Dressing Sarah Palin

Nonsense.  Comparing Sarah Palin's clothing budget with a Hollywood star is anything but a fair comparison.  Even Palin herself would object to your lumping her in with those unpatriotic, leftist Hollywood elites.

A more fair comparison would be Michelle Obama, who's out on the campaign trail every day, just like Palin.  In a recent interview, Michelle was talking about her $30 dress that she bought at the Gap (and her youngest chimed in with, "Mommy buys EVERYTHING at the Gap").  Michelle knows a thing or two about how to present herself ... she always looks great and you can tell she's not breaking the Obama bank account on her clothes.  We're talking low-maintenance, serious babe here.

Contrast this with Palin's $2,500 Valentino jacket, and her new $400 glasses.  Oh, and the $4,716.49 she spent on hair and makeup in September.  Talk about high maintenance.  It's all a far cry from that photo of her circulating on the Internet that was taken in an Anchorage supermarket back in July before she was thrust into the limelight.

And let's not forget about Cindy McCain, one of whose ensembles at the Republican Convention reportedly cost $313,000, almost twice as much as Palin spent on her entire wardrobe update.  

Of course, Cindy's got the big bucks.  She's not even in the same class as her husband, let alone the Palins.  I can just imagine Cindy inviting the Palins over to one of their 14 or 15 homes for a soiree.  That's a dinner party I'd pay to see.

I don't understand why legions of working class people seem to think they're in the same league with this Republican crowd.  It's irony bordering on satire that they have the nerve to portray the Obamas as "elitist".

The RNC bought and paid for the clothing for Governor Palin. Merchants and employees benefitted, too.  That's what I call "spreading the wealth"!

Yes, Deborah, we're sure that the clerk who sold Sarah that $2,500 Valentino jacket can take that cruise to Aruba now.

I support Obama, but that isn't stopping me from being mesmerized by Sarah Palin.

Not since "Romantic Love" destroyed the medieval concept of "Courtly Love" have so many modern-day paladins admired from afar the unapproachable and perfect object of their pure affections: Legions of contemporary Dante Alighieris and one Beatrice Pontinari.

Toadsly, being so smitten, will not begrudge me lady any indulgence -- at any price.

I don't know what universe you live in, Susan Manella, but I could live comfortably for three years on $150,000.

In the context of the current economic downturn, with stock market losses affecting a lot of people, including my family, and with others losing their houses or jobs, this kind of extravagance seems obscene.

It does, however, expose how the Republican Party "plays" the American people: pretending to represent the "real America" while promoting the economic interests of oil companies, multinational corporations that ship jobs oversees, and hereditary multimillionaires like John McCain's wife. They're the ones who get the tax breaks. At the same time the Republicans jeer at the "elites" who, like Barack Obama, have risen to prominence by talent, effort, and higher education.

White Southerners have fallen for this nonsense for a century. It's sad to see that the rest of the country can also be swindled and duped into believing that McCain cares about plumbers, when he's surely never met the plumbers who work in one of his seven houses.  

I don't know what universe you live in, Susan Manella, but I could live comfortably for three years on $150,000.

In the context of the current economic downturn, with stock market losses affecting a lot of people, including my family, and with others losing their houses or jobs, this kind of extravagance seems obscene.

It does, however, expose how the Republican Party "plays" the American people: pretending to represent the "real America" while promoting the economic interests of oil companies, multinational corporations that ship jobs oversees, and hereditary multimillionaires like John McCain's wife. They're the ones who get the tax breaks. At the same time the Republicans jeer at the "elites" who, like Barack Obama, have risen to prominence by talent, effort, and higher education.

White Southerners have fallen for this nonsense for a century. It's sad to see that the rest of the country can also be swindled and duped into believing that McCain cares about plumbers, when he's surely never met the plumbers who work in one of his seven houses.  

Michelle Obama was on Leno in a J Crew outfit that was beautiful. She looked comfortable and classy.

I think people who spout "elitist" should watch what she wears.