Update on the Underwear Audit

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Sarah Palin engaged in a bit of parsing when asked last week whether RNC lawyers were coming to audit the clothes she scammed the RNC out of. Rather than denying the claim outright, she insisted the RNC lawyers weren’t coming to her house. [exchange starts at 3:00; my transcription]

Reporter: Does the RNC have lawyers coming up to look at the clothes, inventory the stuff?

SP: The RNC’s not coming up, nobody’s coming up to look at anything. There is an inventory of clothes being done so that the RNC is held accountable for all the dollars that were spent, but … Who said that attorneys were coming up to my house to pick up clothes?

Reporter: I think the NYT reported that, the LAT.

SP: The NYT evidently is wrong, because it’s not … it’s not happening. Nobody’s told me that they’re coming to my house to look through closets … to look through anything. [my emphasis]

Note how far Palin’s parse–"coming to my house"–is from what the NYT said.

Republican National Committee lawyers were likely to go to Alaska to conduct an inventory and try to account for all that was spent.

And from what the LAT said.

Reporting from Phoenix — Sarah Palin left the national stage Wednesday, but the controversy over her role on the ticket flared as aides to John McCain disclosed new details about her expensive wardrobe purchases and revealed that a Republican Party lawyer would be dispatched to Alaska to inventory and retrieve the clothes still in her possession.

This is a classic Palin denial: denying something that was not alleged (except, arguably, by my pithy title), while not denying the main point of the allegation.

And, as it turns out, Palin and the RNC are still haggling over what is where and who owns what.

Palin and John McCain’s campaign faced a storm of criticism over the tens of thousands of dollars spent at such high-end stores as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus to dress the nominee. Republican National Committee lawyers are still trying to determine exactly what clothing was bought for Palin, what was returned and what has become of the rest.

Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, said his daughter spent the day Saturday trying to figure out what belongs to the RNC.

"She was just frantically … trying to sort stuff out," Heath said.

[snip]

RNC lawyers have been discussing with Palin whether what’s left of the clothing and accessories purchased for her on the campaign trail will go to charity, back to stores or be paid for by Palin, a McCain-Palin campaign official said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the campaign hadn’t authorized comment.

The McCain-Palin campaign said about a third of the clothing was returned immediately because it was the wrong size, or for other reasons. However, other purchases were apparently made after that, the campaign official said.

And Sarah’s Dad, at least, does admit to missing underwear–though he suggests it was underwear for the kids (I love how underwear for a family of seven … plus the fiance? … have all of a sudden become a campaign expense).

"That’s the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for.

Now, Sarah’s Dad doesn’t seem to be the parsing whiz that his daughter is, but one might wonder what he meant by "the kids" here, not least since Sarah is, after all, his kid.

But perhaps the most interesting detail here is that of all the things purchased for Sarah during the campaign, she only paid for one thing–a pair of shoes.

Heath dismissed the clothes controversy as "ridiculous," and said his daughter told him the only clothing or accessories she had personally purchased in the last four months was a pair of shoes.

I’m guessing Sarah’s Dad is going to be kept away from the media after he revealed the missing underwear and that Sarah has only paid for one pair of shoes… 

Update: See Watertiger on this, also, as Sarah would say.

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144 replies
  3. FrankProbst says:

    That’s the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for.

    “kids lose underwear”

    Um, yeah, especially YOUR…oh, nevermind. It’s not even fun when it’s this easy.

    • emptywheel says:

      Yup. But at least Olbermann hasn’t stolen from me recently. He totally robbed a Blue Texan post blind about two weeks ago. It seems BT should be able to ask for royalties.

      • freepatriot says:

        youse want we drag him out back an beat the shit outta him maybe ???

        I don’t know if that’s in my contract, due to, er, technical difficulties, uh …yeah, technical difficulties

        we’ll teach that olberman bastard to steal from you instead of somebody else …

  6. freepatriot says:

    anybody ever heard the word “Martyr” before ???

    the fundies really like martyrs

    we got one in the making here …

    (ducking and running)

  9. FrankProbst says:

    Sarah Palin engaged in a bit of parsing…

    Hmmm. Looks like she’s learning, anyway. She usually just tells bald-faced lies. I’m amazed that reporters will believe a word she says after her response to the Troopergate report.

  11. skdadl says:

    Maybe it’s because I’m so lazy, and shopping drives me mad with boredom, but I can’t figure out how people like Palin operate or what makes them tick. I mean, imagine the amount of time it takes even just to fit all those clothes, never mind acquire them. And at the same time, she’s jetting from city to city all day every day for weeks, with that enormous mane of hair apparently done every day, make-up done every day …

    It made me tired just to type that. How is this done? Or who would do it?

