The Palin Implosion Continues

It has been another dizzying 24-hours for John McCain's vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin.

Last night, two damaging stories broke. First, The Associated Press revealed that Palin had inappropriately used Alaska taxpayer money to pay for plane travel for her daughters to attend functions to which they were not invited. After the fact, Palin went back and altered expense reports to make it look like her kids were part of "official business." One such taxpayer-funded trip was to watch Todd Palin participate in a snowmobile race.

Next, Politico reported that the RNC has so far spent more than $150,000 on clothing and accessories for Palin and her kin. The Palin's personal shoppers have shelled out $49,425.74 at Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York, and a whopping $75,062.63 at Needless Markup Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis. All this, as most Americans prepare to spend a whole lot less this holiday season.


Before these stories hit the wires, Palin's latest interview was making the YouTube rounds. In it, she claimed that, if elected VP, she would be "in charge of" the Senate, and would "really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes." Watch:



Well, I guess she and McCain could always try to re-write the constitution.

Also on this momentous campaign day, Palin issued an apology for her "real America" stump speech. Last week, Palin told a crowd in rural North Carolina:

"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in the pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation."

Her linkage of authenticity to small town zip codes didn't sit well with many patriotic, hard-working city dwellers, as so brilliantly captured on the Daily Show, and yesterday Palin tried the old, "If anyone was offended, I am truly sorry" routine.

"I don't want that misunderstood," Palin said. "If that's the way it came across, I apologize."

There is only one group in the country who still thinks that Palin was a wise pick for VP. They are the staunchest among the GOP base. The ones who cry out for more character attacks on Obama. The dead-enders. So says a new Wall Street Journal poll, anyway. When was it released? You guessed it. Yes, October 21 was one hell of a day for Sarah Palin.