The Etceterist | 10/22/2008 2:30 pm

The Etceterist: Go For It, Sarah Palin!

Revelations that the Republican National Committee has spent some $150,000 on dressing up the governor of Alaska for the campaign trail could be a wonderful thing for the world of fashion, specifically American fashion, especially at a time when consumer confidence is waning.

Compared to the French (no one in Paris is giving Carla Bruni a hard time for dressing the role of First Lady in the local couture) or even the British, Americans maintain a very ambiguous relationship to fashion. We want it, we revere it on reality shows, we insist our celebrities dress well — hence the success we are reminded of this week in the obituaries of Richard Blackwell and his annual Worst-Dressed List — but if you are found out to actually spend money on fashion, style or grooming, such as John Edwards’s pricey haircuts or Cindy McCain’s earrings or way back to Jackie Kennedy’s Cassini frocks, we attack the person for being wasteful and superficial. Basically, you are vilified.

Now how the hell are retailers expected to move the merch with this attitude? This is a very tired point of view, hypocritical to its roots in a capitalistic system where, at least in Manhattan, the fashion business is the No. 2 revenue producer for the city, second only to finance. (Probably, now No. 1 given the failures of finance.)

So, go Sarah, go! Instead of shrinking, lying, deflecting, come out of the closet and, yes, yes, yes, declare it: "I am a fashionista in a recessionista world! I am a proud wearer of good clothing! I wake up thinking of shoes. I get my hair done, my nails, my makeup … I read Vogue! I was in Vogue!

"Clothes make the man and fashion the woman. And I do this for you, America! Anymore than I would wave a threadbare flag on the campaign trail would I shake it in a muumuu from Mervyn’s."

And better dress departments from sea to shining sea will thank you, Sarah Palin, for coming, so to speak, out of the closet.

More from wowOwow’s The Etceterist

The Down Index: How the Other Half Lives (Now)

Who Is Dressing Sarah Palin? wowOwow’s Etceterist Hears …

10 Ways to Make a Bad Wall Street Guy Look Good

Read more about: Economy, Election 2008, Fashion, News, Recession, Sarah Palin, Style, The Etceterist, Vogue

99 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Ran into this on the web relative to Obama’s expenses: Just on campaign expenses for polling/surveys/research a record $21,500,862 was spent. Other costs: Media Broadcast Media $160,446,232 Print Media $13,123,021 Internet Media $10,310,400 - payment to his bloggers online and supporters such as Huffington Post, Daily Kos, etc. Misc Media $3,775,760 We are talking about $187 million dollars for the media alone. This man is cheating and buying votes and the lunatic media is helping him. The cowardly press has the nerve to write about the $150,000 that the Rep party spent on Palin’s expenses.

By Marjorie C. on 10/23/2008 6:30 am

e-mail alert

Obama has record contributions and is spending it on his campaign… you think this is “news”… what should he be doing with his campaign contributions? Oh, maybe dressing Biden up?

By DeBúrca obj on 10/23/2008 8:09 am

e-mail alert

Marjorie-you hit the nail on the head here. Obama broke his promise and opted out of public financing. He’s attempting to buy the White House—but the story is $150k on clothes for a female candidate and her family?? Seriously? The press should spend more time looking into ACORN and Obama’s ties to Fannie Mae than at Palin’s clothing budget. Having said that, she looks fabulous. Jane Becker, http://thedamedomain.blogspot.com

By Jane Becker on 10/23/2008 5:26 pm

e-mail alert

Marjorie, Boy am I naive, the Obama Campaign paid $10,310,410 to online bloggers and Huffington and Daily Kos. When it is all said and done I wonder how much each of the votes he gets end up costing? This is crazy. The ridiculous thing is the Democrats are the ones that scream and yell about the fairness doctrine. They are worried about $150,000, what babies. LOL This is so destructive to the democratic process.

By Frannie Em on 10/23/2008 10:03 pm

e-mail alert

Hello Frannie……when I read those statistics I noticed that the poster did not provide us with the source of her “information.” I went in search of verification and couldn’t find any reference to it. Just curious, did you check into the validity of the post before it made you feel naive? If so, I would sincerely appreciate a link to the documentation. And if not, I respectfully suggest that you consider the source. You have called me on a casual comment in the past, and I apologized for what seemed to you as distain for all Republicans. Well, as a Democrat, I think of myself as a responsible patriotic adult and I don’t believe I am ridiculous or destructive. Do you have distain for all Democrats? Do you really consider 150K spent to dress and indulge a candidate’s family to be humorous?”

