This article doesn't mention it, but you can find dozens that do mention that not only was clothing purchased for Palin, but also for the rest of her family. Her daughter is walking around with a Louis-Vuitton purse ffs. Hope you enjoy where your donations are going.ORMOND BEACH, Florida - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is blaming gender bias for the controversy over $150,000 worth of designer clothes, hairstyling and accessories the Republican Party provided for her and her family, a newspaper reported Thursday.
"I think Hillary Clinton was held to a different standard in her primary race," Palin said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune posted on the newspaper's Web site Thursday night. "Do you remember the conversations that took place about her, say superficial things that they don't talk about with men, her wardrobe and her hairstyles, all of that? That's a bit of that double standard."
The Republican National Committee spent about $150,000 on clothing, hair styling, makeup and other "campaign accessories" in September for the McCain campaign after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joined the ticket as his running mate.
News of the purchases of designer clothes, largely from upscale Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, contrasts with the folksy image Palin has crafted as a typical, suburban mom.
Palin said the clothes were not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention.
Most of the clothes have never left the campaign plane, she told the newspaper.
"It's kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," Palin said.
"That whole thing is just, bad!" she said. "Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are."
McCain was asked several questions on Thursday about the shopping spree - and he answered each one more or less the same way: Palin needed clothes and they'll be donated to charity.
"She needed clothes at the time. They'll be donated at end of this campaign. They'll be donated to charity," McCain told reporters on his campaign bus between Florida rallies.
Asked for details on how they'll be donated, McCain said, "It works by her getting some clothes when she was made the nominee of the party and it will be donated back to charity."
Asked if he was surprised at the amount spent, McCain said, "It works that the clothes will be donated to charity. Nothing surprises me."
McCain offered no further comment, except to say that the Republican National Committee doesn't buy his clothes.
Also on Thursday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a private watchdog group in Washington, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Palin, the Republican National Committee and several political operatives alleging that the purchase of clothing for Palin and her family violates the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Asked Wednesday who had paid for the suit he was wearing, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden told WSLS-TV in Roanoke, Virginia: "I pay for my suits. I pay for all of my own clothing."
The hits keep coming..
orly
Such honesty and such frugal use of tax dollars.Mrs Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended her expense reports to specify that they were on official business.
The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Mrs Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race.
There was also a trip to New York for a five-hour conference which entailed the governor and her 17-year-old daughter staying for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel overlooking Central Park.
In total, the Republican vice-presidential candidate has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round trip airline flights since she took office in December 2006.
In some cases, she charged Alaska for hotel rooms for the girls, according to an investigation by Associated Press.
Alaska law allows expenses to be claimed by anyone conducting official state business but it does not specifically address expenses for a governor's children.
It is not the first time that Mrs Palin has been accused of unethical behaviour as governor. The Alaska state legislature recently found that she abused her power in her efforts to get her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired.
As governor, Mrs Palin justified having the state pay for the travel of her daughters - Bristol, 17, Willow, 14, and Piper, seven - by noting on travel forms that the girls had been invited to attend or participate in events on the governor's schedule.
However, organisers of some the events said they were surprised when the children turned up. Others said they agreed to a request by the governor to allow the children to attend.
Mrs Palin ordered changes to her expense reports for her daughters' travel after local reporters asked to see them at the beginning of August.
In the amended reports, Palin added phrases such as "First Family attending" and "First Family invited" to explain the girls' attendance.
Explaining why two daughters accompanied her to a seafood industry gala in January, Mrs Palin amended her expenses to state that their role was to "draw two separate raffle tickets".
Taylor Griffin, a McCain-Palin campaign spokesman, said Mrs Palin followed state policy allowing governors to charge for their children's travel.
He said the governor's office had invitations requesting the family to attend some events, but added that he was unable to provide them.
orly
In contrast:Sarah Palin - the lipstick-wearing hockey mom with an eye-popping $150,000 wardrobe - is also shelling out big bucks to have her makeup done.
The McCain-Palin campaign paid Amy Strozzi, the GOP vice presidential nominee's traveling makeup artist, $22,800 for the first two weeks of October, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission last night.
Strozzi made the mugs of both Palin and John McCain camera ready.
The expense makes Strozzi the highest paid person in the McCain-Palin presidential campaign during the first half of October. Strozzi was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance?"
Earlier this week, records showed the Republican National Committee spent $150,000 - including more than $75,000 at Neiman Marcus and nearly $50,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue - to outfit Palin in designer duds.
The hefty expense flies in the face of the national image Palin has sought to project as a folksy, down-to-earth hockey mom who lives and understands the plight of average, hard-working Americans.
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune on Thursday, Palin insisted the $150,000 expense is "not who we are."
"That whole thing is just, bad!" she told the newspaper. "Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are.
"It's kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention.
Palin, who has been wearing expensive clothes during her stumping on the campaign trail, said the garments will be returned, auctioned off or donated to charity. Most of the clothes, she said, remain untouched in the belly of her campaign plane.
The Obama campaign has said it paid for hair and makeup costs associated with interviews or events, but neither the campaign nor the Democratic National Committee has paid for clothing.
Seriously, I could keep going and going and going with this shit. It's just too easy and there's so much I haven't even touched. And this is the woman that you AmeriMcCain-ians think is your best hope of representing the middle class? The one with the same values as average American families? This woman is what you want in the White House to define American to the rest of the world?
There's no end to the astonishing idiocy a good number of citizens of this country display nearly every day.
Fuck you all. You make me ashamed to be an American citizen.
