But Pat and I have the satisfaction that every dime that we've got is honestly ours. I should say this, that Pat doesn't have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat, and I always tell her she'd look good in anything.
-- Richard Nixon, "Checkers" speech, Sept. 23, 1952.
Cloth coat? That is soooo 1952, apparently:
The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.
According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.
The GOP response?
"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it’s remarkable that we’re spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."
You know what? I totally agree -- it's true today and it was also true in the era of the $400 haircut (which in hindsight was a pretty minor problem on several levels). I was watching Bill Richardson on "Morning Joe" today and it seems like the Democrats are mostly taking the high road on this -- why not take it one step farther and declare a mutual cease fire on this kind of nonsense?
I'm not saying there aren't legitimate issues to be looked into and discussed about what kind of campaign expenses are legit and which are not, but that is a back-burner issue; we need to be spending all our time and energies on the raging fire on the two front burners right now.
Agreed its a silly thing to focus on, but I can't help but laugh that after she was being dressed up in thousands of dollars of designer clothes, she had the audactiy to spout her faux populism to small town America. Maybe she can also explain how what she did in Alaska wasn't a form of "spreading the wealth", when she taxed oil companies and gave refund checks back to all the citizens.— RG- Both McCain and Palin are frauds on a major scale. Nothing but lies from them. Obama supporters - make sure you help out on election day to get all eligible voters to the polling places!!!!— rallyrally
Comment removed.- But did they give her one of those diamond studded brooches like Cindy sports? Cindy wears two, custom made, one with the letters USMC the other says NAVY, because a simple Blue Star pin wouldn't be gauche enough for the nouveau riche. Other women around the campaign, like the wives who were with her in Philly, are sporting ones with WFM (women for McCain) and McCain 2008 ... all done with the letters spelled out in diamonds, reportedly a gift from Cindy, who of course has more money than she knows what to do with. All this just ties in with the NYT profile of Cindy that points out her ambition to be America's Lady Diana (though she is too old and not nearly attractive enough to actually play that role these days -- looks great on TV but up close she looks at least 10 years older than she actually is). None of this will bother the GOP faithful. After all, this is proff their economic plan will work. For every $150,000 they spend dressing up Caribou Barbie, Neiman Marcus can hire one part-time employee at minimum wage and no benefits for the holiday season. And don't worry about benefits, John will give the insurance companies $5 grand towards your $12,000 plan.
- This story's worth a chuckle, but the better one would be the way Palin charged Alaska for taking the kids with her on official business.— SteveMG
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- I'm carious what all the Walmart moms think who praises her because shes just like them. This is no joke America is already in bid debt and I can't see her and Cindy MCCain helping manage the deficit. They are big time spenders who criticize Obama for helping tax payers calling it socialism but it's okay to spend $150,000.00 on yourself for clothes when you only campaigned for 2 months.— kellyfromsp
- batkinson -keep up to date - that lobster caviar item was retracted as false days ago.— stimguy
"...we need to be spending all our time and energies on the raging fire on the two front burners right now." Then why did you post anything on it in the first place?— jmc- b.atkinson- Please read the retractions from your right-wing rags. The Michele Obama dinner receipt was a fake. Just waitin' for the story proving the 150,000.00 for Palin was a fake... crickets.— pagoda
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- Obsessed.— Bud Fox
- You can buy 5 REALLY stunning designer suits for $3,000. $150,000 to the rest of us slobs is the cost of a house. This is why the GOP is losing middle class votes--they just don't get it. And, speaking of spreading the wealth around, when I am in a higher tax bracket with my ordinary middle class salary than Cindy McCain, doesn't that really mean that I paid for part of her $313,000 outfit for John's convention speech? The GOP run Bush administration just cancelled the Philadelphia School System's free lunch program. Take that pb&j away from a kid and give the money to Exxon instead. That's immoral.— voiceofreason
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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