How the Republicans Erred in Dressing Up Sarah Palin
So, I guess that makes it fair game to question Palin on her wardrobe. I usually go out of my way to avoid petty, negative stuff and even I'm aware of the scandal surrounding the use of GOP funds to purchase $150,000 of new clothes for Palin. And I'm guessing her family got some perks, too.
Anyway, I'm the last guy you want to go to for fashion advice. I'm wearing a pair of jeans from Wal-Mart and a Reebok t-shirt that have each been washed approximately 150 times. And if I noticed the change in the quality of Palin's clothes during her speeches, it had to be pretty dramatic.
I'm not sure of the length of time (and I really don't care) under which this wardrobe update took place. The only thing I'm wondering is the judgment used by the GOP fashion police. It seems to me that $150,000 is pretty extreme.
In these rough financial times, couldn't they have just handed her over to Stacy and Clinton on TLC's "What Not To Wear" and let them handle the makeover? Participants on that show get a new wardrobe for $5,000 and they're shopping in New York. And I would have loved to have seen Nick chop off all of her hair.
So, I wanted to get before and after pictures for this article but I couldn't resist this obviously photoshopped picture. Doesn't this appeal to the fan base much more than Gucci and Prada? A babe in a bikini brandishing a rifle. It's enough to make a fellow salute.
My state has not voted Democratic in a Presidential election since 1976. And the Republican voters here are not the stereotypical fat cats but rather the rednecks who are convinced that Democrats are coming to take away their guns and make them participate in a gay marriage ceremony.
But by all indications North Carolina could go either way this year. FiveThirtyEight.com shows the state as light blue, meaning that it's a very slight edge for the Democrats. If Barack Obama is our next President, it will be because states like North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri and others turned their back on the Republicans.
Now, this won't be quite as bad as Al Gore losing the 2000 election because he couldn't carry his own state but I can't shake the feeling that Republican elders will be snickering about this for years to come. If you were John McCain, would you really want to go to a cocktail party and hear the abuse from both Bushes about how he couldn't carry states from the Confederacy?
A Republican presidential candidate losing both North Carolina and Virginia in the same election has to be equal to a Democrat losing Minnesota and Michigan, which hasn't happened since Tricky Dick carried 49 states in 1972.
I believe that the choice of Palin as Vice President really cost the Republicans in both of these Confederacy states. While the credentials of the Palin family ties to the Alaska secessionist party obviously played well in South Carolina, voters in North Carolina and Virginia did not embrace Palin.
And then they dressed her up instead of dressing her down to appeal to voters. I would have thought that Republicans would have known better. If you're going to pander to people, don't go about it half way. If Sarah Palin is on the ticket because she is good looking and against big government, don't put her in a $10,000 business suit.
Instead, they should have done what the guy who photoshopped the picture did. Give her a swimsuit with the American flag and then handed her an M24 SWS. The bikini can be made anywhere. But you have to make sure it's an American-made weapon because the fan base can tell the difference.
Published by Brian Joura
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9 Comments
Post a CommentIt seems to me that everything both sides of the Demolican segment did was either doubletalk or hyperbole. They jumped on and off bandwagons ever since the beginning of the year. Did anyone notice that the closer we got to the election, the less they talked about the illegal immigration problem? Could that be because the Demolicans know that a sizeable segment of the illegal population has obtained "proper" yet phony credentials and will vote, so they are trying to induct them into the party's B.S.? Throughout the campaign, my stand on illegal immigration never changed. I still want that wall built along the Mexican border and our troops brought back from the illegal wars in the Middle East to patrol our borders and ports of entry, while staging raids to arrest illegals and send them back home.
lol, I gotta good laugh out of this article. It's amazing to hear about money like that, but I enjoy hearing things like we're all hurting yet Obama raises $100 mill in September? Must not be too bad. I think they just did this to make her look like the American business woman or something. Then again, a bikini would have garnered a huge support group from NASCAR fans...
ps enjoyed your comment, Charlie!
LOLOL! This gets my favorite article of the night award! Love the picture. :-) Great job, Brian. Now...I want a bikini like that. Seriously, I loved the ref to Carol and I enjoyed the humor in this political article very much. My state is all red and well...oh well. LOL. I will still be voting.
Complete drivel. I have already cast my vote for McCain. I am not quite in the 250K and up crowd, but with a good year ( I am self employed ), I could get there. Of course, in a bad year, I could make well under 6 figures. Also, I probably work an average of 60 hours a week or so, with several nights a month on the road, away from family, at my own expense. If you consider that whining, then enjoy the next two years under the people's state of the former United States. Remember, Clinton kept the Congress Democratic for only 2 years before they were voted out. I don't see hoe wanting to keep the money that I have earned makes me a redneck afraid of gay marraige. Actually, I am neither a gun owner, or against gay marraige. I just want to keep the money that I have earned instead of ANY party taking it away from me under the premise of the "common good." This is AMERICA. If you want to make more money, keep a better paying job. Keep your hands out of my pockets.
Great article... I am another who is a staunch Democrat who was considering voting a Republican for President for the first time... Palin made me think some more because, without knowing anything about her, I gave McCain the benefit of the doubt that she would have some ability to represent this country in an executive position.
Then, I heard her talk.
I think she is much smarter than she has portrayed herself (hey, she IS a state governor), but let's face it... a lot of the executive offices involves "appearances," and after these last 8 or so weeks, Palin likely makes a better appearance in a bikini.
Interesting article :)
Good read Brian. I think everyone knows the presidential race would be a lot closer without Palin on the Republican ticket. I've never voted for a Republican in November, and I was thinking that might change this time. Though once Palin was picked that turned me off...."Gosh darn it!" I have a hard time seeing world leaders taking her seriously, and as a consequence, the US. Anyway, that's just my personal opinion. Way to foster discussion, kudos again.
I agree with a lot of what you said. As I understand it, though, the clothes won't remain in Palin's wardrobe after the election but be donated to charity. If that IS the real case, I'm a little less bothered by the whole large amount of money thing. But I think she should have remained as she was in order to really appeal to her supposed group. You are right. Dressing her up took her right out of that target market.