I was wrong about Palin – she’s much worse than I thought!
A few weeks ago I asked if I had been too tough on Sarah Palin. I’ve also expressed several times in the past few months how much I was looking forward to the end of this election cycle and the information that would undoubtedly flow from for McCain staffers. Well, the wait is over. Watch this video. It seems that Palin is even more ignorant than I imagined.
This Newsweek article is also worth checking out. They write:
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.
About the Author: Randall H. Miller is an American college educator/blogger. He is also a former U.S. Army officer (82nd Airborne) with a M.A. in Diplomacy (focusing on International Terrorism) and a B.A. in Criminal Justice. Use the form on the right to sign up and receive notifications of new content. The words and ideas expressed here are 100% his own and not those of his employers or affiliated organizations.
The Missing Master Linc | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
Et tu McCain? “Oh, judgement thou art fled to brutish beasts and men have lost their reasoning”.. couldn’t help but recall these lines from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. McCain the ultimate patriot could find no woman in her party who was refined and knowledgeable enough to be his running mate! Should he be pardoned, pitied or both? Or was the choice of Palin simply a way of “getting back” at his fellow citizens for having spurned and derided him for being too old and out of touch? In any case, we dodged a bullet. The true patriots are those made it possible for Palin to continue excelling at her current job as governor of Alaska. As for McCain, he too will have time to reconsider and explain what was going through his mind.
GPalmer | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
He should’ve went with Mitt… The most disappointing thing to me is that McCain folded to party pressure. He forsook the qualities that had defined him and pandered to the neocons (who hate him anyway) with the choice of Palin.
RHM | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
@ Missing Master Linc,
I agree 100%. Choosing Palin and, worse, keeping her after realizing how ill-prepared she is, is not exactly putting “country first.”
@ GPalmer,
I think ANYBODY would have been better than Palin (including several of my students in the political science club here in the Dominican Republic) – but Huckabee could have changed the outcome of this whole race, IMHO.
Jin Jirrie | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
Completely oblivious to the decampment of college educated citizens from their party, the hard right conservatives are hoping Palin is their next presidential candidate. Probably a good idea to encourage their Palintology – it will keep them out in the next election too
dickmill | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
If McCain had chosen Romney, he’d be president. The timing of the financial melt-down couldn’t be predicted, but Romney would have been the ONLY candidate to meet the challenges. McCain even said himself that he needed a VP with financial skills. He blew it.
Even without the financial mess, McCain/Romney might have won.
Frank the Tank | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
She had her 15 minutes of fame. Although she could resurface as the eventual replacement for Ted Stevens as a US Senator from Alaska.
I am looking forward to 2012. I am already thinking Huckabee/Jindal or Romney/Jindal.
Hey, the stock market is down 900 points in the 2 days since the Obamarama beatification. Barack to the rescue, our economic savior. Tax those 401Ks and raise the capital gains tax, you go guy.
RHM | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
@ Frank The Tank,
A little early to be judging the Obama administration, no?
Today’s market performance also coincided with talk of yet another government bailout check. Think that could have had something to do with it? Nah…it must be Obama!
We heard this same stuff in 1992 when “Slick Willy” (a guy I never liked) Clinton took office. We saw lots of taxes raised etc. etc. But they also happened to coincide with some of the best years for investors in recent history.
I’d also submit that the global love-fest about Obama that we’re seeing (while it might sicken you) is GOOD for America. It’s been generations since the world has admired us like this. Anything that helps our brand is likely to help our markets and boost investor confidence. Give it time, my friend.
PorschePurist | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
ummm.. election is over. decision has been made. why is this still news?
Frank the Tank | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
@Randy
The markets are very nervous about what could happen with him as president. The elimination of the 401K as we know it is something that is being pushed by the Democrats in Congress. Imagine the financial chaos in the markets if the pre tax contributions were halted and the government takes over running your retirement savings by forcing someone to contribute 5% of their salary into a government bond fund for a lowsy 3% return. We already have seen the mess politicians have made of social security. You trust them with this? Pelosi, Reid, Rangle and Waxman can do way more to screw things up then Obama and that has me very worried.
RHM | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
Thumbs up to your comment because I admire your passion.
JPS | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
I need to re-read, again, Atlas Shrugged. I was proud to be a conservative (Republican) when it was an intellectual and yes, progressive party. Where are the new intellectual elite (Charles Buckley, Ayn Rand, George Will, etc)?? Now we have to deal with the likes of Sarah Palintology being considered for top positions in the party…she would only set us back a few decades.
JPS | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
Sorry, I mean William F. Buckley in the post above….not Charles Buckley….it’s been so long I’m forgetting their names.
Frank the Tank | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
@JPS
Bobby Jindal.
PorschePurist | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
@JPS,
I think it is Obama and the rest that need to read Ayn Rand. Her philosophy “objectivism” would laugh in the face of the idea of a “redistribution” of wealth.
Who is John Gault?
Frank the Tank | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
What about Milton Friedman? Can’t forget about Uncle Milty.
JPS | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
I need to get to know Jindal better. Haven’t read much about him. Has he written anything?
JPS | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
Gault and Reardon (ie Rand) would puke if they saw the excesses on Wall Street and how they were achieved via cronyism, short cuts and the rest….I highly recommend this letter (see link below) by a hedge fund manager who just called it quits.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/27239479
Jin Jirrie | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
Ayn Rand is a lightweight. Her shallow philosophy boils down to repulsive Malthusian eugenics – let those who cannot compete in the vicious mercantilist marketplace survive on the droppings of the rich, if at all.
A CIVILISED society cares for the sick, the less advantaged, the aged, the unhealthy, the poor. Because tomorrow, it could be YOU with the brain tumour, whose family is turfed out of their house because you can’t pay the medical bills. It could be YOUR daughter who catches a life-threatening disease from the shopping mall, because some people can’t afford to go to the doctor or pay for the treatment of their infection.
It’s been a mark of the Dubya years that the above-mentioned have been neglected, treated as undeserving second class citizens, whilst the rich have become even more obscenely rich in no small way from enticing less advantaged people into mortgages that when the worm turns they cannot afford.
Obama hopefully will end fat cat tax avoidance – it’s time the offshore banking businesses of the real villains cough up with a decent proportion of their loot scalped from those less fortunate.
The US isn’t a country I’ve ever wished to visit or live in – maybe soon, I’ll consider it.
RHM | Nov 7, 2008 | Reply
@ JPS,
I don’t know much about Governor Jindal either, but he seems to have a lot of respect in the GOP and from a lot of Democrats. I’ve heard him speak a few times and he seems pretty bright as well.
Jin Jirrie | Nov 7, 2008 | Reply
Check this out – hasn’t hit the world media yet – Oxford University Chancellor Lord Patten labels Palin a ‘dingbat’.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24619419-12377,00.html
Our ascerbic ex PM Paul Keating was slightly kinder, saying she was ’shanghaied’ and ‘out of her depth’.