OK, I have had enough talk about Sarah Palin's fancy wardrobe, well-compensated makeup artist, and fake hair (allegedly).

People pay me to shop for them and I often buy thousands of dollars worth of clothes for them to try on and then return whatever doesn't work out, so I can perhaps buy the RNC's argument along the same lines.ￂﾠ I know that still leaves $50,000 worth of clothes that have been "borrowed" by Sarah Palin.ￂﾠ I want to be at Goodwill when those $6,000 suits are donated.ￂﾠ What a score!

Whether it be fancy apparel, multiple homes, or record setting paid advertisements, the appearance of excess spending for any candidate touting empathy for hard-up Americans is distasteful. But let's be realistic here.ￂﾠ Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of looking at photos of yourself and just wishing you had brushed your hair or checked to see if you were all that rumpled before the photo was taken?

If I were going to be on camera for 14 hours of every day for months on end and looking to be the next Republican Presidential candidate, I'd be wanting a fleet of professionals at my beck and call too.ￂﾠ I can barely get my hair to last for an eight hour day.ￂﾠ Some fake extensions and a fake bun might be necessary to manage daily travel by plane and from one regional climate to the next.ￂﾠ Yet another crowd to incite?ￂﾠ Great where is my touch up person?ￂﾠ Even Barack Obama and John McCain hire makeup artists before appearing on camera and they don't even wear lipstick.ￂﾠ Speaking of which, I probably would need a dedicated minion to check my teeth for lipstick and debris before I addressed a crowd.ￂﾠ One rogue leaf of spinach in the teeth and you know that photo would be used by every political opponent until the end of time.ￂﾠ Not to mention what Tina Fey and SNL could do with that.

I saw a magazine at the grocery store checkout today screaming the headline "Celebrities without makeup!" If I went on camera day after day without at least concealer, mascara, and lip gloss (tinted, thank you) the headlines would scream "Candidate consumptive??" or "Candidate looking wan and worried - why??" or "Even Hilary wore mascara."ￂﾠ (Which is true and she spent thousands on her own stylists.ￂﾠ She's no dummy.)

Granted, spending that much money for clothes is really unnecessary.ￂﾠ But hey, if I were from Podunk, Alaska and someone offered me $150,000 worth of beautiful clothes I'd have to think twice as well.ￂﾠ It would be hard not feel a little inferior next to my running mate and his high-end togs bought by his Sugar Momma. Although I guarantee that after the first speech I had to give talking about the tough economic times and my commitment to Main Street America, I would promptly slink off the stage and wistfully forgo the $6,000 suits for my own tried and true consignment and department store wardrobe.ￂﾠ The Budget Fashionista, Kathryn Finney, came up with her own list of recommendations for a campaign appropriate wardrobe for Sarah Palin for a grand total of $2,500.ￂﾠￂﾠ Palin is working hard to create her own celebrity, so when this is all over she'll be able to well afford many new fancy suits.

I'll leave the question of the legality of the wardrobe purchases by the RNC to those more qualified.ￂﾠ I'll leave Palin's political viewpoints for the voters to weigh in on Tuesday.ￂﾠ I'll leave the question of society's "Beauty Myth" to the academics.ￂﾠ What I can answer and believe to be true is that the real winners here are the salespeople at Neiman Marcus and Saks 5th Avenue and Palin's faithful stylist (who according to beauty experts cited in this NY Times blog is not overpaid at $55,000 per month).