If the RNC thinks spending all that money on their Caribou Barbie Doll will help them win an election, then by all means they should spend it. If she wins, it’s money well spent. If she loses, it’s probably still fairly well spent because she, to quote Obama, has energized “a” conservative base.
It’s only poorly spent if she loses and is totally forgotten. I’m not sure how likely that outcome is compared to others.
All in all, a reasonable gamble. It’s Palin’s election now, not McCain’s. McCain may as well be running for a Bucket of Piss.
See, I don’t really see how this necessarily conflicts with Palin’s Hockey Mom image.
I think it’s only reasonable to expect that somebody in the global spotlight is going to be more dolled up than your average woman, whatever her previous circumstances.
Men have different wardrobe requirements. All three male candidates have been Senators for a number of years and therefore have a closet of suits at their disposal. No one notices if you wore the same navy blue suit last week, and everyone expect the same white tie tux outfit for dinner after dinner. They need a $400 haircut once in a while (and honestly, I bet none of the candidates spend that much on a haircut).
Likewise, when Hillary was running she had a Senator’s wardrobe - and I’m willing to bet a ton of stuff from her years as First Lady that was still appropriately fashionable. The Clintons are also much better off than the Palins (the Palins aren’t hurting, but they don’t have nearly the wealth of the Clintons) and Hillary was doing some out of pocket campaign financing - if she was doing some of that, of course she’d be buying her own jackets.
Governor Palin has not been playing on a national stage until recently. I wouldn’t think the Governor of Alaska needs to dress as well on a day to day basis as the Governor of New York or California or a Senator. And I wouldn’t think Anchorage is a huge shopping town for outfitting you for GOP fundraising dinners.
Yep. The fact that she wore it at all (and remember her pageant history!) screams BAD stuff about her judgement. Then again, she may have been a bit depressed after Algebra was born (I was when I had mine) and therefore not paying too much attention to clothes. Then again, she was IN public office when she had him, so…
Yep–definitely question her judgement (as if I didn’t before).
…except that the comparison isn’t $150,000 in campaign/party funds on Palin and McCain’s clothes, and $100,000 (or $75,000, or $50,000, or even $10,000) in campaign/party funds on Obama and Biden’s clothes.
It’s $150,000 in campaign/party funds on Palin and McCain’s clothes, and zero in campaign/party funds on Obama and Biden’s clothes. In just two months, mind you (remember, while Palin “only” governor of Alaska, she’s governor of a state, so it’s not like she was dressing like a sloppy hausfrau before McCain picked her as running mate).
And again, it’s the hypocrisy here. McCain/Palin has been harping on Obama’s elitism and the fact that he is out of touch with “Joe the Plumber” and the rest of hard-working small-town Middle America.
Is it, or is that they don’t need to report under a certain threshhold? I don’t know, I’m just asking. I suspect that if you spend $20k on clothes, that is seen as immaterial and you don’t need to report.
Or is it that Obama is really a terrorist- sort of an Islamic Manchurian Candidate that was indoctrinated during his youth in Indonesia?** I think we know whose side is more logical here, Dangerosa.
**This is- quite seriously- the belief that is held by a woman in one of my senior level political science classes.
For me it isn’t so much about the amount spent as to where they spent it. Saks Fifth Avenue? Nieman Marcus? Fucking hell, those are hoity-toity places that most voters will ever even see, let alone enter, let alone buy something from. There are plenty of places where they could get good designer clothes for a fraction of what it cost them from those places. They could have bought just as many or more clothes at Filene’s Basement, then hired a full-time tailor and seamstresses to make the clothes fit perfectly for probably half the amount. And anyway, as Kimstu says, most voters other than rich-bitch donors won’t know the difference between an ultra high-end Valentino or a much lower high-end Ann Taylor suit.
It’s also amusing to me that obviously designers are not falling all over themselves to outfit Palin for free, the way they do celebrities for award shows, just for the publicity. I’d think less of Valentino if I didn’t know that Palin('s people) had to pay for his suit, just like everybody else.
She absolutely was dressing like a “sloppy hausfrau,” at least in comparison to how a politician of national stature needs to dress. And as I said upthread, it was perfectly understandable given the circumstances.
What difference does it make what my clothes look like?
It’s not my job to stand up in front of the world and represent the United States of America.
Rather, ask me what my clothes would look like if I were suddenly put in Sarah Palin’s position and had the means to acquire a wardrobe that I thought was appropriate.
That picture of Obama’s shoes is funny, though. Michelle, Sasha, and Malia tease him about his reluctance to get new clothes or wear anything different. he always looks snappy, though. I guess he’s just lucky like that. But he really ought to get those puppies fixed!
I hadn’t seen that photo, but I was thinking about what she was wearing during the Alaska gubernatorial debates.
Because their whole schtick is “we’re just like you, not like those arugula-eating latte-sipping $400-haircut-getting elitist snob Democrats!”
And yet, when it comes down to who really is more like the average person, it’s the party that doesn’t try and make a big rhetorical deal about it.
Hopefully before it rains. I once made the mistake of wearing shoes with the soles worn through on a rainy January day. My feet and socks were soaked and icy cold…
You mean, if you were standing in front of supporters declaring yourself to be a middle-class hockey mom?
