Clothes do not make the woman

Republican nominee for the office of vice president, Sarah Palin was told that she could buy whatever she wanted at the expense of the Republican Party to make her look good when she appears on stage and TV. She spent $150 thousand dollars of their money. Here is how she spent it.

$75,062.63 Two shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis; $49,425.74 Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York; $9,447.71 Total of three payments to Macy's in Minneapolis; $5,102.71 Payment to Bloomingdale's New York; $4,902.45; Payment to Atelier, a high-class shopping destination for men; (that was gift for her husband) $4,716.49 Hair and makeup through September; $789.72 Payment to Barney's New York; and $92 Romper and matching hat with ears for her baby at Pacifier so that he would look good when he brings him on stage and before the TV cameras.

Roughly one third of households in the United States are the lower middle class consisting mostly of semi-professionals, skilled craftsmen and lower level management. Middle class persons commonly have a comfortable standard of living, significant economic security, considerable work autonomy and rely on their expertise to sustain themselves. The range of earnings per year for middle class individuals is between $25,000 and $100,000 a year. If one third of Americans are middle class and ten percent represents the people who are upper middle class and really upper class, then that means that the remaining 57% of Americans are poor.

There are over 305 million people in the United States. Approximately, 56 % of all US citizens are old enough to vote. That means that as many as 170 million adults can vote in the presidential election. Since 80 percent of the eligible voters are middle class or poor, it also means that 136 million adults in the US who are middle class or poor can vote in the upcoming election.

Now ask yourself this question. How many of the women voters in that 80 percent of eligible voters can afford to spend $150,000 for clothes in less than two months? How many can spend as much as $4,902 to keep their hair in shape for one month?

Sarah Palin touts that she is just a hockey mom while running for the office of vice president, and wants everyone to know that she is no different than any of the other commoners in the country. Well, she is vastly different than 80 percent of the women voters in the US and by spending money to the tune of $150 thousand dollars over a two-month period isn’t going to make them feel all fuzzy and warm towards her or for the matter, towards McCain either since he chose her as his running mate.

If she had saved up that money on her own over the years and wanted to splurge, then that would be fine. But she is spending money given to her by her political party to splurge and by walking on stage and appearing on TV with all that finery is a smack in the face of those women in the US who are middle class or poor who are lucky enough if they can afford to pay five hundred dollars a year in clothing after shopping at Wal-Mart.

Her salary as governor of Alaska is $81,648.00 On top of that; Palin charged the State of Alaska large sums of money multiple times for personal travel for her daughters. Plane tickets were over $1,000 each, and luxury hotels ran upwards of $500 per night. The Palins traveled together to her husband’s snow mobile races, leadership conferences, and political events.

This woman simply doesn’t have any class nor does she have any empathy for those women in the US who are less fortunate than she is. And yet, she has the audacity to actually run for office. How many of those middle class and poor working women and wives of working men and those who are unemployed or are raising their children on their own, are going to vote for McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin in this upcoming election? How many of their husbands or boyfriends want this woman to be their next vice president? McCain should have chosen Joe the Plumber as his running mate. At least by that choice, he would at least get a running start at the presidency.

When I think of John McCain choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate and then think of the morning after he loses the race for the presidency because she was the albatross around his neck, I will invariably think of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The last verse of the poem is most appropriate;

He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.