Campbell Brown: Stop Covering Palin’s Wardrobe Controversy; Women Are Unfairly Held to Higher Standard on Appearance

So why was she doing it then with her “all star” panel….oh say, 30 minutes ago?

But are we saying that a woman can’t look presentable for LESS than $150,000? That, to me, sounds like a double standard for women. There are affordable clothes for candidates, and because Palin presents herself as just like you and me, she’ll be held to that standard. Look at how much fuss Edwards got over a haircut. So, no, there’s no double standard here–except if you want to say that when a woman does it, it has to be off limits to comment on. What happened to wise use of funds too?

The problem with this miss Brown is that Palin professes to be a Walmart mom. What was she doing in Walmart the other day..?O’ fooling the American people that she shops at Walmart. That is why we talk about it..She should be who she really is..which is a Saks Fifth Ave mom, not a walmart mom…She certainly isn’t fooling me..Obama/Biden’08

What about Michelle Obama? She always looks put together and stylish. She shops at the Gap and at the Mall. I agree women are scrutinized. A $1500 suit, or even 3 suits, compared to $150,000. For a few months of campaigning.McCain’s wife is very wealthy. I can understand the $520 pair of shoes.Come on Campbell. Who’s footing the bill for the $150,000 shopping spree? That’s what I want to know. Maybe Michelle could take her shopping and show them how the rest of us live.

Campbell Brown talks from both sides of her mouth. Doesn’t agree with it but discusses it anyway?

Palin is going to go home a loser. Why not get something out of it?

I never reached the deranged state of mind where I was going to vote for obama. Then today I saw something that would have changed my mind had I reached that point. After all the BS over Gov. Palin’s clothes, I saw obama boarding his campaign plane to fly to Hawaii to visit his sick grandmother. I’m wondering, who’s paying for that? The DNC or obama’s campaign? Of course it’s “the messiah” so you’ve got to know the press will never bring this up!
McCain/Palin 08

Campbell Brown is usually pretty good, but she dropped the ball on this one. It is not a question of whether women are judged on looks, fashion or style. This a question about Palin’s judgement and excessive greed — Saks, Neiman-Marcus, Macy’s. Michelle Obama is stylish AND modest in her spending. Michelle Obama also helped a small business by choosing a small-name designer.
This is not a woman vs. man issue. It is practical expenditures and budget-consciousness. Sarah Palin did not need to spend all that money to look good. So many ‘real’ American women do it every day. Brainy women don’t have to rely on expensive clothes.
Obama/Biden 08!

Brown is right.
Can other women like that obnoxious lier Andrea Mitchell just stop their bad journalism?

Palin didn’t buy the clothes, the RNC did. Palin didn’t ask for the nomination, she was invited by McCain. My point is, they can spend the money any way they want to spiff up their campaign, and if part of that is to capitalize on a candidate who is a smart, successful, and yes, good-looking mom in politics, that is their choice. I am so sick of women getting nit-picked to death over their size, clothes, make-up etc., but the reality is that they do and the RNC is being realistic about the landscape that judges women to a different standard. If you don’t like it, don’t give contributions to the RNC, otherwise relax and don’t sweat the small stuff.

These clothes are going to be auctioned with the proceeds given to charity. Now as to the Greek Column$, they’re just gone. Poof.
The candidates looking stylish is no crime, and when the end results in happy bidders at an auction and a well-fed charity, who can complain?
If I could wear some loaner clothes as Palin is doing, I would. I would still buy my diapers at Walmart, and I could still wear my flannels and jeans to hunt moose.
Now go find some other piece of trivia to huff and puff over.

Andrea Mitchell looks like a troll — she is just jealous of Palin. I’m not excusing Mitchell’s horribly biased reporting, just stating a fact. It is difficult to mask the green eyed monster.

I am an avid fan of CNN, but I have to say that I had to turn the channel because I thought the clothing issue was trivial. I prefer to watch news that focuses on relevant issues that affect our lives. I was disappointed in Brown. I have a problem with Sarah Palin being Vice President; I don’t have a problem with her wardrobe or what it cost.

