Just thought you might find this interesting.
In 1988, GHW Bush gave the same deal to Dan Quayle. Back in those days, the costs of vetting were chump change — less than $5,000. As it turned out, they won and Bush paid the bills.
In 2000, it is my understanding (can’t confirm) that GW Bush gave the same deal to Dick Cheney. Again, they won. It seems that this is a pretty standard deal in presidential politics, at least on the GOP side.
This time, the costs were $50,000 because Sarah Palin had all of these ethics investigations going on (Troopergate, etc.) and while we now know they were completely frivolous, they had to be checked out. In modern presidential politics $50,000 is still chump change. If you’d like you can donate to the Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund.