I just typed up a post dissing Sarah Palin for not knowing that Africa was a continent. And then I deleted it. There's been a lot of stuff reported around Palin--a lot of it true. But the horror of that Katie Couric interview and Palin's general cluelessness make it easy to believe almost anything. I don't know why, but the Africa thing just smells fishy. I've got one reporter saying that Palin, essentially, knows less about the world than my eight year old son--when he was five. Maybe it's true. But I've played myself before. I'm gonna try not to do it again.

The shopping stuff seem a lot more solid:

As first reported by Newsweek on Wednesday, McCain aides said some of that money was spent on clothing for Palin's children and husband, Todd, who may have received between $20,000 and $40,000 in wardrobe purchases. The money also included thousands of dollars in shoes. Several aides also said the items included jewelry, but a Palin aide disputed that.



Top McCain aides Schmidt, Rick Davis and Nicolle Wallace were flabbergasted by the magnitude of the spending as the receipts began trickling into the Republican National Committee, aides said.



Wallace had arranged for a stylist to shop for Palin before the convention because the Alaska governor did not have a chance to return home after she was selected as McCain's running mate.



Aides familiar with the campaign's internal discussions said Wallace and other top aides authorized the purchase of three outfits for Palin to wear during convention week and three ensembles for the campaign trail. But cost was to be kept to no more than $25,000 to $35,000.



When Schmidt learned that Palin's staff was putting clothing purchases on personal credit cards, aides said he called them to stop it.



One word--ghetto.

