This is a totally brilliant political move: Last week's revelation that the Republican National Committee had spent $150,000 in campaign funds to dress Palin in designer duds was a blow to her image as a just-folks "hockey mom." The haute couture made her look like a phony and ate up a news cycle.

Now she's wearing consignment-shop clothes and casual wear, which squares with the image she wants to project and -- here's the brilliant part -- reinforces the idea that, given the chance, she rebels against insiders and conventional Washington wisdom.

Had she simply dressed down from the beginning, critics might well have mocked her lack of style and used it to portray her as a small-town, small-time rube thrust into the national spotlight. Now the symbolism of her simpler outfits plays into a perceived strength rather than a perceived weakness.

If the McCain campaign had shown signs of being so clever at political chess that they could see several moves ahead on the board, you'd almost think they planned it this way. "

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/10/palin-makes-lemonade-out-of-wardrobe-lemons.html