    What time do they get up? Do elves come in and fuss over them so they don’t have to move much? When do they get to read? Think? Surf the net? Blog?

    I would go stark raving.

    • Anais says:

      She’s a high-energy person with a great capacity for greed. Clothes for herself! Clothes for her husband! Clothes for her kids! Underwear for her kids! If she was serious about giving the clothing back, why did the RNC dispatch this attorney to Alaska to round up clothing? Republicans, are you glad your party donations went to outfit what Jon Stewart calls this “family of grifters” who escaped the lower 48 with designer duds galore?

  12. ezdidit says:

    Palinizing her response to dissemble….I’m surprised she didn’t say the name of the interviewer four times, just to personalize her sociopathy.

    She blames others too much. Is it her narcissism, or is it her inability to accept blame for her own sheer ignorance that drives me so crazy?

  13. BoxTurtle says:

    Palin’s clothes are a good excuse, but I wonder why that TEAM of lawyers from the RNC are really going to Alaska. An actual audit wouldn’t even need to involve her, the receipts were kept by either the campaign or the RNC. And it isn’t even a job for lawyers, that’s for the bookkeeper/accountant.

    Soooo…why the lawyers? Where’s the national threat to the GOP coming from? Not troopergate. And not from Palin’s underware drawer, either.

    Theories:

    1) The RNC has decided Palin needs to be tossed under a bus to prevent a slaughter in 2012. The lawyers are there to pick out the bus.

    2) The RNC sees Palin as a hope to regain the presidency and is looking to clean things up quietly.

    3) The lawyers are there to arrange a face saving way for Stevens to resign. And perhaps install Palin…or make sure she isn’t installed.

    4) There’s Something Else going on.

    Boxturtle (I see it as 3 or 4)

    • freepatriot says:

      maybe they’re lawyers that really believe Obama is a commie, an they’re trying to plan an escape route to Russia or something

      us commie an the lawyers got this historic grudge or somethin

      an for some silly reason, the lawyers got this idea that us commies wanna kill all the lawyers (they’re right, it’s in the commie rule book, I checked)

      so maybe these are just lawyers that are looking to swim to freedom ???

        • LabDancer says:

          You and freep shouldn’t tease. Bill was just telling a story about this other fella who was thinking out loud the steps involved in regime change, the other fella being something of a Dick.

  14. freepatriot says:

    I think we need to look at this from the other side

    can anybody here really say that the underware their family owns now is good enough to run for vice presnit ???

    come on, be honest

    I bet we all got some holy chonies in the drawer

    (well, cept for me, I always go commando, dontchaknow)

    think of the embarrasment if princess pandora was caught sans undies, ala Paris Hilton et al (mighta got mcstain a few hundred more votes though)

    if they’re both photographed without panties, and Paris can speak in complete and coherent sentences, what else is left for princess pandora

    when you make Paris Hilton look politically attractive, you got problems

    we’re seriously underestimating how important underware was to the mcstain campaign

    Paris ran a better campaign, IMHO

  15. Loo Hoo. says:

    I’m sure Saks and Nieman Marcus have receipts showing just exactly what the Palins purchased. I don’t understand all this inventorying…

  16. Dismayed says:

    That is a woman who needs to learn when to run off the camera men. She’s like fucking J-Lo, doesn’t seem to care how’s she’s looked at as long as she’s looked at.

    For the love of God, beauty queen – We know you love the attention, but get your puss off the screen, there is such a think as bad press.

    I see an appearance on Surreal Life in her future.

  21. ThingsComeUndone says:

    And, as it turns out, Palin and the RNC are still haggling over what is where and who owns what.

    Shop lifting what if Sarah’s daughters or Sarah has something in their closets that is from a fancy store but is not on the credit card bills? I bet after the heat goes down Alaska will be dazzled by the cloths Sarah will say the GOP let her keep/she decided to buy.

  22. ThingsComeUndone says:

    SP: The NYT evidently is wrong, because it’s not … it’s not happening. Nobody’s told me that they’re coming to my house to look through closets … to look through anything. [my emphasis]

    Look at the way she talks she is nervous she is worried about appearing like a thief she knows the NY Times knows MoDo has the expensive shopping wired if things did disappear when Sarah’s family was there the news will get out.

  24. ThingsComeUndone says:

    Republican National Committee lawyers are still trying to determine exactly what clothing was bought for Palin, what was returned and what has become of the rest.

    The GOP is going to fall for the sure I stole/overspent on the credit card but seriously I donated it all to the poor?
    MacDonalds does not fall for that excuse from their Managers is the GOP willing to look like Amateurs just so Sarah won’t look bad?

