Quote of the Day: McCain on the Palin spending spree

By Michael J.W. Stickings

She needed clothes at the time,

he said yesterday in Florida.

Sure, they'll be "donated to charity," or so he claimed, but it's still not clear why a small-town hockey mom who's been relentlessly touting her (phony) all-American bona fides needs $150K in clothes and accessories from some of the country's highest-end stores. And it's not like she paid for them herself. McCain may buy his own suits, but it was the RNC that picked up Palin's tab.

Not that I care what she wears out on the campaign trail, mind you, it's just that she's been portraying herself as a regular gal from the "real" America, one who claims to speaks for the people against the anti-American elites who supposedly dismiss them.

But while there's undeniably a lot of ignorant, anti-intellectual Wasilla in her, that most of all, she clearly longs for the bright lights of the big city and the showy fashion of Saks and Neiman Marcus. She's like the backwards hick who so badly wants to be accepted, to belong, to make it, and to make sure everyone knows she's made it, and just ends up trying too hard and looking like a parody.

It's quite pathetic, actually. Whatever she once was, whatever she may be at her core, Sarah Palin is now just a massive fraud.