeping the clothes, if that had been the understanding from the get go. I know nothing of legalities of doing so–if keeping them is illegal, then she shouldn’t be allowed to. I think the RNC is in a blather and a mess here–it’s very embarrassing for them. Good.
Sidenote: I wonder if this had been a male candidate and it was found that he had been purchased new suits, if this would be going on. Curious to think on.