  25. ThingsComeUndone says:

    Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, said his daughter spent the day Saturday trying to figure out what belongs to the RNC.

    “She was just frantically … trying to sort stuff out,” Heath said.

    My bold Frantically? She can’t tell Nemain Marcus and Saks from the stuff she normally buys?
    Is Sarah even more fashioned challenged than I am? Designer Labels means all you have to do is Read the Label.

  28. Bluetoe2 says:

    The Republicons are not going up to Alasak for an audit of the underwear but more likely to sniff the underwear.

  29. ThingsComeUndone says:

    “That’s the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for.

    Negligee perhaps?

  30. ratfood says:

    When I was a kid, all my apparel consisted of hand-me-downs. As the youngest of four, by the time the underwear go to me there wasn’t anything left but a waistband… I never lost any, though.

  31. neurophius says:

    “I just said Thanks, but No Thanks, to the RNC undies scavenger hunt…”

    (she says, blocking her doorway while holding a shotgun)

  32. ThingsComeUndone says:

    The McCain-Palin campaign said about a third of the clothing was returned immediately because it was the wrong size, or for other reasons. However, other purchases were apparently made after that, the campaign official said.

    I bet some items were returned with the receipt…for cash and thats why the GOP and Sarah still can’t find it.

  33. ThingsComeUndone says:

    Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, said his daughter spent the day Saturday trying to figure out what belongs to the RNC.

    “She was just frantically … trying to sort stuff out,” Heath said.

    Everything that came out of the suitcase is new what Sorting needs to be done?

  44. sumpls says:

    She was just frantically … trying to sort stuff out Having known women like her, I’d guess hiding and justifying. What about the comment of Wasilla…coast to coast shopping spree? We’re talking approx. a quarter of a million dollars here. I noticed the diamond earrings, for example.

  46. SplendidMarbles says:

    Sarah is going to have it tough for a while. She’s unwittingly made a lot of enemies in the RNC while campaigning as the best dressed maverick in the universe. I hope she is able to keep enough of her fine new wardrobe for her 2012 run.SplendidMarbles

  47. neurophius says:

    Countdown is saying Obama told Reid to cut JoeLie some slack rather than “make a hero out of him”….

  54. MadDog says:

    RNC Lawyer: “We’ve gotten a report your underwear is missing. Uhmmm…gulp…are those patent leather shoes?

    Sarah: “You betcha…wink-wink!”

  58. neurophius says:

    I can understand why they would buy some nice clothes for Todd. After all, he did seem rather ill-suited to his new role…

  59. Twain says:

    Sarah is a liar. I don’t think I would have any trouble picking out the clothes that came for Saks from the jeans and boots I had been wearing for a couple of years. I suspect the goodies are buried in her back yard.

  62. neurophius says:

    they don’t have the financial resources of the RNC, so maybe a couple of ties were the best they could do…

  64. DWBartoo says:

    The ribald humor oft found running, happily, off-leash at FDL, especially amongst certain of the ‘committed’, gives lie to the ‘notions’ and ‘depictions’(unfairly spread) of grumpy fem-bloggers fussing over non-significant ‘events’ or lagubriously lamenting a time that never was (nor, sayeth the ‘nays’, ever t’will be …) or, and this is the ‘biggie’, giving vent to foul, uncivil, unkindly, even impolite (!) language for the entire and sole (soul?) purpose of disparaging saintly members of the Political Class …

    Tonight’s gentle treatment of certain ‘unmentionables’, usually referred to euphemistically, in such a honest, frank, and amusing manner, treating Sarah Palin as she truly deserves, has been most … oh hell! You all are seriously funny, and if ever a ’subject’ needed an ‘airing’, the lyin’, the which? and the wardrobe, is certainly the ‘one’.

    A pleasure, ’seeing’ y’all givin’ ‘em ‘heaven’!

    ;~D

  72. Hmmm says:

    Of course ET has the best info on this, but I should think that Knickersgate would provide a plausible pretext for the RNC lawyers actually being sent to compromise the Alaska vote count — which as far as I can see is the hottest topic up there at present. Tiny turnout seems thoroughly unpossible under the circumstances, I would look for incinerators burning across the state…

  74. dopeyo says:

    “underwear will now be inspected daily. and to facilitate inspections, underwear will now be worn on the outside”

    el puerco in woody allen’s early comedy ‘banannas’.

  75. freepatriot says:

    so everybody thinks they’re punny now ???

    ya step out for a second to smoke a joint and the whole place turns into a punaiseium ???

    that’s just wrong

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