Superficial, shallow women tend think everybody is jealous of them after some old coot swells their head. McCain/Palin and Pat Buchanan are beginning to make me ill in their attempt to reduce thinking woman to shallow shop-a-holic politics. Palin’s is more suited for a beauty pageant. Leave the presidency to those who have good sense.
Obama/Biden 08!

all the hoopla about John Edwards $400.00 haircuts are coming back to haunt in the repubs …ah Karm is a bugger

Good for Campbell Brown. She is right on. Keep the focus on Obama’s tax credit ie. re-distribution of wealth so “the bottom” gets a check from the taxes of those that pay them.
And lets ask Obama and McCain how they will apply the Monroe Doctrine to Russia’s military operations in the Caribbean with Venezuela.

I’ve been critical of Campbells reporting on Sarah Palin as just another CNN Obama lover, but she is right on this one. Women are held to a higher standard than men. She is running for VP of the United States. She is going to events that require her to look the part.
She shops at a consignment shop in Alaska and her income is in the middle class range, she is not a millionaire like the other candidates. Obviously, the RNC thought her clothes were not up to snuff. The clothes are not hers and will be auctioned off for more money than the purchase price.
The media would rip her apart if she were to wear something that didn’t look like “Neiman Marcus”.
This is absolutely petty and obviously meant as a distraction from the Biden, “international crisis with Obama presidency” remark and the “spread the wealth” that people are focused on right now.
What will the next Palin topic be? What brand of toilet paper she uses?

TJ, the Clintonite: Good point. Take a look at a good socialist like Kim Jong Il who lives in a mansion, and eats like a king.

Oh Campbell you’re so wrong about this one. This is more about Halloween than sexism. Palin is playing dress up to create a false sense of authority. It’s about hypocrisy, not beauty pageants.

OBAMA IS THE ONLY SOCIALIST THAT WEARS $1500 SUITS
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Are you saying socialist John McCain’s suits even more than that?
Wow. He really is eratic.
One day he’s bashing socialism, the next day he’s wanting the government to spend $300 billion to buy mortgages.
He’s simply all over the place.

If Palin were held to the same standard as other vice presidential candidates (most of them male)we wouldn’t even be having this conversation as Palin would have never been chosen.

Poor Campbell! Isn’t her wardrobe and makeup allowance enough for her as she appears on CNN? She raises the “double standard” argument as nothing more than a red herring, since most of the preceding comments deal with the main issue here: Palin’s hypocrisy at portraying herself as a “hockey mom” who just happens to dress as a “Saks Sweetie” or a “Bloomingdale’s Babe.”

So, RC, if we’re missing your point, what about Obama’s point? Spread the wealth around? I’m sure many Americans who are hurting could have used some of that Greek temple money. How can he pay David Axelrod’s outrageous salary when he speaks of “the families I meet every day who are working longer hours for a paycheck that isn’t getting any bigger” and how does he wear $1,500 suits when he says “there are millions of hardworking Americans who have been struggling to get by for quite some time”? Don’t talk about Palin’s hypocrisy when she wears the clothes the campaign hands her to wear.

McCain could spiff up his campaign by addressing a few issues instead of choosing a beauty queen and inciting hate and violence.McCain doesn’t care about women’s rights.McCain cares about McCain.He picked a woman to appease women and why it was Palin is still a mystery to me when there are a lot of women that are more qualified(and probaly have their own clothes)!
I at first thought McCain would use her for an attack dog and when the going got tough throw her under the proverbial bus.Now it’s looking like she’s going off on her own and when all the dust settles McCain’s probaly going to be the one wearing tire tracks.
As far as the RNC blowing 150K to doll her up a little,it’s no big deal,the average hockey mom does it all the time.
These people don’t have the slightest clue what the average American has to deal with on a daily basis.
It’s got nothing to do with being a woman.The question is if it was legal,that and the hypocrisy.
John Edwards caught hell from the press over is $600.00 haircuts.
Let me put it into prospective,the rnc spent more on clothes for Sarah Palin than I paid for my house.I have worked hard my entire life,especially the last 15 years,I work for a company with about 150 employees.Because of the economy those of us that still have jobs are looking at an income loss of 30 to 50% this year.Each day you go to work wondering if you will still have a job.My 401K has pretty much gone down the toilet.If I lose my job I won’t be able to keep my insurance or afford the medicine I take. I was told without the bail-out a lot of people would lose everything,so we gave a bunch of rich $700 billion dollars and a lot of people like me may still lose everything.
Trying to turn this into a women’s issue is an insult to peoples intelligence.
I would vote for the devil himself before I’ll vote McCain/Palin and probaly be better off.

