Republicans Attacking Palin after the Election?

When I first watched this video, I thought to myself, why is FOX News the one breaking this story? Isn't this an example of what FOX pundits would have called the liberal media's unfair attack on Sarah Palin? And then I read that the RNC did not buy Palin's $150k wardrobe. According to Newsweek, Palin was told to purchase three outfits for the convention, but instead, she went on a crazy spending spree:

While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

That was money that the Republican party could have spent on a national advertisement, or on protecting one of their now lost Congressional seats. Not to mention, the wardrobes undermined the campaign's emphasis on her "Wal-Mart mom" identity. The campaign had strategized her identity as a point of distinction from Obama's "celebrity."

According to the same article, Palin's transgressions didn't stop with the spending spree. The campaign hadn't adequately prepared her attack on Bill Ayers:

Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain's advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.

If the campaign had a chance to complete the strategy before Palin paraded the accusations at her rallies, the campaign likely would have implied more than stated, or relied on surrogates to circulate the accusation. The indirectness would have mitigated the "mob" effect, and preserved the interests of moderates.

Instead, Palin lost McCain the support of people like Josh Simmons, University of Florida's "Gators for McCain" chairman. Simmons was so distraught by what he saw, he early voted for Obama two weeks before the election. When asked why, Simmons said, "I've seen a different John McCain than the one I signed up to work for."

Sarah Palin stole the Republican Party's money and may have lost the Republicans the White House. The party has to be pissed.