The Hypocrisy of Hasselbeck at Palin Rally

I cringed when I first heard a few days ago that Elizabeth Hasselbeck of The View would be speaking at a Palin rally this week. While Elizabeth was fighting for her own opinions when Rosie O’Donnell was moderator of The View, I defended Elizabeth’s right to have her own opinions many times. I still agree she is entitled to her own opinions.

But now, not only do I not have the desire to defend her opinions any more; I actually become sickened every time she opens her mouth. Elizabeth now has the nerve to accuse Palin opponents of being "fixated on her wardrobe" and "deliberately sexist."

I do not agree with Elizabeth, in fact, I think her comments show the hypocrisy in the republican campaign. The true sexism here was when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate to begin with. My opinion is that the McCain campaign so wanted to capitalize on the fact there were eligible voters out there who may have been disappointed that Hillary didn’t win her party’s nomination, that they were willing to select ANY woman as a running mate. It seemed that McCain believed that disillusioned female voters would be dumb enough to vote for any woman at all, regardless of qualifications, just because she was a woman.

That is sexism. And the McCain campaign only has themselves to blame by selecting someone with such thin credentials as Palin, which only has invited scrutiny on every level possible. By the way, if I recall correctly, it was the republicans that released the information on the wardrobe to begin with.

According to CNN, Palin stated at that same rally:

"This whole thing with the wardrobe, you know I have tried to just ignore it because it is so ridiculous, but I am glad now that Elisabeth brought it up, cause it gives me an opportunity without the filter of the media to get to tell you the whole clothes thing," she said.

"Those clothes, they are not my property. Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me. I am back to wearing my own clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska. You'd think — not that I would even have to address the issue because, as Elisabeth is suggesting, the double standard here it's — gosh, we don't even want to waste our time."

Personally I do not have a problem with the campaign footing the bill for some clothing for her. But, I do have issue with the overall price tag. She did not need designer clothes. I’ve bought dress suits off the rack for years that look great and don’t cost a lot. Same for my dress shoes – I have 5-6 pair of dress pumps that look stylish and were priced reasonably. I probably could have done very well with less than one tenth of that $150K for my wardrobe for a political campaign. But, then again, I’m not one of those “elite” people that have to wear something with a designer label. So here’s one woman who isn’t being sexist when I say that Palin would have scored more points with voters - and women - had she resisted the urge to buy the expensive stuff. And frankly, if this is Palin’s biggest worry that she has to make it part of her campaign speeches, she’s not ready for the office of Vice President.

And Elizabeth, it’s time to put a zipper on it.

Clip of Elizabeth at Tampa, Florida Palin Rally


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