Frankly, the reported $150K spent on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe doesn’t strike me as outrageous. Given the obscene amounts of money a campaign costs, $150K is just pocket change. And whatever else you think of her, she looks fabulous.
Sarah, honey, do you get to keep the clothes? Or have they made you save the tags so they can return them when the election’s over? Just askin’.
Marc Ambinder writes that Republicans are disgusted.
This sort of spending is without precedent — the closest approximation for any campaign I’ve ever covered is make-up expenses for television interviews and commercial shoots — , and [McCain-Palin spokesperson Tracey] Schmitt’s weakly defensive response tonight indicates that the campaign is deeply embarrassed by it and has nothing to say in their defense.
Some people think blowing that much money on clothes and makeup when the country is moving into recession sends the wrong message. Well, I say lah-dee-dah. What better time to spend like there’s no tomorrow? You could argue that it’s just when people are feeling poor and shabby that they need a fashionista to look up to. Why do you think all those Fred Astair-Ginger Rogers musicals, in which the glam stars danced in lavish gowns and swanky tuxes, were so popular during the Depression? And let’s not forget Eva Peron’s fabulous Christian Dior wardrobe. The peasants loved her.
As I see it, Palin is just paving the way for elitism to be popular again.
You know her fans expect her to be beautiful. Why else would they have been so upset at the Newsweek cover photo that showed all of her pores? You would think that somewhere in that $150K she could have found the money for a decent facial. Or at least, tweezers.
But let us not be catty. Frankly, as a hillbilly girl in the Big Apple myself, I appreciate the need to fit in, wardrobe-wise, and not look the country bumpkin. The upper echelons of the GOP, the people who show up at the gazillion-dollar-a-plate fundraisers, probably do not shop at Wal-Mart, either.
So go for it, Sarah. And burn those tags so you can’t return the clothes.
Is Bernanke endorsing Obama?
The Wall Street Journal thinks so. Check it out.
The question is: Is Obama endorsing Bernanke? Last July the candidate said this:
Of course, things have changed a lot since July.
Under The LobsterScope
Sarah Palin: “America, we cannot just afford another big spender in the White House”
What’s $150k anyway? That’s way less than what Joe the Plumber plans on making.
Putting lipstick on a pig is expensive.
On cable TV’s TLC channel, there is a show where each week they do a complete wardrobe makeover, and they give the victim the money to shop, a whopping $5000. It’s often the case that the women have trouble spending all the money, even shopping in NYC.
The RNC -Palin crew could fund that show for a couple seasons.
I miss the good old days, when it was so shocking that Edwards got a $400 haircut that it had to be discussed day after day.
My 13-year-old niece told me last night that she is dressing up as Sarah Palin for Halloween. Dressing waaay up, apparently. I told her to be sure and practice her wink and her “You betcha!” Didn’t have the heart to tell her that, five years from now, no one is going to frickin’ remember who Sarah Palin is. (I suspect she already knows.)
Also, the child is deeply irked that she won’t be able to vote in a presidential election until 2016. She turns 18 four months after the 2012 election. Her brother, OTOH, gets to vote for the first time in two weeks.
[Ethel Merman moment] “Anything you can do, I can do better….”
I am so looking forward to decent leadership in this country, for the sake of those kids.
If a hair cut is $400.00 where these people shop $150,000.00 is probably about right for the clothes. I will say, 95% of the people in this country don’t spend that amount in a decade of dressing.
I’m sorry, aren’t these the “mavericks” who are going to END pork barrel spending and waste in our government’s budget????
Putting lipstick on a pig is expensive.
I think the pig’s gone from Cover Girl to Guerlain.
I loved Mika’s inadvertent jab at WallyWorld, that a woman in the public sphere would get criticized regardless of whether she wore expensive designer clothes or “frumpy outfits from Wal-mart.” OMG, I was laughing so hard I scared my cats.
For whatever reason, I’m less concerned about the $150K spent on Sarah – probably for a large set of clothes, makeup and whatnot for many public appearances – as I was about Cindy McCain’s $300K single outfit she wore during the RNC.
I am enjoying the flap about Sarah breaking IRS rules by taking her kids to various conferences + getting the state of Alaska to pay for it.
Uh oh…. it also has some men’s clothes and baby stuff….
Guess the family is running with her.
I’m not a Palin supporter, but they did have to dress her up, and I doubt Wal-Mart sells the proper attire for an aspiring VP. Just them spin on and on into oblivion.
Dick Cheney usually looks like bought his clothes at Wal-Mart…
Hey lay off Sarah and Cindy; it’s not easy keeping up when the guy at the top of the ticket has spent over $8,000 on makeup in the last month alone!
Maha,
Best.Post.Title.Ever.
Some people think blowing that much money on clothes and makeup when the country is moving into recession sends the wrong message. Well, I say lah-dee-dah.
If the people cannot afford Versace, let them wear Prada.
Cindy McCain’s $300K single outfit she wore during the RNC.
Is that really what she paid for that foil dress? If that figure is accurate it’s beyond incredible..How can anybody justify that kind of money for any garment? It would take a current minimum wager 26 years of full time employment( no vacation) to earn the money to pay for that outfit.
Oh, BTW, Palin has spent over $13,000 on makeup in the last month.
#17, Swami, that’s what I heard about Cindy’s $300K outfit. Don’t know how true it is, but it was often repeated.
DKos had a video of Hardball’s Chuck Todd talking very openly and at length about the bad vibe he personally felt between McCain and Palin, and how they know they are losing. He said they have absolutely no chemistry together. I read elsewhere that the $150 K wardrobe was a setup by Cindy McCain, to further sink Sarah’s reputation, to help shift the blame for the campaign’s failure, to her. If true, it’s a brilliant move, appealing directly to Palin’s vanity and self-entitlement.
The GOP rats are fleeing the ship, trying to come clean in the process. The last few weeks have seen some of the pundit class come around, now it’s the pols themselves.
Swami asks:
“Is that really what she paid for that foil dress? If that figure is accurate it’s beyond incredible.”
It is wildly inccurate. The dress cost one-hundredth of that amount, a mere $3,000. The big ticket item was the earrings: 3-carat diamonds @ $280,000.
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/09/cindy-mccains-300000-outfit.html
Wow..Elvis’s jumpsuits are only going for about $80,000. Cindy should have invested some money in getting that permanent scowl removed from her face.It would have given her a lot more bang for her buck than that overpriced Mylar dress.
Obama announced a checkmate to McCain today. He used the word “desperation” to label any attempts by McCain to make a pitch to the American people on way he would be the better candidate. Obama has put McCain in the same place that Bush and Cheney put Saddam Hussein. Where every attempt to be honest is perceived as proof of dishonesty. McCain is now in a rhetoric spiderweb where the more he struggles the more he becomes entangled.
It’s over for McCain and Palin. A change in attack now with 2 weeks to go confirms that they are without direction, and highlights Obama’s pronouncement of McCain’s desperation.
I’m a stupid, shit the fuckin bed.
Saha seem so dumb, shit what I say.
Palin, dumb as yesterday, down last break. Over for crist!
“There is no chemistry.” – Chuck Todd on MSNBC
Watching Brian Williams discuss his interview with McCain and Palin on Tweetie’s show last night (accompanied by political director Chuck Todd) we learned some significant things from their impressions. The “tenseness” between the two candidates was only one of the impressions that hit home. Perhaps they have already realized, FOR REAL, that they are on the losing side.
Video at: Under The LobsterScope
Meanwhile, Barack’s got holes in the bottom of both his shoes from walking so much on the campaign trail. And as the caption explains, he’s already resoled them once.