Politics | 11/12/2008 6:00 am

Palin Innocent in Shopping Spree Scandal, Says Source

Insider sources exonerate Palin in clothing debacle, but raise even more mysterious questions…

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Sarah Palin caught a lot of flack for spending an alleged $150,000 on her campaign-ready wardrobe. The matter’s been fodder for plenty of press, but Gov. Palin finally spoke out this week and told Fox News’s Greta van Susteren that she had nothing to do with the controversial shopping sprees at upscale shops. Said the former vice-presidential candidate, "[I] did not order the clothes. Did not ask for the clothes. I would have been happy to wear my own clothes from day one."

Today, a source close to John McCain’s presidential campaign revealed exclusively to wowOwow that it was two stylists who often do work for CBS journalist Katie Couric who were hired by former CBS News political analyst and McCain senior strategist, Nicolle Wallace, around the time of the Republican National Convention. Wallace had worked for CBS Evening News until May 2008 when she left to work on the McCain campaign. Said the source, "They weren’t given any budget or parameters. They just told the stylists to work for her, because coming from Alaska, she needed a new look. She was a small-town girl who needed to look like a big-city girl."

Wallace is close friends with Couric. Couric would go on to get the second major interview and the longest television time with the former Republican vice-presidential candidate.

The two stylists, whose names have not been released, were the ones who bought the controversial wardrobe that Palin went on to wear. The source said that Sarah Palin "was used to wearing Ann Taylor and then all of a sudden, clothing was being brought in for her family." Concluded the source, "They simply picked out the clothes for Gov. Palin and told her to wear it. The stylists were told not to tell her how much the clothes cost but just to put them on."

Palin went on to distance herself even further in her van Susteren interview, "[I] didn’t know the New York stylists who they had hired or anything else. They were really nice gals. They were wonderful people. And you know, it was, I guess, productive, in a sense, in that they picked out some really nice clothes to borrow for a while there. But that was not anything that the Palin family would have chosen for ourselves."

112 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Susan I agree. This is a relevant article and should have had much more buzz about it. And it is buried. How can we change that?

By Edie Williams on 11/12/2008 3:28 pm

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She looked great in the clothes. But they could not cover the fact that she knows nothing and can’t speak English.

By Tinka Parker on 11/12/2008 3:52 pm

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OK, am I on the wrong website? People are defending Palin? The 150K is using Palin as a scapegoat. Plus it’s all about manipulating the public, look over here while Congress bails out bank, automaker, now maybe credit card companies. But we won’t give you guidelines, just take the money and do what you want. People were up in arms about Palin’s cost of clothes and the bail out. Congress gives the banks money to loan, but the banks are just sitting on the money. Now give money to automakers where management for years drove the company in the ground. These guys get billions of our money and they keep their jobs. People were up in arms about the bail out. Why is it no one is calling, writing letters to our government about this continued mess. Don’t buy Palin clothes, but if your a corporation with bad management, pass the money please.

By Barbara Taylor on 11/12/2008 4:18 pm

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I never thought the story was about PALIN buying the clothes, it was about the McCain campaign spending that kind of money to dress her up as a doll to go out and call Obama an “elitist”. To me, that was always the story. MY problem with Palin is that she is an undereducated, un-knowledgable, anti-choice religious extremist who was totally unqualified to be a VP candidate. She was sarcastic in a high school mean girl way that was beneath a Presidential election. As far as the clothes went, it was just another indication of the cluelessness of the McCain Campaign strategists.

By DeBúrca obj on 11/12/2008 6:16 pm

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typo correction: unknowledgeable

By DeBúrca obj on 11/12/2008 6:18 pm

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Now I have never run for Vice President, so maybe this reflects my own ignorance. Why would she wear clothes she did not own, did not choose and did not pay for? Even when she was in a pageant she paid for her own clothes. Did she see John McCain being garbed by Saks? I don’t think she is innocent if she knew the clothes were not hers. Maybe she is just guilty of letting campaign staff boss her around, but surely she knew that she could not use campaign funds for clothes. The law that prohibits that has been around for a while, and she has been in politics for a while.

By Elizabeth Bennett on 11/12/2008 8:05 pm

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Barbara Taylor displays a realistic attitude, “Congress gives the banks money to loan, but the banks are just sitting on the money.” This bailout sure backfired. Yes, those banks which received billions of dollars are simply hoarding this money; zero benefit for our economy. Barbara continues, “Now give money to automakers where management for years drove the company in the ground.” This is so unreal. Those idiots in Congress. Saving the big three automakers is another major mistake. The real problem is the auto workers union. Here are some salary stats with numbers rounded off. Wages: National Average: $28 per hour Toyota / Honda: $48 per hour GM / Ford: $78 per hour No surprise American cars are junk at a high price. The auto workers union is at fault for this. Allowing all three auto makers to go belly up would be a union buster which is precisely what is needed. This would not be a “ripple effect” disaster, not at all. Japanese and Korean auto makers would simply expand, takeover, then create four times as many jobs at half the union wages; cars would be affordable and of high quality and the auto industry would be more healthy. Barbara comments on lazy Americans, “Why is it no one is calling, writing letters to our government about this continued mess.” Ha! When this “bailout” was first proposed, I sent email to every senator and every congress member strongly objecting to this welfare for Wall Street. Took a couple of days but rewarding knowing I am doing my part as an American citizen. Comical, I am still receiving responses from politicians today. You note the bailout bill included a tax exemption for wood toy arrows? This prompted me to fire off another round of emails. Each email contained, in part, “You politicians are blithering idiots.” A tax exemption for toy arrows, what the F-word does this have to do with curing our economic problems? Whatever, Americans remain obsessed with Sarah’s clothes and remain blind to the biggest taxpayer ripoff of our American history. Okpulot Taha Choctaw Nation

By Okpulot Taha on 11/12/2008 9:43 pm

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Please give your source for the hourly wages you have posted. Also, what are the yearly wages and bonuses of the CEOs of those Auto makers and the CEO national average salary?

By DeBúrca obj on 11/12/2008 11:43 pm

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DeBurca Obj asks, “Please give your source for the hourly wages you have posted.” http://seekingalpha.com/article/105061-should-we-really-bail-out-the-big… My dollar per hour amount for GM / Ford should be $74 not $78 as I cite; I am becoming age addled. Okpulot Taha Choctaw Nation

By Okpulot Taha on 11/13/2008 12:46 am

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“Inflating Auto Worker Pay It’s contract time for the United Auto Workers and the Wall Street Journal is working hard to build the case for big pay cuts. The paper tells us that compensation for UAW members is in the range of $70-$75 an hour. Well that’s serious money. At that rate, with overtime, an autoworker can earn as much in a year as an incompetent CEO gets in a day. Clearly things are out of line. Seriously, $70-$75 an hour is pretty good pay, but it is also not really what UAW members earn. The base pay for these workers is around $25 an hour. To get to $75 an hour, you would have to believe that autoworkers get $100,000 a year in benefits. Is that plausible? Assume that they get $15k for their pension and $25k for their health insurance, that gets you to $40k. Where is the rest of the $100k? Well, what the auto industry does to get this figure is they average in their health care and pension costs for their retirees. These are real expenses for the industry, but they have nothing to do with the compensation received by current workers. News reporting on the UAW contracts should clearly distinguish between the compensation received by current workers and the legacy costs from retired workers. UAW members are well-paid, but averaging in the legacy costs hugely exaggerates their earnings in the mind of readers.” —Dean Baker - The American Prospect

By DeBúrca obj on 11/14/2008 8:38 pm

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Please… no more links to “Diana” Can we now drop the “Palin” topic until 2011 at least ??

By Mary NSB-Florida on 11/13/2008 7:33 am

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I concur!

By Lori F. on 11/13/2008 10:22 am

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What nobody seems to be getting is that this was all designed by conventional republicans for John McCain to lose. If he had actually WON he would have upset everyone’s applecart in ways none of them wanted and Obama will not. While the Palin pick was edgy and McCainesque, everything else was Bush based behavior and totally unlike the image he had created for himself. It showed him to be just another “win at any price republican”. That removed all of his maverick qualities as it removed his vaunted personal integrity. The stylists were the icing on the cake. Note how now it is being said it was clothes for “the Palin family”, then it was said they were for Sarah Palin. This entire presidential campaign was one of media manipulation so that the candidate who was the “media’s choice” would win. I hope the American people smarten up before 2012, or that Barack Obama is half the things the media has said he is. But as I watch him fill his ranks with old Washington hacks, I am not holding my breath.

By CYNTHIA NEIL on 11/13/2008 8:09 am

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This is a great comment. You are so “Right On” on so many points. Obama had been singing Change song so much that now he has the opportunity to make the so called Change, we find that he is filling his Cabinet and Administration with the same old tired rejects from the Carter and Clinton team! So much for Change We Can Believe In! The American people better wise up quickly!

By Lori F. on 11/13/2008 10:14 am

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same old tired rejects from the Carter and Clinton team! So much for Change We Can Believe In! The American people better wise up quickly! By Lori F. on 11/13/2008 11:14 am He needs experienced people - would you rather him hire republican retreads?. Oh you want people like Joe the plumber as Secretary of State or Secretary of Treasury. Great.

By starry Nite on 11/13/2008 8:03 pm