The economy may be crumbling, but at least Sarah Palin will look darn good as it does. It turns out the Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 on clothes and accessories for Palin and her family.
 

Apparently her Alaskan wardrobe just doesn’t cut it in Washington. At least not during the election. Supposedly after the campaign, Palin’s clothes will belong to the RNC and were always intended for “charitable purposes.” Does that mean that if she wins Palin can go back to wearing crap in the Capitol?
 

Either way, Democrats are likely to have a field day with this news, and as they should. It was the Republicans who made a national story out of former Sen. John Edwards’ $400 haircut. Now that expenditure seems like pocket change, considering Edwards would have to get that haircut every single week for 7.2 years to equal the amount spent by Palin in the last couple of months.
 

In fact, these Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus shopping sprees could deal a devastating blow to the Republicans. The Huffington Post puts it all in perspective:

Beyond the political tit-for-tat, however, the revelation of the clothing expenditures offers what some Democrats see as a chance not just to win several news cycles during the campaign's waning days but to severely damage Palin's image as a small-town, 'Joe Six-Pack' American.

"It shows that Palin ain't like the rest of us," Tom Matzzie, a Democratic strategist told the Huffington Post, when asked how the party would or could use the issue. "It can help deflate her cultural populism with the Republican base. The Plumber's wife doesn't go to Nieman's or Saks."

Indeed, the story could not come at a more inopportune time for the McCain campaign. During a week in which the Republican ticket is trying to highlight its connection to the working class - and, by extension, promoting its newest campaign tool, Joe the Plumber - it was revealed that Palin's fashion budget for several weeks was more than four times the median salary of an American plumber ($37,514). To put it another way: Palin received more valuable clothes in one month than the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years. A Democrat put it in even blunter terms: her clothes were the cost of health care for 15 or so people.

But then again maybe this frivolous extravagance makes Palin even more like the average American. There are plenty of people who waste cash on stupid things all the time. And who knows, maybe Joe the Plumber picks up some spiffy overalls at Saks.