There is a new redneck diva in town:
Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist was paid $68,400 and her hair stylist received more than $42,000 for roughly two months of work, according to a new campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission.
***Republican officials said this week that additional clothing charges would appear on the Republican National Committee’s campaign finance report totaling less than $30,000. But the committee’s report, which was due at midnight on Thursday, was not yet available as of late evening.
So they spent $180k on clothing for her highness- even though she is just like you and me, a commoner from Alaska. I know, I know, Republicans- John Edwards got an expensive haircut.
Someone could make a very interesting man on the street interview videotaping Republican donors and asking them if they think, in light of the election results, this was money well spent. A quarter million to dress up the VP, and no GOTV or ground game. Weird priorities, indeed.
r€nato
After 8 years of looting the Treasury on behalf of their cronies, it’s nice to see the Rethuglicans picking the pockets of their donors.
Jose Padilla
Interesting the way this is coming out. My guess is that these expenses could have been buried so they were hard to find. Somebody in the RNC has it out for La Palin.
Karen
A better use would have been trying to educate her, but I’m thinking hopeless cause with that.
Had I been a donor, I would be screaming for my money back. Talk about a rip-off.
Zifnab
If you’ve been paying attention to the White House budget for the last 8 years, you wouldn’t be saying that. Hell, "Millions for ‘pretty’, not a penny for boots on the ground" is the unwritten mission statement of the US Middle Eastern Country invasion manual. If Sarah Palin were invading Russia tomorrow, she’d be eyeballs to asscheeks in Pravda while the Alaska National Guard was built up as ten fat dudes with poo-loaded slingshots.
Just be glad she’s more than a heartbeat away from the White House.
donovong
This is great! Hopefully, in 2012 they will spend millions dressing up Sarah and Saxby to look like the next Osmonds, forget to turn out any votes other than the backward Baptists, and we can continue to work our way out of the Bushonomy. Fuck ’em.
Dave
Jose Padilla,
I totally agree with you, I work in finance with budgets and expenses and it’s very easy to shuffle money around under very innocuos-sounding categories (miscellaneous unallocated funds, etc.).
I keep wondering if someone has tapes of the debate preps with palin. They would be worth a lot of money to the Enquirer or other such publication.
Tim Fuller
Sarah is the comedic gift that keeps on giving.
On a totally different note, I have to share a story from a couple days ago when I went to Trustmark Bank in Jackson Mississippi and literally had to FIGHT with them to take CASH as payment on a car note I have with them!! The branch office at the local mall REFUSED CASH AS PAYMENT, insisting on a check instead. I had to go DOWNTOWN to the main branch and raise holy hell to get them to accept CASH. I took names, etc. May blog it later.
Enjoy.
Mrs. Peel
It’s not like she was on a whirl wind campaign tour that required a huge wardrobe. Most of the time she was as being hidden from the press and public so she wouldn’t inadvertently stick one of her Blahnik’s in her mouth.
It’s more like a chronic case of the "gimme’s" than money well spent. That’s what happens when you give hillbilly’s a credit card and turn them loose in Sak’s.
Johnny Pez
ITYM Prada, but Pravda works too.
Nathan R
At the risk of sounding ignorant, who exactly is Trish Stratus?
Dennis - SGMM
@r€nato:
Treasury’s empty. You pick the pockets you have – not the ones you wish you had.
Johnny Pez
Patricia Anne Stratigias[6][10] (born December 18, 1975, pronounced /strætɨˈdʒiːəs/), better known as Trish Stratus, is a former fitness model, former professional wrestler and television personality from Canada.
Ah, Wikipedia . . . mother, teacher, secret lover.
Joshua Norton
That’s what Palin could do! I’d pay good money to see a Diva Death Match.
binzinerator
@Dennis – SGMM:
Tee hee!
Wait. Why am I chuckling? [checks own pockets] Fuck.
David Hunt
@Tom Fuller
"I went to Trustmark Bank in Jackson Mississippi and literally had to FIGHT with them to take CASH as payment on a car note I have with them!"
Major trouble sign. I cannot think of a reason why a BANK would have any problem at all accepting cash. I’d look for news that they’re being taken over by the FDIC any day now, just based on the utter weirdness of that one story. Rule number two of business: "NEVER make it hard for anyone to give you cash money". Rule number one is "put the money in the bank," but seeing as they are the bank…
MattF
She’s just acting out the fantasies of her fans. Male Southern pols get blowjobs, female pols get hair, clothes and makeup.
AhabTRuler
Fixed.
mr2wheels
The first thing I thought when I read about comparing these expenditures to John Edwards’ haircut: At least Mr. Edwards paid for the haircut out of his own pocket.
Cris v.3.1
But the thing about the Edwards false equivalence is that John Edwards’ campaign never tried to sell him as "one of us." He carried a populist message, but he did it as an aristocrat who sides with the commoners.
ppcli
Damn straight. Once Obama takes charge, and the coalition kicks Harper out on his ass, I hope the first act of the new Canadian and U.S. governments is to settle the softwood lumber tariff dispute with a steel-cage bra and panties jello match between Palin and Trish Stratus.
.
Palin gets to put something on her "international diplomacy" resume, Lowry gets starbursts galore and the rest of us get some wholesome, quality entertainment. The pay per view receipts could bail out GM. No downside that I can see.