By ~ countrywoman ~ on 10/24/2008 12:37 am

e-mail alert

Countrywoman You have every right to question the both of us. Let me ask you. Where do you think all the money goes? Obama raised $150,000,000 in September. How much indulgence can you buy with that? Where do you think he puts it? He can buy air time. He can do whatever he wants, but I can also question it, and we can question Marjorie where she got her info. What is the point, everyone would just discount it. I don’t get those emails people talk about from republicans or democrats, I blocked then on my mac. I do a lot of looking up myself, but I will tell you this, the press isn’t doing it, and why aren’t they? Where is the transparency? Oh, it will come out after the election? Do you think that is right? That is my point. I came back here now to see if Marjorie had posted a source. Let’s ask her. Why do you say “considering the source?” What is wrong with Marjorie, she holds a different opinion than you and sometimes me? So what? She gets mad or has strong political opinions? Pretty much everyone here has strong political opinions, and get mad and even call people names. What is this race doing to us? Everyone has such a knee jerk reaction (thank you Susan) to Bush because they hate him so much, is that a reason to make decisions and let integrity in campaigns fly out the window? Situational lack of ethics? Don’t question it because no matter what we don’t want a republican? Are people letting Bush have that much power over their lives? Leaving a trail of unintended consequences of people behaving as if they have to ‘get that person’? If that has happened that is wrong. Many people have been wrong about a lot of stuff and have accused me of things that have nothing to do with me. They do it to others. I don’t get angry on this site very much, but I feel like I am watching any vestige of the limping campaign process that we have, be totally destroyed by money. Is everyone so happy because the money is coming into your candidates campaign, if it was flowing into McCain’s you and I would be up in arms asking where it came from, you wouldn’t just take someone’s word for it. Well I don’t just take someone’s word for it and I can feel anyway I want to? I have been trying to find out answers about the money from the beginning. I think they post it quarterly, and then it has to be reviewed before released. So we don’t know what is going on. I am an independent, I voted for Reagan, Clinton because he was a centrist, Gore because of the environment, not Kerry - I let you guys decide that one (I was having medical stuff at the time), I have voted for democrat and republican representatives and senators, as well as in local elections. I try to vote in a balanced way. I don’t like the executive and legislative branches of government being held by one party. Too much power and money corrupts. I am not questioning, and I don’t think I have ever questioned anyone’s patriotism on this site. Have you ever heard me do that? You would have to tell me what it means before I could question it. Your definition of yourself as a responsible patriot is right. I would have no reason to disagree. Nor do I believe that you are ridiculous or destructive. Nor do I think anyone is wrong to vote for Obama. Your choice is valid for you and I accept it. Yet I have the right to decide for myself and if people on this site have a problem with it, too bad. Life is too short to worry about that. Let me apologize now if I have offended you, it is not my intent. My concern is with the destruction of our democratic process. Peace and grace and peas and gravy.

By Frannie Em on 10/24/2008 1:28 am

e-mail alert

Hi Frannie I appreciate your reply. I suspect we are all feeling the effects of life in a pressure cooker right now? I have stated before that I read, learn from, and respect the differing points of view that folks share with each other here. Agreement is not necessary for a good discussion. The area where I am intolerant is when people play loose with the facts. I believe that lies and smears definitely corrupt the democratic process. The reason I suggested that you consider the source is that the poster in question has published any number of half-truths and ugly innuendo about Obama. Sometimes she will preface with “I heard that…..” Not long ago someone posted a list of slurs and Ms. C indicated her approval of the list. (“This is a good place to post it…”) Here is her response when Deni asked her why this is a good place to post a list of lies:

Maybe one good lie deserves another. The Palin library list is bogus, everyone agrees it’s bogus, yet posters here tore Palin apart for about 10 pages, accusing her of bullying the librarian, etc. etc. So if the list of Obama’s activities is slightly skewed, what harm? One good lie deserves another. No? Let’s be equal opportunity liars. By Marjorie C on 09/19/2008 1:16 pm

This comment has caused me to question everything she posts. One lie is NOT good, and does NOT deserve another. It is my belief that Obama is going to be a great leader if we can just get him elected. I have helped finance his campaign with as much as my small budget will allow. (I have also worked at our local precinct. I can’t speak for other locations, but where I live, all activities are honorable and above board.) I trust his judgment and believe that he is using our money wisely. If he used our money to beautify and indulge his family, I would feel betrayed. (although I can see from several of the comments that some of McCain/Palin supporters do not feel offended by this use of their contributions.) To believe that Obama’s campaign is NOT using the money wisely, I would need a RELIABLE source. I do think the MSM is impressed with Obama, but I also think they bend over backwards to maintain a pretense that McCain is a credible candidate. I realize what a crock of crap we are fed by the taking heads so I have done my best to seek out my own information and form my opinions from the facts.

Peas and gravy to you too, and thanks again for your thoughtful response.

