In a 21st century update to the Republican war on "welfare queens," John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have tried to brand Barack Obama's tax-cutting policies as "welfare" and "socialism." But as it turns out, it is Palin who has emerged as the welfare queen of the 2008 campaign. From her family's taxpayer-funded travel and gubernatorial perks in Alaska to her toney $150,000 wardrobe courtesy of the Republican National Committee, Sarah Palin is living the high life by depending on the kindness of strangers.
In the latest revelation giving lie to her claim to be a humble hockey mom, Palin received an elegant new closet full of clothes thanks to GOP donors. (The Daily Show fittingly labeled Palin's My Fair Lady episode, "Extremist Makeover.") Her tabs of $75,000 and $49,000 at Niemann Marcus and Sak's Fifth Avenue respectively provoked outrage from "real Americans" and Republican contributors alike. (One exception is Palin personal shopper and GOP operative Jeff Larson, whose firm FLS Connect also happens to be the villain behind John McCain's robo-calling smears of Obama across the nation.)
The Palin clan was also the beneficiary of $21,000 in travel for the family, with the bill footed this time by Alaska's taxpayers. Governor Palin at the public's expense took her children to events across the state and the country, including an October 2007 junket to New York with daughter Bristol. Palin even went so far as to modify her expense reports after her selection as John McCain's running mate to create retroactive justifications for toting her kids to public events:

For example, the girls flew to Anchorage from Juneau for the weekend on Feb. 9, 2007, with Palin charging the state $1,556.40 for their flights. Palin listed the girls' attendance as "official starter" of the Iron Dog snowmobile race, which their father has competed in for 14 years.

As it turns out, Sarah Palin dined at the public trough even when dining at home. As was revealed last month, Palin pocketed $17,000 in per diems last year from the residents of Alaska for the 300-plus nights she stayed at her own home in Wasilla. (Unsurprisingly, that windfall did not appear on her 2007 tax return.)
Palin's belief that charity begins at home dates back to her days as mayor of Wasilla. During her years in office, Palin received gifts and zoning assistance to aid the sale of her home. That excludes potentially tens of thousands of dollars in gratis contracting work allegedly involved in the building of her family's 3,450 square foot lakeside home.
Of course, much of the largesse Palin received was not in cash, but in kind. The Troopergate scandal, in which Palin was found to have violated state ethics rules by pressuring the Commissioner of Public Safety to fire her former brother-in-law, is just one symptom of her appropriation of the public machinery of government for her own personal use. And facilitating Palin's frequent journeys around the state was her de facto commandeering of a state aircraft for the purpose.
In all, Palin's pattern of parasitism upon the body politic undermines her self-portrait as Jolene Six-Pack, the mythical maverick and working mom struggling like Americans everywhere just to get by. In a further irony, Palin's perks render comical the right-wing talking point that Barack Obama's tax credits to working families who pay no income taxes constitute "welfare." The Palin camp claims she owes no taxes on her benefits as governor and vice presidential nominee.
Accountants and IRS experts beg to differ when it comes to her clothes, her travel and her per diems. But whether or not Sarah Palin ultimately pays taxes on her ill-gotten gains, she may still pay a price on Election Day– a one-way ticket back to Juneau.
UPDATE: McCain defended Palin's shopping spree today, telling reporters, "She needed clothes at the time."