"They're in charge of the United States Senate, so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes," she (Palin) said.

The comment directly contradicted the separation-of-powers principle enshrined in the US constitution, under which the vice-president as president of the Senate has a casting vote in the event of a tie, but takes no other role.

Ken Adelman, a Republican hawk who served in top diplomatic and defense posts for presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, told the New Yorker magazine that Palin's choice for vice president made him switch sides and he is now supporting Obama for president.

Former secretary of state Colin Powell, a Republican and military general who has also served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, on Sunday endorsed Obama and said of Palin: "I don't believe she is ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president."

And one of former president George H.W. Bush's speechwriters, Christopher Buckley, a prominent conservative, announced this month he was abandoning support for McCain for many reasons, including "the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking?"

From this place

The breakdown on the clothing bill:

$75,062 spent at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis
$41,850 spent in St Louis
$4,100 on make-up and hair consulting
$4,902 at Atelier, a men's clothing shop in New York
$92 on a romper suit and hat with ears (for the youngest of her children)

from BBC News

But, her $150,000 seems like a drop in the bucket to McCain's wife's outfit at the RNC - $300,000 due in large part to a pair of diamond earrings. Of course, she probably paid for them herself. Nothin' elite about them, now is there.