Wednesday, October 22, 2008

$150,000 to Outfit a Populist? This is Hypocrisy, not Fashion.

Politico.com is reporting that while Wall Street crashed Palin, this champion of the little guy, spent $150,000 on clothing in 4 weeks, or as much as the average American makes in 4 years.

For $150,000 I could have put both of my children through 4 years of college. And provided them with spending money for those 8 years.

I could have paid my health care for 30 years.

$150,000 is as much money as the average American - the Joe Six Pack - makes in 4 years.

I thought it was outrageous when Edwards spent $400 for a haircut - the same amount of money, by the way that Palin spends on 1 pair(of her 7) of her designer glasses.

But $150,000, at some of the most 'elitest' clothing stores in the US - Nieman Marcus($75,000), Saks Fifth Avenue($50,000).

Come on. This isn't about fashion. It's about hypocrisy at the highest level.

If Palin, and the Republican national Committee, want to outfit the Gov extravagantly, that's their choice. But don't pretend to be a populist, a champion of the little guy, a spokesperson for Joe Six Pack and Joe the Plumber.

For Palin, being in politics is like being a kid in a candy shop - she gets to fly first class, stay at exclusive hotels, spend oodles of dollars on designer clothes...and make somebody else pay for it.

And this is the person we're supposed to trust is capable of making wise financial decisions should she ascend to the Presidency?

4 comments:

Ralph said...

But, Richard, you don't want poor little Sarah running around looking dowdy next to fashion plate Cindy, do you?

And poor little Trig was probably wearing hand-me-downs, when he should be outfitted from the Saks baby department. And you know they bought that suit that Levi appeared in; he probably didn't own one.

This is so outrageous it's delicious. Now what I want to know is: did the campaign also pay for those stunning designer outfits that Cindy wore at the convention? That would run more than $150,000, I'd wager.

Sarah should have spent less time at Nieman's and more time studying the Constitution. She made other headlines yesterday with her claim that as VP she would be "in charge" of the Senate. Only trouble is she's been making that mistake for 2 months now, so it seems like she's not capable of learning the right answers.

Pat Keller said...

What's really sad here is that the amount of money involved, significant to us in the real world, is less than pocket change for the McCains. It shows, again, how out of touch and poorly run the Republican effort is this year. I'm sure the McCains would have gladly purchased the clothes personally to avoid yet another chink in their armour.

Ralph said...

I agree, Pat. It's the mindset of the rich. Probably Cindy said, "Let's go shopping," and took her to her favorite places, totally not thinking about how it would undermine their faux message of the week.

It doesn't have to be that way, though, with the rich. Jackie Kennedy set new styles in fashion, and everybody loved her. Because, at the same time, the policies of the Kennedy administration were much more for the un-rich. Who could have been a more genuine champion of the have-nots than Bobby Kennedy in his 1968 campaign?

Ralph said...

There's a clip up on HuffingtonPost tonight from back in the summer of the Obama family talking about where they buy their clothes. Michelle was wearing a dress she bought at the GAP for $34.95.

Nice contrast. And the clip was in archives, not something they rushed out to make in response to Sarah's shopping spree.