Not her fault — she gave them back, as promised — but rather evidence of mismanagement at the RNC. Too bad we didn’t know this sooner; the disposition of the clothes would have made for a honey of a question at that RNC chairman debate a few weeks ago. One possibility: Cut them up into square-foot swatches, frame them individually, and sell them online to the base as relics. You could probably fund the whole midterm campaign from the revenue.

A source close to the issue told NewMajority that the clothes are “in the process” of being donated, and an RNC spokesman corroborated, saying the clothes have indeed been returned from Palin, “inventoried and will be appropriately dispersed to various charities.”…

“Has the party not learned their lesson?” a source who raises significant funds for the party said in response to the news of the undonated clothing. “First they make a colossal mistake of judgment by even agreeing to squander the party’s resources on these clothes and then compound the error by failing to properly dispose of them. If they think donors are going to sit by and simply accept this they are mistaken.”

Supporters of the Alaska governor should worry that the RNC’s stalling lends credence to negative speculation. Did the RNC and campaign spend more than the quoted $180,000 figure? How much was spent on other members of Palin’s family? Perhaps the RNC hopes that stashing the clothes will make the story go away. That is unrealistic; if the governor returns to the national stage, so will any unanswered questions.

That’s from New Majority, the new centrist site started by Palin critic David Frum, so weigh it accordingly. Exit question: Are they actually going to donate the clothes rather than auction them off and donate the proceeds? That seems … stupid.