I would expect you to dress like a middle-class hockey mom (albeit a middle-class hockey mom at a major public event like one of the kids’ college graduation, not a middle-class hockey mom in everyday duds).
I suppose you could instead dress like one of the ruling class, though in that case you’d be in a generic insider-politician position, not in Sarah Palin’s self-professed position.
Yeah, because blue-collar folks are always super-rational like that. (ETA: And that’s why I’d like to see them polled. To actually, y’know, get data on how they’re reacting, rather than bat speculation back and forth.)
Hell, I’m not always super-rational like that, and I’m a credentialed math geek.
See the problem is this, it is kind of a stupid narrative, but it’s not like McCain doesn’t deserve it. He’s been trying to play these bullshit gotcha politics and trying to win news cycles all goddamn year. It only seems fair that a few come back to bite him in the ass.
McCain keeps on tripping over his own dick and it’s funny to watch. I think the RNC can spend their money however the hell they want to, and I’m under no illusion that it somehow hurts Palin’s image. But what I thought was telling was that Palin didn’t pick out those clothes. McCain had someone get some clothes for her. I guess hers weren’t nice enough? Sounds pretty insulting if you ask me.
Am I the only who saw the thread title and thought, “That’s one high maintenance ho, John’s got there.”?
And it does make sense for the RNC to want to have Palin in fancy clothes, but am I wrong in remembering that former First Ladies like Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton have appeared at State/Party functions wearing outfits which were loaned to them? Is that no longer allowable? (Or is it allowed, and Palin’s not doing it? Or is she doing it and the price reflects the cost of the outfits if they were bought at retail? Or is she doing it and spending that much money as well?)
But there’s a giant difference between dressing for success/getting the right underwear and spending $150,000.
If only 10% of the total went towards underwear, that’s still 75 bras and 75 shapers. Over 3 bras PER DAY that she’s on the campaign trail.
Nobody’s saying she should have shopped at Filene’s basement and given stump speeches in a housecoat. But to state that one can not be reasonably expected to campaign without spending over $50,000 per month to dress yourself is insulting to one’s intelligence.
I’m saying it. Filene’s Basement specializes in designer clothes/shoes/accessories from places that have moved on to the next season’s shit. All those clothes/etc. don’t get sent to the landfill, they get sent to places like Filene’s Basement. It’s all still too expensive for the likes of me (I’ve only ever bought umbrellas there), but it’s still high-quality designer stuff at a much, MUCH lower cost.
I shop at Filene’s Basement and places like that, but the stock in those kinds of places is totally catch-as-catch-can. Sometimes, the racks are full of great stuff, and sometimes you have to conclude that the buyer was on drugs or something. That’s kind of the point–you give something (service, selection, amenities) in order to get a lower price. I mean, what’s Palin going to do–spend hours rooting around looking for the skirt that matches the jacket in her size? And let’s face it–most stuff ends up there because it didn’t sell at full retail. Often because there’s something not-quite-right about it. You just have to do some work to find the good stuff. And for someone in Palin’s position, that’s just too inefficient right now.
And what’s with the idea that the average schlub would never be able enter the hallowed lobby of Neiman Marcus? Gimme a break. That’s like saying that an Iowa farmer has probably never heard of arugula. Anybody can shop in Neiman’s or Saks. It don’t cost a thing to get in the door, and they have sales just like anywhere else. And their selections overlap with less highfalutin stores and the prices are often exactly the same. So yeah, I buy my makeup at Neiman’s. Costs exactly the same as at Nordstrom’s, and I get Neiman’s service. I buy my bras at Nordstroms. They cost exactly the same as they do at the shithole known as Macy’s, and I get Nordstrom’s service. Don’t tell me that some ordinary middle-class lady couldn’t ever buy anything at Neiman’s or Saks. A Clinique lipstickcosts 14 bucks! Sheesh.
I hate it when people paint “the average American” as a totally unsophisticated rube. Yeah, Wanda down at the Curl Up and Dye in East Bumblefuck, Missouri probably usually buys Maybelline lipstick at the Wal-Mart. But why would you think that she wouldn’t swing by Neiman’s and pick up a Clinique lipstick if she happened to be in St. Louis? Do you think she would be too intimidated to walk in the door or something? Sheesh.
Anyway, I totally hear what people are saying about how this expenditure contradicts the values that the McCain/Palin campaign espouses. I don’t disagree. I’m only arguing that the expenditure was (probably) reasonable. I’m not saying that it doesn’t read as hypocritical.
Again, while her other outfits before the Extreme Twit Makeover may have sucked, this particular onewas worn, not because of depression or because it was a maternity dress, but because it is a traditional Inuit dress. She was wearing it to project the image of a ‘real’ Alaskan.
You may hate it, but there is an actual reason she was wearing it, and I don’t think it reflects poorly on her judgement. In fact, I would guess the people she was trying to impress were impressed. I would have rolled my eyes at the obvious nature of the gesture, but I’m cynical like that.
I hope to God this is the last time I ever have to (sort of) defend that woman. It makes me feel unclean.
