One of the first things Sarah Palin did after she was selected as John McCain’s running-mate was to go to a Minneapolis Neiman Marcus and drop $75,062.63 on clothes and accessories. All told, she’s spent over $150,000 on her appearance, using RNC money that was raised from committed Republican activists. I don’t know how the real-Americans in Western Pennsylvania, Southern Virginia, and Western North Carolina are going to be able to relate to that. It’s hard to picture how you could spend $75,000 in a department store. Did they have an 18-wheeler to haul away her loot?
The McCain’s response is defensive, and they’re trying to blame the media. But, unsurprisingly, a lot of Republicans are furious, and not just because of bad optics. It’s a huge waste of their money.
The campaign says that it was always their intention to donate the clothes and diamonds and gold to a worthy charity when the campaign is over. I don’t really believe that, and I’m sure Palin is crushed to hear that she can’t keep her bling. I think it should all be donated to the Smithsonian, where future generations can view it like the Queen of England’s Family Jewels.
Damn, if only John Edwards had donated the hair from his $400 haircut to Locks Of Love then the Republicans would have held their fire.
God, if we had only known that was all it would take to tamp down their outrage at such an elitist action!
That is a staggering figure, at a time when Repug fundraising is, umm, diminished.
Ray at Philly Bits asks some good questions:
in other words, it’s really quite useless to give the clothes to charity, unless the campaign means to sell the garments on e-bay (like Sarah’s plane!) and then donate the proceeds to charity.
Another question: which charity? Knowing McKKKain’s disregard for women’s health and reproductive rights, probably some godawful pro-life zealotry group. or maybe his new Islamic terrorist friends in al qaeda, who endorsed Senator Lime-jello-cottage-cheese this morning.
They could donate it to any charity who could auction it off to the Palin faithful.
How many Marion County Indiana Republican woman would like to be seen at their next country club outing wearing one of Sarah’s dresses?
My guess is that they sell the clothes on eBay and then put the money right back into the RNC’s coffers. It’s a move that will mollify the donor base slightly, and after the election no one will care if the money doesn’t go to a real charity or not – the RNC has lied about so much over the years no one expects them to be telling the truth on this one.
That does bring up the creepy thought of who would want to buy Palin’s used clothing. I don’t think I want to know the answer to that question though.
Oh c’mon — you know who: Try not to even think about the little starbursts that will splatter Rich Lowry’s TV screen when his face is buried in Palin’s actual garments and he’s imagining her “winking” at him.
With so many apparently unsated Republican guys I know going on and on about how “HOT” Sarah is, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them fighting on e-bay over certain new “sous-vêtements femelles” she might have acquired during her recent shopping sprees.
They are a bunch of sick and repressed men.
I find this to be rather funny in a peculiar way. Us poor little women used to get told that we voted for the best looking guy cause we were so easily swayed by some smooth looking operator. And now we’ve got these men drooling over BibleBarbie like she’s some sort of Playboy pinup..and they are just ‘hot’ to vote for her. I’m thinking her career might become limited once her looks start to go, she’ll have nothing left. Course I’m hoping her career becomes limited anyway after she’s shown much of the public how freaken stupid she really is. As Olberman aptly pointed out..’are you dumber than a third grader?’.
see terrance in DC’s post above.
Agreed. That charity line is bullshit.
In any case, Palin’s dumb-ass lottery-winner behavior is further proof, for me, that her pick by McCain was absolutely hare-brained.
This is a total tissue of lies to cover their latest mistake.
When are the clothes being donated?
To whom?
There are people who buy celebrity clothes at Christies-type auctions… usually long after a person has died (Jacki O, Lady Di, Marilyn Monroe), not while they are still worn.
If someone becomes First Lady or such, a single garment from a historic event can go to the Smithsonian’s collection. But I doubt if her “naughty monkey” shoes will sit next to Dorthy’s red glitter pumps anytime soon.
Neither of those instances fit the “giving away to charity” mode.
