This rankled me!

Internal Battles Divided McCain and Palin Camps

Excerpt:

On Wednesday, two top McCain campaign advisers said that the clothing purchases for Ms. Palin and her family were a particular source of outrage for them. As they portrayed it, Ms. Palin had been advised by Nicolle Wallace, a senior McCain aide, that she should buy three new suits for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September and three additional suits for the fall campaign. The budget for the clothes was anticipated to be from $20,000 to $25,000, the officials said.

Instead, in a public relations debacle undermining Ms. Palin’s image as an everywoman “hockey mom,” bills came in to the Republican National Committee for about $150,000, including charges of $75,062 at Neiman Marcus and $49,425 at Saks Fifth Avenue. The bills included clothing for Ms. Palin’s family and purchases of shoes, luggage and jewelry, the advisers said.

Comment: Yes you can say "this is the New York Times ... what would you expect them to report" ,etc. But it is commonly known that $ 150K was spent on wardrobe! Think about that: $ 150,000!!! Our (the Peets') annual wardrobe budget is less than $ 2000. (If you know me, you could say ... "it looks like it too!). In a typical year I spend about $ 600 on clothes (mostly shoes because for me they wear out so fast). If you are trying to reach people - real people who are struggling to pay mortgages and have ends meet, having a candidate spend $ 150,000 on wardrobe is not a good idea!