Money [Well] Spent

In an interview (INTERVIEW, folks) that Palin did with the Chicago Tribune, she defended herself in the clothing flap. "Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin insisted in an interview with the Tribune on Thursday that she did not accept $150,000 worth of designer clothes from the Republican Party and 'that is not who we are...That whole thing is just, bad!' she said. 'Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are.'"

Oh. If only.

Well, whomever the clothes went to, a look at some ad buy statistics provided by a Democratic source shows that the RNC put more money down on Palin's attire than they and the McCain campaign have spent on a weeks-worth of advertising in half a dozen, potentially, swing states.

Speaking of wondering where to put your money, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson today defended his failure to bail out Lehman, which we now know, was the root of a massive crisis of confidence that is roiling world markets. The NY Times reports on his post-mortem of the ensuing debacle: "Lehman could not — despite what Mr. Paulson described as personal pleas to other firms to buy some of Lehman's toxic assets and efforts to persuade another bank to acquire Lehman. With all options closed, he said, the government's hands were tied. Although the Federal Reserve had helped bail out Bear Stearns — and was within days of bailing out the giant insurer American International Group — it could not help Lehman, even as its default threatened to wreak havoc on financial markets. 'We didn't have the powers,' Mr. Paulson insisted, explaining a decision that many have since criticized — to allow Lehman to go bankrupt. By law, he continued, the Federal Reserve could bail out Lehman with a loan only if the bank had enough good assets to serve as collateral, which it did not." Looking back at my rants from those days, I can't say I blame Paulson, but clearly, the Lehman crisis marked the start of the Great Chaos. Who could have seen clearly back then, when most of us had no idea what the heck a CDO or a CDS or anything else even meant?