NY Daily News: Palin scapegoated in tales of shopping spree

NY Daily News: Sarah Palin scapegoated in tales of shopping spree, says aide

BY BILL HUTCHINSON DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, November 7th 2008, 2:18 PM

Sarah Palin greets supporters on her return to Alaska Wednesday Nov. 5. An aide defended her, saying she was being made a scapegoat for the McCain campaign's missteps.

A top aide of Sarah Palin insisted last night that Sen. John McCain's running mate is being unfairly made the scapegoat for the campaign's missteps.

Meg Stapleton lashed out at anonymous critics inside the now defunct McCain-Palin team, saying they were distorting facts about the Alaska governor's infamous $150,000 shopping spree to cover up misdeeds.

Stapleton, a longtime aide to Palin, charged that campaign officials gave a New York stylist a blank check and a mission to make Palin look presidential.

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She said Palin tried to object to wearing a $3,500 outfit but was told by campaign staff, "Here's your people, here are your clothes."

Palin was directed to buy her fancy wardrobe before Sept. 4 in order to bill it to the Republican National Convention, Stapleton told ABC News.

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"They said, 'Bill the convention, under "wardrobe," ' so that the cost could be hidden," Stapleton said. "And then they realized and they were told that's illegal.

"Then they said, 'Okay, how do we make this legal and appropriate?' So they had somebody pay for it and then the RNC [Republican National Committee] would reimburse them."

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Reacting to another leak that Palin didn't know Africa was a continent, Stapleton chalked it up to a "human mistake" the governor made during a briefing session.

"She knows it's a continent," Stapleton said.

whutchinson@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/11/07/2008-11-07_sarah_palin_scapegoated_in_tales_of_shop-1.html

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