My opinion of Campbell Brown just went up a notch. I think that is the first fair commentary I’ve heard from her since the election cycle began.
Unless the women quit dissing each other for the wrong reasons and defend each other for the right reasons, that glass ceiling stays intact regardless of how many cracks are in it.
So, here’s one for fairness, Ms. Brown:
ONE!

Sophlly, I culdn’t agree more.
And if any of you out there are from Florida, I cannot believe what those scoundrals are doing to try to keep you from voting. YOU ARE THE PATRIOTS. You’re waiting in 5 hour lines in early voting – to exercise your rights. Evvery ay has difference hours. Keep fighting and do not give up. Don’t let the slimy legislature do that to you. Show them that they cannot intimidate you – or wear you out.
And Tapper? Its time for a real news story again.

This is typical of Republicans, $150,000 dollars for clothes? Chump change. Why the one outfit Ms McCain wore was over $300.000 including jewelry. But then she is a typical Wealthy Republican only thinking of pissing down the masses, i mean trickling down on the masses. All republicans cosider such expenses normal. Its not like they have to work for the money.

They person who bought the cloths at those stores should be “FIRED” they don’t know where to shop for
“DEALS” Filenes Basement, Century 21 in lower Manhattan NYC, many of the outlet malls.
They could have spent 2/3 less. that is part of the problem with the “RNC” they are out of touch with everyday Republicans who watch the pennies.
We need to “FIRE” them all. after this election Win or Lose. McCain needs to really clean HOUSE when he wins.

“Compare that to the attention given to Barack Obama’s $1,500 suits … There is no comparison.”
She’d have a point if Obama had just bought 100 of those suits.

The Repubs could have had a fashion consultant go to JC Penney or Target or Kohls and got some nice but affordable clothes for Palin to wear (like most middle class people). Just another in a series of McCain mistakes – the biggest, of course, being selecting Palin over Snowe or Barbara Dole or Rice or any other competent woman Repub. Also another reason why this Republican is voting Democratic this November.

The Bush tax system increased both the percentage of revenue received from rich people as well as increased the total amount revenue received.
The Bush tax cuts eliminated 20 MILLION poor people from having to pay ANY tax and eliminated their need to file a tax return.
The Bush tax code eliminated the marriage penalty and DECREASED the amount of taxes received from the middle class.
Too bad Dems either don’t want to know the facts or don’t care.

What about the guy that is running on behalf of the middle class that is spending $150 million a month on himself?
Is that hypocritical?

Many apologies for misspelling Mrs Clinton’s name. It was unintentional.

Wondey why then later Failin started wearing cheaper clothes that looked exactly the same. Instead of spending 10,000 for a coat she bought one that was $400 and looked THE SAME, according to critics. Yes, true a woman spends more money than a man but geez 150,000 in a couple of months.

Cambell Brown is a narrow minded liberal. She is completely biased, that’s why she say’s her show is no bias or bull. She is full of bull.

Barack Obama, man of the people, has taken his campaign-financed private airplane to Hawaii to visit his grandmother.
Jake- does he have to reimburse his campaign for using the jet for personal business?

I live in rural small town America USA, and believe me, there are plenty of female bank presidents, directors, company CEO’s etc. here that wear high end clothing. Maybe not 5th Av. garb, but expensive and classic enough. Power clothes come with the position. If not properly attired, they may come off as “unprofessional” and “slovenly”, therefore possibly ending their careers (I knew of a woman that was told to “step up her wardrobe”)these such women represent their place of employment and position with the correct attire as much as a uniformed McDonald’s team member does. If Palin dresses up scale, she is mocked, if Palin dresses cheaply she is mocked, what’s a girl to do!?? Public image unfortunately means alot. Democrat or Republican, left media, right media, blah, blah, blah…..I smell a double standard here. It’s clothes for heavens sake……..move on! And by the way, I’m a democrat.

