good grief...

RNC shells out $150K for Palin fashion - Jeanne Cummings - Politico.com:

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission's long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use.

[A campaign spokesman finally gave in and said the clothes will be sold for charitable purposes after the election.]

The business of primping and dressing on the campaign trail has become fraught with political risk in recent years as voters increasingly see an elite Washington out of touch with their values and lifestyles.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore took heat for changing his clothing hues. And in 2006, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was ribbed for two hair styling sessions that cost about $3,000.

Then, there was Democrat John Edwards’ $400 hair cuts in 2007 and Republican McCain’s $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes this year.

good observations...

Ruth Marcus - The 'Socialist' Scare - washingtonpost.com:

There are two equally worrying aspects of the toxic fallout from the McCain campaign's closing argument. The first is how much harder it will be for the next president to unite a divided country in the way that both McCain and Obama say they want. Ominous talk about socialism and welfare, about pro- and anti-America, threatens to make that task harder, no matter who is elected.

The second is the long-term damage to the ability to move beyond the stale "no new taxes" debate and have an adult discussion about how to raise the revenue the country needs to make investments for the future, even as it provides for an aging population.

It's for this reason I am FURIOUS with Wolf's ads about Feder's "Tax Me Now" comment, taken utterly out of context.  Feder may have some crazy ideas (trust me, I did NOT vote for her in the primary).  But on this issue Feder is at least being honest about a particular economic truth: the rate of the interest on the national debt will always rise faster than the rate of inflation and wages.

Every dollar we don't spend of our own will cost our children much, much more.  The sooner we accept this responsibility, this reality, and actually start paying this debt off, the stronger we'll be.