Sarah Palin’s Clothe$…
We’re all aware of the bru-ha-ha surrounding Sarah Palin’s wardrobe. “Fashiongate!” I find two things about this to be quite interesting…
First, why do we not hear so much as a peep about how much anyone ELSE’S clothing cost? How much did John McCain’s suits cost? What has Joe Biden spent on his wardrobe for this campaign? No one’s even asking. Why not? Is it because Sarah Palin is a woman? Of course, no one would admit to THAT being the reason. That would be SEXIST! In fact, I seem to recall that when observations were made about Hillary Clinton’s clothing choices on the campaign trail , it sparked exactly that outcry–”sexist!” However, Gov. Palin gets no such defense. I guess maybe that’s because, well, Hillary is an elegant, polished sophisticate, and Sarah Palin is a stupid Barbie trailer park trash backwater religious nut.
I suspect that therein lies the real truth: we read about Sarah Palin’s clothes choices because the people who dislike her are simply employing a blatant double standard. No news flash there–we often tend to judge those we dislike by a shorter stick. Hillary’s opponents do the same thing, just not with clothes.
In today’s Rocky Mountain News, there’s a full-page spread outlining the expense of each item of the outfit Gov. Palin wore during her speech at the Republican National Convention. Accompanying the photo are other photos of ”less expensive options” that she COULD have worn, along with a patronizing quote from the queen of bimbos herself, Paris Hilton. The implication, of course, is “Sarah Palin? Paris Hilton? Same thing.” Politics aside, I think that’s an unfair implication.
The other thing I find interesting about “Fashiongate” is this. So, the Republican Party spends $150,000 to make their Vice Presidential candidate look good. The Democratic Party spends multiple millions of dollars producing a 30 minute TV special to make their Presidential candidate look good–and many more millions to broadcast it on most of the major networks. And the difference is…?
I’m NOT criticizing Barack Obama for his 30 minute message–more power to him! I’m just saying that Gov. Palin is clearly not getting the kind of equal treatment that Obama’s own commercials say women should get, and which Obama himself talked about in his acceptance speech at Invesco a couple months ago.