Blame game over Palin's 'shopping spree from hell'

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: October 28, 2008 - 7:35 pm

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From David Hulen in Anchorage -

The aftermath of the Palin clothes-buying uproar - Did she know? Did she approve? How could the campaign have been so tone-deaf? - has taken on a life of its own. (One blog describes it as "the shopping spree from hell.") The ABC News blog Political Punch rounds up the blaming:

Palin has taken to blaming the entire incident – as well as her introduction to the nation – on her “handlers,” presumably meaning [McCain aide Nicolle] Wallace, who was a key part of the team that handled Palin's successful announcement speech, her successful convention speech, and her interviews with Charlie Gibson, Sean Hannity and Katie Couric.

McCain allies say that Palin allies talked to Fox News commentator Fred Barnes to further throw Wallace under the bus. Barnes yesterday said, “the person who went and bought the clothes and, as I understand it put the clothes on her credit card, went to Saks and Neiman Marcus...the staffer who did that has been a coward” for not coming forward and accepting the blame for the $150,000 shopping spree. Barnes clarified that he was talking about Wallace.

What he said:

The problem, the ABC blog says, is that Wallace didn't buy the clothing, and "plenty of people on the McCain campaign are mystified as to how the $150,000 charges were racked up. Moreover, McCain campaign sources say, Palin has developed quite a reputation on the campaign trail for shopping."

Similarly, the L.A. Times' Top of the Ticket chronicles the finger pointing:

The current favorite fall guy or gal is Nicolle Wallace, the former Bush White House communications director who left her post as political analyst on CBS Evening News last May to join the McCain campaign. She's under fire for the VP candidate's $150,000 wardrobe disaster...

Tuesday, in an interview with Tina Brown's new website, the Daily Beast , Wallace told Ana Marie Cox that she was probably the victim of a nasty but planned attack:

"There's obviously an organized campaign to lay blame for things at my feet, and I’m not going to engage before the campaign ends. I have a very long relationship with Fox News and the notion that someone would call me a coward on the air and accuse me of putting $150,000 on my credit card without a single person calling and checking with me suggests that something is going on."

Earlier, sensing that she was about to have a close encounter with a large vehicle, Wallace had e-mailed news organizations with a statement that we feel ought to earn some sort of Classy Moment Award:

"If people want to throw me under the bus," wrote Wallace, "my personal belief is that the most honorable thing to do is lie there."

And finally, late today, Barnes took back the harsh words for Wallace:

"I was rough on Nicolle Wallace of the McCain campaign, who was identified as the one responsible for getting the expensive clothes for Sarah Palin, and being cowardly, and not admitting she was the one," he told Fox News's Brit Hume. "Well, it turns out I was wrong, I discovered. I apologize for my mistake and apologize particularly to Nicolle Wallace."

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