If you had to constantly stand next to Cindy McCain, you might spend $150,000 on clothes, too.
The Republican National Committee spent more than that on Sarah Palin's wardrobe in the seven weeks since she was selected as John McCain's running mate, politico.com reports today.
There was almost $50,000 invested at Saks Fifth Avenue stores in St. Louis and New York. (Had she chosen to shop at the Bala Cynwyd branch, she would have saved the RNC sales tax!)
In early September, the RNC gave Palin more than $75,000 to drop at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis.
Doesn't this make running for veep sound like a great job, or what? Maybe Palin can single-handedly boost retail sales.
Palin looks good. Her clothing is smart and appropriate. And we're guessing Anchorage isn't exactly a mecca of sartorial style.
But that sure is a lot of capital to spend on duds for a 10-week run as the vice presidential candidate.
Now we know why Palin looks so happy. She's won valuable prizes! A whole new career wardrobe, running for a job that usually just requires a nice assortment of power ties. (Plus there's the almost $5,000 on hair and makeup in September.) When most of us switch jobs, we don't even get a Phillies shirt.
The choice to spend so much, and so quickly, seems counterintuitive to the campaign's rhetoric.
John McCain has made a big deal about "Joe the Plumber," so much so that some wags have suggested he's the senator's new running mate.
Palin speaks frequently about "Joe Sixpack" and "Main Street" as opposed to Wall Street.
Saks and Neiman Marcus aren't exactly your Main Street, unless your Main Street happents to be Fifth Avenue.
The Atlantic.com reports that clothes were also purchased at Barneys on Manhattan's Madison Avenue, the snootiest, hautiest store imaginable with posibly the most superior sales staff outside of Paris. It's the very definition of the East Coast elite. (The Eastern media elite can hardly afford to shop there.)
Which illuminates another issue: the idea that a candidate should mirror the electorate.
Candidates aren't like us. It takes a certain kind of personality, drive and experience to run for higher office.
And, now, a certain kind of wardrobe.
The RNC can spend money however it sees fit. But this kind of expense account makes it a whole lot harder to claim to be one of the people, a Sarah Sixpack, when you're packing a $150,000 wardrobe more suitable with Cristal.
Comment removed.
This is not news. Everyone knows it is more expensive for a woman to dress in stylish business attire than it would be to clothe a man (a set of dark suits and power ties cost significantly less than a set of non-interchangeable outfits). And Michelle Obama is not exactly shopping at TJ Maxx.— Echo- I guess when they say Obama is elitist - they should be looking in a mirror - 150K for clothes!!! - that is a lot of money - no matter if you are a man or woman— gigglespaisano
- For those who want to dismiss give me a break. $150,000 is a hell of lot of money to spend on clothes and makeup, and this on the heels of us now finding out that Palin billed the taxpayers of Alaska for her kids travel, oh and let's not forget she also billed the taxpayers of Alaska when she stayed in her own home. What we now know about Palin is she is the avgerage hockey mom as she likes to point out and she is just as sleazy as some of the other politicans!— jhop
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- I loved the quote in the other article on this (which was not open to comments): '"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 McCain spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt.' Yes, this from the campaign who is ignoring all of the important issues facing the country right now and shouting "Wright! Ayers! Wright! Ayers! Wright! Ayers!"— Michael S.
- Hey, it's all part of the pageantry and stagecraft of this popularity contest known as the presidential race. Americans love their entertainment and celebrities, no matter what their political bent. How much was spent converting Invesco Field into a faux Greek temple?— justwondering
- Underlying all this phony outrage is a sense of fear that Gov. Palin may actually have a political future. This from SNL Producer Lorne Michaels, one of the high priests of liberalism: "I think Palin will continue to be underestimated for a while. I watched the way she connected with people, and she's powerful. Her politics aren't my politics. But you can see that she's a very powerful, very disciplined, incredibly gracious woman. This was her first time out and she's had a huge impact. People connect to her."— justwondering
- They say they are going to donate this stuff to charity too? Yeah...give some poor schmuck a $500 pair of shoes?— tdoc
And the clothes will be donated to charity after the election. My word. Don't recall quite the lather being worked up about John Edwards' hair when he was a frontrunner. And you guys sure seem to ignore that this is less money than Senator Obama received as the second largest recipient of largesse from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Do your job. Tell the folks about how the Democrats crashed our economy.- "Tell the folks about how the Democrats crashed our economy." ARE YOU ON CRACK?— tdoc
- There is plenty of economic blame to go around for both Democrats and Republicans. But since congressional and presidential victories are in the bag for Democrats, earlier this week (10/20) Barney Frank gave us a glimpse of what's to come: "I think at this point there needs to be a focus on an immediate increase in spending and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second seat . . . I believe later on there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of very rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of the money."— justwondering
From opensecrets.org B Hussein has racked up some pretty interesting expenditures as well, including over $550,000.00 on Unknown. Thats poetic given that the overwhelming majority of his contributions are the unknown. If this hadn't been the year journalism died, an investigative reporter might want to look into that.— fgomarty- tdoc - That's not very practical. It's more likely that the clothes will be auctioned off or sold at upscale thrift stores, with the proceeds going to charity.— justwondering
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