By ~ countrywoman ~ on 10/24/2008 3:47 am

e-mail alert

Countrywoman How are the chickens? We had chickens on our ranch growing up and the best eggs. My grandpa built the chicken coop. Do you sell eggs or just love chickens? I know you won’t believe me, but Sarah Palin gets more lies told about her than anyone in the campaign. She has some problems which she has brought down on herself, but there has been an active campaign to destroy her that goes far beyond any of that. I think it is hateful and unnecessary, just as it is hateful for lies about race or religion to be be brought up about Obama. I have to put principles before personalities, in other words, stick to the issues that are important to me, because if was personality, Obama would have had my vote from the beginning. I have gone back and forth because watching what they do and have done about policy. I cannot speak for anyone regarding what they post on the site. Countless people have posted many lies or half truths about different people and issues, so it would seem to me, to be fair, you would have to correct all of them. Wouldn’t that take a lot of time and work if you really wanted to be fair and uphold the standard that you have set for Marjorie? We all choose our battles with respect to the issues that are important to us. Let me just say this from the standpoint of having been an undecided independent for a long time on this site, that MSM is the antithesis of Sean Hannity. MSM and NBC is just as much in the tank for Obama/Biden, as Hannity is for McCain/Palin. To really understand bias in the news, read Bernard Goldberg’s book Bias. It is interesting how certain negative words are used in the media. Peas and gravy and peace and grace - and hang in there, everything is going to be okay - eventually

By Frannie Em on 10/24/2008 1:03 pm

e-mail alert

Hi Frannie You’ve done it now…..afforded me the opportunity to talk chicken! I have seven lovely hens who own me. They provide me with daily doses of humor, perfectly packaged protein, and some mornings, a reason to rise and shine. I built them a Hen Hilton in a section of my barn, (indoor security with seasonal accommodations, covered outdoor yard with a custom “play structure”) and they give me mega-doses of HenZen in return. Their eggs (some blue, some green, some porcelain ecru) are gifts, and as such I could never sell them……but I do enjoy sharing the wealth. Re picking our battles, I agree with your assessment. I just have a real intolerance for lies. Once in awhile this site is beset by the nasty drive-by flamers who drop toxic little word piles with malice. They come and they go, their garbage is so self-evident that it can be ignored. What prompts a reaction is when something is posted carefully and accepted as truth without further scrutiny. I do feel strongly about the destructive potential of unchallenged “information.” Just for the record, I am aware that there has been tons of misinformation floating around about all the candidates. As mentioned, I have made every effort to form my opinions from my own research and observation. From what I have read in your postings, that is what you try to do as well. With the garden waning and winter on the way, I look forward to tackling the tower of books that has piled up over the summer. I will look for the Goldberg book you have recommended. Sounds like it may have something in common with a Steven Pinker book (“The Stuff of Thought”) that has been waiting for me in the book tower. Reading is what gets me through the winter with my sanity intact! Cackleberries and gravy to you, Ms. Em

By ~ countrywoman ~ on 10/24/2008 3:10 pm

e-mail alert

Countrywoman “HenZen” LOL I love that. I have a meditation group and we call ourselves Buddha Buddies, I will have to tell them about HenZen. Maybe we will call ourselves Zen Hens now. Peace and grace and peas and gravy.

By Frannie Em on 10/24/2008 5:59 pm

e-mail alert

Frannie……HenZen should work quite nicely for a meditation group, or a therapy session, or solitary introspection….please keep me posted, and I shall share the good vibes with the girls!
:-)

By ~ countrywoman ~ on 10/25/2008 12:55 am

e-mail alert

Marjorie, Can you site your sources? Give me an idea where to start looking for the info? Thanks.

By Frannie Em on 10/24/2008 1:30 am

e-mail alert

The Palin family is attractive??? Maybe clean those glasses or get some taste.

By Wine Warrior on 10/29/2008 8:16 am

e-mail alert

Funny how McCain hasn’t been wearing a teeny, tiny American flag lapel pin, yet Obama has. Personally, I wish Obama never started because wearing an American flag lapel pin has nothing to do with patriotism and I don’t believe he should have given in on it. I don’t think Hillary wore one during any debates either as a matter of fact. Marjorie… I can just imagine what you would have to say if it came out that Obama or his wife had spent even half that much on clothing at the supporters expense. LOL

By DeBúrca obj on 10/22/2008 4:47 pm

e-mail alert

Also, Marjorie, “Let’s not get all American Pie here. I don’t think your candidate believes in it.” … sounds like you’re getting a little Palin on us… are you implying “our candidate” isn’t “pro-American”?? Wow, you really have turned Republican.

By DeBúrca obj on 10/22/2008 4:48 pm