Via Jed L at Daily Kos
Here are a couple premises: (1) It is more difficult for a female politician to look good and composed than it is for a male politician. Furthermore, (2) it is more important that a female politician look good and composed than a male politician.
If you accept these two premises, which, at least to me, seem common sense, then the brouhaha over Governor Sarah Palin’s wardrobe seems a little silly. I don’t really care if a politician spends a lot of money on clothes (although $150,000 does seem a little excessive). I especially don’t care if a female politician spends a lot of money on clothes.
That said, I do get a kick out of Fox News and conservative bloviators jumping to Palin’s defense and decrying the frivolity of the media. Senator John Edwards’s $400 haircut—a sum positively miniscule in comparison to Palin’s wardrobe costs—was front and center in the Republican argument against Edwards. They asked how one could fight for the common man when getting expensive haircuts.
That was, I believe, a stupid question. It’s specious and ad hominem. John Edwards’s policies, not his haircuts, are important when deciding if he will help low to middle-income voters. Fox News and their cohorts—by claiming otherwise—are engaging in a kind of political Pentecostalism, where content takes a backseat to personality. That is, Fox News argues that substance is immaterial, and it is base tribal and cultural signifiers that we should look at when determining our electoral decisions.
So, Fox News doth protest too much. Their anger at this story isn’t over feminism; weren’t they the ones reading into the colors of Senator Clinton’s power-suits? And their anger isn't over the frivolity of politics; Edwards's haircut, Senator Kerry's windsurfing, need I go on? No, Govornor Palin has little substance; her campaign is based almost entirely on those insignificant tribal signifiers. So, this rather unimportant fact—that she gets expensive clothes—is the type of thing that could undermine her appeal as an everyday, average Joe.
That’s why they’re angry. They have run campaign after campaign based on idiotic and scurrilous identity politics. And now, gasp! Govornor Palin is being called out as something other than what she tries so hard to seem (with those oh-so-charming winks and dropped constantans and aw shucks!). So, despite the fact that I abhor these kinds of non-stories, and despite the fact that I genuinely believe there to be a double standard when it comes to appearences in politics, I find this story pretty darn funny, ya know.
I have some advice for the good govornor. If you're going to base you entire campaign on how you are so regular and normal and not on substantive issues, then don't fuck up your campaign by doing something that is in conflict with your crafted image.
But, I really do loathe these issues, so I’ll make you a deal, Fox News, I’ll agree that this is a stupid non-issue if you agree that all of this identity politics bullshit is a stupid non-issue. I include, of course, Edwards’s haircut, but also all of slobbering praise you’ve heaped on Palin for her “everyday” appeal.
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