Palin defends $150,000 wardrobe in her own clothes Nick Cargo

Published: Sunday October 26, 2008





Print This Email This On Sunday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took a couple minutes to distance herself from $150,000 in controversial wardrobe purchases for herself and members of her family in the opening of her speech to an audience in Florida.



"This whole thing with the wardrobe," she said, "I try to just ignore it because it's so ridiculous, but I'm glad now that [The View's Elizabeth Hasselbeck] brought it up. It gives me an opportunity, without the filter of the media, to get to tell you the whole clothes thing...They are not my property. Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me. I'm back to wearing my own clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska."



Palin also made sure to note her inexpensive wedding ring, gifted earrings and lapel pin worn to honor her son who just left for Iraq.



A third of the garments bought for Palin, which she said were for wearing during September's Republican National Convention, have already been returned, said the McCain campaign, and the rest will be donated to charity after Election Day.



"This is deliberately sexist," Hasselbeck said during her introduction of the Governor. "I know you know that," she added, as an audible wolf-whistle was lodged by an audience member. "I'm actually personally most impressed by her accessories. You know, like the flag pin that she wears in honor of her son and our military men and women fighting abroad. And they fight for our very right to be here today in her support. Now, they didn't list that accessory and its value in their report, did they? You know why? Because they know it's priceless."



Expenditures that have been documented include almost $50,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue and $75,000 at Neiman Marcus. "Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed me tonight to share their utter (and not-for-attribution) disgust at the expenditures," said The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder.



Embedded below are Elizabeth Hasselbeck's opening remarks, followed by a clip of Governor Palin:











The Jed Report has also compiled clips of Fox News reporters slamming criticism of Palin on her wardrobe while conveniently forgetting the stretch earlier in the 2008 campaign when former Senator John Edwards was mocked and berated repeatedly over the fact that he had received two $400 haircuts.



"Television is a cosmetic business," said Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson in the Governor's defense. "Always has been, always will be to a certain extent. So is politics."



"Somebody is sitting in a makeup room right over here who does our makeup and does our hair," added Steve Doocy. "If you're in the public eye, you've got to look good."







