Listen up, voters: It was not Sarah Palin's idea to try and fool you by wearing fancy clothes she would not normally have anything to do with! The Republican National Committee bought an opulent $150,000 wardrobe for her and seven family members before she even showed up at the convention, the former vice presidential nominee told Fox News Channel's Greta Von Susteren Tuesday night. The legendary MAVERICK was just "goin' with the flow... if that's the way they do this." She's never even been to a Saks or Neiman Marcus. Why on earth is she telling everyone this now?

If Palin had addressed the wardrobe issue during the campaign, it might have defused the charges of hypocrisy and significantly helped her ticket's chances. But by talking publicly like this now, she's just depleting her still-considerable balance of political capital. Palin's own accounting makes her look like a pushover who agreed to put on the airs of a folksy, small-town mayor while wearing fancy duds that, as she told Susteren, she was relieved to trade in upon her return home. It was only then, Palin said, that she put on "my own clothes." (See video above.)

This clothes thing shouldn't matter, as Palin herself said in the interview. And if she'd just left it alone, it wouldn't. But by talking out of both sides of her mouth about it — first she told Susteren she didn't wear her own clothes on the trail, then that she did — the Alaska governor not only revived the controversy but also reminded her remaining fans of what they liked least about her, about the fumbling duplicity of her ticket in its final weeks.

It doesn't help her credibility that Palin claims no Democratic nominees were slammed over who did their "hair and makeup," or that she also falsely claimed to Van Susteren that Harry Potter hadn't been published while she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and that she therefore couldn't have banned the book from local libraries. This was exposed (at Huffington Post) as an awful lie just minutes after Palin said it.

The governor repeatedly acknowledged she might like to run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012, 2016 or beyond (see video below). A more tactful politician might wait until the body of her last campaign was cold before engaging in such a discussion. On the other hand, everyone knows Palin is a (sometimes irrationally) confident and ambitious politician, and nothing if not plainspoken, so trying to deny the possibility of a run would have just looked silly and out of character.

Palin at least managed to deny those rumors she didn't know her continents, and to work in a cute story about a phone call with Barack Obama (also below). Fox: Put the quality material at the front of the broadcast when you air Part 2 Tuesday night. Having to watch another full hour of Palin is just going to give us more terrible flashbacks to last month.