by Blue Stockings | First, check out Bill Maher's dis:
Then check out these reports of current woes:
First, Palin. As everyone now knows, the RNC is in big trouble because of $150,000 spent on clothes for Palin at high-end stores. Yeah, we all noticed---or at least I did. The Politico has the full story.
Fox reports:
According to financial disclosure forms, the Republican National Committee has spent a staggering $150,000 for wardrobe, and accessories for the Palin family since her selection as John McCain’s running mate. The costs include bills from Saks Fifth Avenue for almost $50,000, $75,000 at Neiman Marcus, and about $5,000 in hair and makeup.
The Palin family will not keep the clothes,however, as they will go to a “charitable purpose after the campaign”, according to a release by the McCain-Palin campaign.
One of McCain's lackeys (via Fox) finds it remarkable that people are talking about the cost of Palin's clothes. Oh, really? In this economy? Besides, what's good for John Edwards, advocate of the impoverished, is good for Palin, friend of the Joes (Lieberman, Six-Pack and Plumber, that is---not Biden). Remember how the right couldn't stop yammering about his $400 hair cut?
Elrod at TMV remembers. And he has a further point to make:
Her image is the “regular hockey mom” and not the Hollywood glamor queen. She would actually bolster her image by shopping at TJ Maxx or even Wal-Mart than by going to Neiman Marcus or Saks. This is politics, not fashion. And she can make a great populist statement about dressing like ordinary women.
One of TMV's commenters reminds us:
The other counter-point to make over this six-figure extravagance is to point to Michelle Obama, and the dress everyone was talking about this summer..
That little number that sent everyone rushing to the stores cost only $148.
.And let's not forget the PUMAs' and right-wing bloggers' mockery of the Obama's for an expensive evening of lobster and champagne at the Waldorf that the New York Post had to explain never even happened.
Ambinder writes:
There is already an attempt to blame the media -- as in, the liberal media would have looked askance at Palin if she wasn't clad in Neiman Marcus, but this won't wash. Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed me tonight to share their utter (and not-for-attribution) disgust at the expenditures.
This sort of spending is without precedent -- the closest approximation for any campaign I've ever covered is make-up expenses for television interviews and commercial shoots -- , and Schmitt's weakly defensive response tonight indicates that the campaign is deeply embarrassed by it and has nothing to say in their defense.
He predicts: "[T]he heat for this story will come from Republicans who cannot understand how their party would do something this stupid ... particularly (and, it must be said, viewed etroactively) during the collapse of the financial system and the probable beginning of a recession."
John McCormack tries to change the subject by asking what Hillary's wardrobe cost. Not the point. Neither Hill nor Palin can match Cindy's expenditures, I'll bet, but the question isn't how much the clothes cost, but who paid for them. (He suggests selling them on e-bay "for a nice little profit," heeeee.]
Heh. John McCain can't see what the problem is. I'm sure. "The most popular governor in America"---according to his sources, I guess---deserves $150,000 worth of clothes and make up! That is so true. Has the RNC no decency?
Nah, he didn't say that, not exactly. He said, as if it were even the point,
“I’m amazed. I’m amazed. Which is better? Serve 35 years in the United States Senate and say you’ve got to divide Iraq into three different countries, or be governor of a state and a reformer and give people their tax dollars back and bring about reform in the way that your state does business? Which is better?”
Princess Sparkle Pony, who knows glamor, says:
I'm sure Joe Sixpack and Holly Hockeymom will be relieved to hear that their campaign contributions are being spent in such a totally non-elitist way. But now you know where to buy the look! What's that you say? You can't afford to look like champion of the middle class Sarah? Just take out a loan, or refinance your mortgage!
Oh wait, I guess that's not a good idea. Well, better work harder!
*Fun fact: at one of the sprees at Neiman Marcus, they dropped more than I make in a year! Neat!
He has a fab photo of Palin's supporters, looking fetching in their Wal Mart gear and Mount Rushmore T-shirts!
As for Bachmann, she may be about to lose her seat:
[T]he national Republican political parties are running for cover.
Two sources aware of ad buys in Minnesota say that the National Republican Congressional Committee is pulling its media purchases from Bachmann's race. If true, it is a remarkable fall for a congresswoman who, until recently, seemed relatively safe in her predominantly conservative district. The race had become closer in recent days -- the NRCC had transferred funds from Rep. Erik Paulsen (MN-03) to Bachmann a little over a week ago. (HuffPost)
She"apologized." The apology didn't stop her from going on right-wing talk shows to say the same thing. She also blamed Tweety---even though he totally tried to shut her down---for "laying a trap for her." Oh, I see: the views she expressed weren't her own: they were ones Matthews FORCED her to express.
Following that little rant of hers, Kos raised a huge amount of
money for her opponent. That's the way to make your voice count.
Bachmann has watched as her challenger, El Tinklenberg raised more than a million dollars off her incendiary remarks. That surge in fundraising put Bachmann's re-election in a far less certain position. (HuffPost)
Memeorandum has more on Bachmann's fall from grace.
RECENT IDLYE POSTINGS
Oopsie: New York Post forced to Retract the Lobster-and-Caviar Obama Story
Palin Still Thinks that the Vice President is in Charge of the Senate
What a bunch of BS issues. Any discussion to keep people from seeing that the Fannie Mae bandits are handpicked Obama economic advisors, Rev Wright is racist and Ayers is a sociopath. So much for judgement. So much for intellectual honesty in the press.
Posted by: LF | October 22, 2008 at 06:51 PM
First it was revealed (albeit with a show of delicacy) that Mrs. Palin is essentially a crook, and now we learn she's a fake Sacks-clad "hockey mom." I find it truly frightening that the United States executive branch could soon be presided over by an eccentric "maverick" who chose this individual as his running mate. If McCain wins, this nightmare will not only predictably lead to a constitutional crisis, but will ultimately do even more harm to the reputation of the evangelical Christian movement than the outrageous scam put on as a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit last year at a "natural history" museum in San Diego. See
http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/did-christian-agenda-lead-biased-dead-sea-scrolls-exhibit-san-diego
Posted by: View from Here | October 22, 2008 at 08:46 PM
LF: you got that right. So much for intellectual honesty. Yours, that is. Ayers, Wright, Fannie Mae, all those lies were debunked months ago. Meanwhile, all of these scandals are things McCain and Palin and Bachmann did to themselves, not smears invented by their opponents. And you know it. Typical GOPer, without a lick of honesty or decency. Just like McCain: forced to choose between losing your honor or the election, you choose your honor. And end up losing both.
Posted by: Shade Tail | October 23, 2008 at 11:22 AM
But aren't a lot of republican voters those same people who crave monarchic, fascistic rule? These are the people who are enamored of displays of opulent wealth, in that they believe that someday they will win the lotto and become extravagant themselves. The wardrobe was a calculated attempt to dangle sparkly shiny things in front of an adoring base who are easily swayed by such things. The thought that Palin wouldn't be appealing to the Joe the ersatz plumbers of America, because of her blinging wardrobe, is contrary to the republican ideal of "more for me!". Outside of her shaggability, she was bedecked to impress wall street, not main street. The republicans knew that the red state hubbies would love it if their old lady popped out of the bathroom in red leather, librarian glasses, manolo blahniks, and nothing else.
Posted by: sharkcellar | October 23, 2008 at 11:39 AM