McCain has run the absolutely worst campaign tactically, strategically, and morally of candidate in the last 40 years.
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Is this why some conservative bloggers, and readers tested Obama’s contributions site, and got by, giving small donations with a credit card using various names? One even used his Bank of Hong Kong credit card, 7 times, with 7 different names, and gave 7 different countries from around the world, and all were accepted. No problems. The same was tried on McCains, and all were rejected.
Seems Obama’s site had a security system installed software, when they set up the site, and it doesn’t have a shut off. You have to override it, for these contributions to be able to go thru. Seems someone in Obama’s moral campaign, overrode the security measure. tsk tsk tsk. I believe that’s illegal.
As for the clothes. Remember Mr.Clinton holding up an airport for several hours, to get a hair cut? Do you realize how much that cost airlines? If they don’t stay on their schedules, it costs them money, and a lot of it. A hell of a lot more than $150,000.
Obama spent $5.3 million on his Greek Temple night, at the DNC! For one night. Now from the 1st to th 15th of this month, he’s spent $105 million. He’s garnered over half a billion in contributions, and still needing more. Yet we scoff, and bicker over clothes, that Mrs.Palin herself said..do not belong to her, and will be donated to charity after the elections.

Cambell Brown is right on. ENOUGH WITH THE CLOTHES! It’s position papers, articles, proven legislation, background, management history – we all need to see these IMPORTANT things before voting for anyone! That said, Gov. Palin’s life has been opened up like can of sardines. One would think SHE’S running for president. Did anyone read Byron York’s piece on how she, as governor, turned the AK bureaucracy upside down so all the garbage could fall out? Call her names if you like. But I would hope she’s judged on her merits, not the “Oh my! Expensive Clothing” press who just love to put her down. Unlike Senator Obama, her two years in office have not been spent running for president, but rather getting things done. Let’s look at Mr. Obama’s history. We can’t because amazingly he doesn’t have one. No college transcripts (oh sorry, they disappeared), no thesis, no articles, nothing from the ‘prestigious’ Harvard Law Review. If you like, I’ll keep going. Where’s the press with interviews from fellow employees, Annenberg Challenge board members (pause here for a moment – we all should badly want to see how he handled other people’s money, $150 million in this case), church friends, neighbors, fellow professors (he taught constitutional law). He even admitted he (conveniently) does not keep a scheduler so there’s no record of his activities. Genius. Besides his own books and his magical sound bite speeches, we know NOTHING about him. Lucky for him, no one in the MSM has been looking. But on the other side of the aisle: The Thought Police sent at least 30 investigators to Alaska to smear Gov. Palin. They looked at Joe the Plumber’s tax records. They called a 16 yr old friend of Cindy McCain’s daughter looking for ‘clues’. Here’s my favorite: a reporter flew all the way to Vietnam, then found and interviewed McCain’s 75 yr old prison guard from the Hanoi Hilton to try to dispute what happened in 1967. Can any one but me see the unbelievable absurdity here? You seem like a good guy Mr. Obama, but beside voting liberal and ‘present’, what’s you record? You want my vote? WHERE’S THE BEEF? I don’t agree with all of Senator McCain’s record, but at least he has one.

Sorry Campbell, you are wrong on this one. When you are campaigning on a platform of “reform” and “maverick”, spending 150K on a wardrobe is pertinent. I do believe woman must dress for success, but the RNC wardrobe person didn’t have to shop only at Neiman and Sachs.
There are tons of designers who would have dressed her for less than half the price and she could have still looked classy. However, I wouldn’t call red leather jackets and red shoes classy. However, I’m sure the men love it.

ABC, why have you not asked how much the Obama campaign spent on Michelle Obama’s widely publicized makeover in June of this year? Even the liberal NYT wrote that they were bringing in “several democratic operatives from previous campaigns” to help soften her image and her message.” That, no doubt, cost DOUBLE what the RNC spent on Sarah Palin, but I haven’t heard a SINGLE media outlet asking about or checking into that.
You BOTH (ABC and CNN) are pathetic and almost as bad as MSNBC.

thank you Ms. Campbell for your statement about Gov. Palin’s fashionable new look and the double standard of men vs. women. You are absolutely right about this, and another thing how about Obama spending 150M on last month’s campaign; advertising, media, etc. And that’s just one month of this outrageous spending. It is absolutely disgusting and criminal; and if you really listen to the more informed and intelligent voters in Illinois – he didn’t do a damn thing for them as state senator. He was a “no show”. He didn’t go for the campaign reform like John McCain did; Obama stood for hope and change but that was just a “political ruse” to get the people behind him. He’s an empty shirt. Just heard on news media that some manufacturing company is starting to introduce the “obama business suit” for those that want to appear “presidential.”