The current news cycle is dominated by Sarah Palin's 150 K shopping spree. The electorate is outraged at her frivolous spending in a time when people are losing their jobs and homes. The GOP donors want their money back.
I have a different take on the issue -- I'm saying I'm glad Moose Lady got herself some clothes. It's money well spent. Follow me below to let me tell you why.
Ever since Sarah Palin was introduced as the Republican VP candidate, we on the progressive side have asked ourselves, "WTF???" As the weeks of her candidacy progressed, more and more unsavory details about her and her way of executing her "executive experience" have come to light. None of it seemed to matter, though. Even though potential voters were less and less impressed with her, she wasn't going away.
She pushed her teenaged daughter into the international limelight by announcing the girl's pregnancy -- to dispel rumors about herself. Does that say something about her? Absolutely. Did it discourage Republican voters? Not even.
Her documented abuses of power and her lies about her way of governing are too many to count. One such incident alone would have killed a Democrat's political career. Did she go away? Nope.
During the campaign it has become obvious that she is clueless about the office for which she is running. Does it matter? Apparently not.
Her husband, her current spouse and father of her children, is or was affiliated with the AIP. It seems as though that is no big deal either.
But now that Republicans find out how much her designer clothes cost them, they are pissed. A clothing allowance of $150,000 is too excessive -- unless you earned it yourself in the private sector of course. In that case, nothing's too obscene. Well, good! If they're finally ticked off enough to question how their ticket's campaign has been run and what that says about a potential presidency, then the 150K is money well spent. If in a time of war, economic crisis, and the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, CLOTHES is what makes them see the light, I'll take it. Al Capone went to prison for tax evasion for crying out loud, but he did go to prison. It's an expensive lesson to learn but less costly than 100 years of war.
I say let her keep her clothes, as long as she takes them back to Alaska with her. Let the kids keep theirs too; her college-deprived teenagers may not get another chance to wear something decent. It's a small price to pay to turn Moose Lady into a footnote in history.
However, if McPalin actually win on Nov. 4 and she gets to wear her new outfits in front of foreign leaders, leaving international incidents in her wake, THEN I'll be pissed.