Frugal Sarah

"Oh, if only people knew how frugal we are." Yes, Sarah Palin said that--last Thursday, in the wake of a barrage of publicity over her recent shopping sprees.

(Yes, appearance pressure is much stronger on women than men--a huge double standard. CNN's Campbell Brown has pointed out that if she wears a "bad outfit" on the air, she gets a whole lot of critical email. She's right that nobody would notice if Wolf Blitzer appeared on screen without makeup or wearing a "not so great tie.")

Sure, Barack Obama has $1500 suits. But we are talking here about a campaign that brands Obama as an elitist while Sarah Palin depicts herself as a "regular hockey mom." And now she says she is frugal.

Well, it took only two months for regular hockey mom's grand old party to dish out $150,000 for her and her family's appearance. Some details:

* $75,062 for a shopping spree (apparently by aides) at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis
* $49,425 at Saks Fifth Avenue
* $4,902 at fancy men's store Atelier

The campaign says the clothing will go to a "charitable purpose." So watch your local thrift store for some really different stuff appearing on shelves and racks in late January, 2009.

Oh, by the way, Sarah Palin's makeup artist was paid more than $20,000 for the first two weeks in October.

Are you paying attention, hockey moms out there? How about you, Joe Six-pack? Hey, Joe the Plumber, have you noticed? I don't see how this version of frugality can be spelled any other way than h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y.