Hmmm… Larson. Norm Coleman’s buddy.
http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2008/10/22/palins-wardrobe-financier-also-rented-to-sen-coleman/
Maybe they will give a dress to a battered women’s shelter and BillO will entrap the wearer with a “welfare-queen” photo op. Since Palin’s “personal shopper” is one of Rove’s slimy minions, some sort of dirty trick is to be expected, especially now that they’ve been exposed as lies and thieves. They have to set up a distraction.
Saying that they’ll give her wardrobe to charity is bullshit, meant to reassure the recently unemployed or borderline-making-do folks to continue giving what they can’t afford to the RNC. It reminds me of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and the other preachers living like millionaires from the massed contributions of desperately poor people. The Palins are grifters, snicking every dime they can get from the taxpayers of Alaska, and now from national coffers. If the Palins become dictators, this is just a foretaste of how they’ll run the economy. Blind ambition combined with uncontrolled greed.
Is the money being frivoled away? :roll eyes: With their poor polls, the RNC could pay staffers to GOTV or buy some ad time in a toss-up state, but instead, they’ve paid for Trig’s pacifier, Levi’s makeover, and Piper’s Louis Vuitton handbag…. what about Bristol’s maternity wardrobe as well?
If I was a Republican, I’d be demanding my money back from the RNC. WITH an apology. And they’d never get another red penny. Never.
But…but…she looks so stunning in that donkey scarf 🙂
I feel much better today after mailing my ballot yesterday.
What were they expecting her to wear to the inauguration if they won?
Even on the VPs salary, I doubt she could afford a $150K wardrobe.
Trickle down economics at work: all those lovely outfits are going to charity so some real hockey mom can make ends meet. Priceless.
SARAH:
If you tout yourself as the queen of the Walmart crowd then shop there.
If the campaign pushed you to look Republican Wealthy than you should have just said “thanks but no thanks.” I’m an authentic maverick.
It’s perfectly compatible with the Republicans overriding theme:
“Appearance is everything”
They always try to present a “gentleman and lady” front in public, and save their nastiness of many (and kinky) varieties for behind closed doors. They put on a front always, but it has nothing to do with what they are or what they do.
No. Retail sales are down. Sarah Palin should be encouraged. That $150K sum was only for September and ya know, as a woman, she can’t be seen on TV or a public event in the same outfit twice.
Guess that’s why McCain is cutting back on ads.
Shop Sarah, Shop ’til you drop.
So, let me ask you, the clothes you wore as governor wasn’t that good enough? — I’d say your governor threads would’ve made for a truer “she’s one of us” The Neiman Marcus threads puts you in Cindy’s league baby…sure ain’t middle class or working poor.
Um, how much for the lipstick?
also from ambinder …posted earlier today:
Palin Coture In Perspective:
That’s one good week of television time in Colorado.
If Palin’s wardrobe were a family of four, they’d get a kick-butt tax cut from the Obama campaign….
frankly, the entire mc/palin campaign doesn’t have a family jewel between them.
That’s what she is.
for who? McCain??
Gov Palin doesn’t wear anything but skirts, so far as I’ve seen. I recall reading that it’s meant to be a slap against Hillary Clinton’s pantsuit fashions.
Remember Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos during their Philippine glory days? Imelda of the 5000 shoes and 500 gowns would go on slumming trips in Manila with her Blue Ladies, all gussied up in their designer gowns, and throw trinkets and their old unwanted designer fashions to the unwashed masses. It was their way of showing how much they cared for the plain folks — an excruciating exercise in clueless arrogance from sorry schlubs who bullshitted their way to power. But that was the 1960s.
Who’da thought that half a century later another beauty-queen wannabe would bring a rerun of the Ferdie and Imelda show to the US of A, complete with a giant and well-publicized handmedown event for “charity”?
Have we reached the bottom yet?
She’s gonna hate giving up that $790.00 Louis Vuitton bag.