Original Lee
@Tim Fuller:
Back in 1982, a friend of mine, who lived in Michigan at the time, was on temporary assignment in New Mexico. She knew she was going to be there for about 6 months and therefore she went to the local bank to set up an account. She brought $2K in American Express Traveler’s Checks with her for the sole purpose of opening the account, and had another $1K for various expenses while she waited the 3-6 weeks it would take her employer to switch direct deposit to this other bank. The bank at first refused to accept the traveler’s checks, but after she used the bank manager’s phone to call AmEx about this, they reluctantly agreed to allow her to open an account, with a 5-day hold "to let the checks clear," because they were from Michigan. If you remember what the economy was like in Michigan back then, you’ll see the parallel.
So I take your story to be a strong indicator that the banks are scared to death, not that your individual bank is ready to go belly-up.
BTW, I liked the Santa in the Ghetto story on your blog.
Utsu
I Imagine Palin running around in a Huckleberry Finn costume, wearing a Turkey on her head while screaming "Identity politics BITCHES!".
I really hope that my libido isn’t involved in this mental image.
MattF
Utsu says: "I really hope that my libido isn’t involved in this mental image."
A vain hope, generally speaking.
gypsy howell
As Attaturk says … "the grift that keeps on giving."
Church Lady
I get the charges for the hair stylist and makeup artist – these are professionals that traveled full time with the campaign, probably charging some type of per diem plus expenses. I don’t understand the clothing charges, however. I wonder if these figures, since they are not yet out, are really accurate or are just idle gossip. $180K is a lot of money, even if you include clothes for the husband and the kids.
Tsulagi
So $250+k to dress up and coif Redneck Barbie? Brilliant.
Maybe the RNC could get back that money and make a profit. License her likeness to a toy company to make a doll. Neiman Marcus and Saks could sell a clothing line for it.
To be able to dress and undress that doll while getting a wink and a “you betcha,” those starburst-challenged War on Christmas warriors would mow down Wal Mart employees to get their hands on that doll. Wetsuit and dildo sales would soar in tandem. C’mon RNC, the economy needs your patriotic support.
pharniel
chruch lady – not when what you are buying is 2-5k on the shelf.
it’s pretty easy to get really, really, really ridiculously expensive at saks, or even nemon markus
i didn’t belive it ’till i saw the prices at harolds.
srv
Over at Derbyshire’s new blog
LiberalTarian
GOP: all hat, no cattle.
Jesse Ewiak
The comparison’s an insult to Trish Stratus. She’s actually hot and good at her job.
robertdsc
From a shallow POV, it was money well spent. She looked really good during the campaign.
Of course, the hate and stupid emanating from her mouth turned out to be a wee bit of a problem.
Shem
I would greatly enjoy an opportunity to move over Trish Stratus.
What? This isn’t Deadspin? I’ll just show myself out …
Soylent Green
Pravda is the Russian word for "truth," so Sarah Palin will never be anywhere near Pravda.
HRA
Win at any cost.
ChrisA
Sounds like the makings of a Michael Moore film.
TenguPhule
You’ll never hear any complaints on that from me.
Any time Republicans waste their own money, Americans win.
jake 4 that 1
An open letter to all the Republicans who donated their hard-earned money to send The Alaska Bratz to D.C.:
Ha ha ha ha! Pfffffft!
@Joshua Norton: Too bad Andy Kaufman is putting the Virgin Mary in a headlock.
BC
Anyone remember when the RNC said the wardrobe was going to be donated-auctioned-sold, so it wasn’t really just a gift to la Palin? Not mentioned so much now. She wore a suit from the RNC in her visit to Georgia in which she singlehandedly defeated the Obama hordes and won the magic 41st senate seat for the Republicans, from which they will spin their magical return in 2010 and absolutely once-and-for-all destroy liberalism in 2012. But it will require more clothes, because everyone understands that fashion is a fickle mistress.
Chasm
That hair stylist gig sounds outrageous, but it really isn’t if you know what she’s being paid for. Let’s say $48,000 was for 8 weeks (even though it was probably nine), that’s six thousand a week. The stylist is traveling 7 days a week, so if she has a union contract, an agent or any kind of experience then she’ll get traveling per diam of about $300 a day – that’s 16,800. Maybe 250 a week in kit rental (for equipment) The rest turns out to 3500 a week, which probably included benifits – about what a hollywood makeup artist would expect to make.
Agreed that what was outrageous was watching pompus pundits who hadn’t seen a professional barber for years because of the $400 a day artist in the make-up room make a fuss over Edwards’ haircut.
Jonquil
The Times has a great article with details on the Palin affair. The $165,000 spent for Palin’s stylist, makeup artist, and hairdresser were completely reasonable and customary for a Hollywood star. The McCain administration (oops, campaign) paid the going rate for top-of-the-line appearance people to travel with the campaign.
The question is, is it necessary for a politician to be costumed and coiffed like a Hollywood star, or would "tidy and pretty" suffice? This is especially questionable given the legal prohibition on converting campaign funds for personal use. The Times details money spent at, for instance, Toys R Us — I’m betting those toys won’t be given back.
Whether or not it’s legal, it completely blows Palin’s "Joe Six-Pack" point out of the water. Jane Six-Pack never, in her life, has access to Hollywood stylists.