"(Palin herself echoed this defense in yet another awe-shucksy corn pone interview, where she claimed her favorite store was a second-hand shop in Anchorage.)

"Nice try.  Here's how it works: 

"A stylist goes to Niemans, Saks and Barneys and "pulls" clothes they think will be right for Palin, because you can't know until someone tries something on whether it will look good or not.  They bring them to Palin and she tries them on -- with the price tags on.  Yes she likes this, no she doesn't like that, this looks good but it needs tailoring, etc.  Everything that doesn't work goes back to the store, and the RNC is only billed for the stuff they keep.

"So when Sarah Palin is deciding what she wants to wear, it's got a price tag hanging off of it.  Did she not look?  Hard to believe, but if she's authorizing purchases and doesn't bother to ask "how much," it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in her ability to manage a budget.

"Kristol's game defense of Palin, however, did have one grain of truth -- she probably did not devise this plan, and when the shit came down, the McCain staffers who did (and then billed the RNC for it, because it's not a legitimate campaign expense) scurried into the woodwork when they should have taken the heat.   Palin was insanely stupid about the whole thing like the half-smart bumpkin scam artist she is,  but it's a sign of what a disaster the McCain campaign has become that when she was out there on a public limb, they sawed it off behind her."

That's a spot on description of Palindrone: half-smart, bumpkin scam artist (and freeloader).