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SARAH PALIN IS "OYSGEPUTST"
...AND OTHER POLITICAL DRESS TALK
"Oysgeputst" is the Yiddish word for
dressed up.
Yes, I know that "a sheyn ponim kost gelt"-- a good appearance/face costs money.
Yes, one must "dress for success." That's the rule if you want to be judged successfully. The way you look and dress announces the outcome others can expect from you. It also announces how you feel about "zikh" (yourself)...and you'll be treated accordingly.
Sarah Palin has a new "garderob"--wardrobe...and Republican campaign donors picked up the tab. She went on a shopping spree at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis and also left a deposit of $9.447.71 at Macy's and $5,102.75 at Bloomingdale's in New York City. The Alaska governor also spent $4,716.49 on "hor" (hair) and makeup. Yes, dressing Sarah Palin and family has cost the RNC upwards of $150,000.
One late-night comic said, "I guess she can also see Saks from her doorstep."
Tracey Schmitt, a McCain-Palin spokeswoman, said that the clothes will be tossed in a charity bin of some sort after Nov. 4.
Concern about appearance isn't new. In 1961, Mary Barelli Gallagher, Jackie Kennedy's personal secretary, had been obligated to report to the President that Jackie's personal expenses for the second quarter of the year had totaled about $35,000. Almost half went for clothes.
Gallagher writes ("My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy"), "The amount we had sent to one couturier alone--Givenchy of Paris-- stands out in my mind: over $4,000. I haven't forgotten that because at the time it occurred to me that I could dress for years on what Jackie spent in this 3-month period with Givenchy."
"During the campaign, Jackie's clothes drew the attention of busybodies who chose to be concerned with what she spent on her wardrobe. I remember when the story broke that Jackie was spending $30,000 a year for her clothes, she retorted, 'I would have to wear sable underwear to spend that much.'" (Actually, Jackie's clothing expenditures for 1961 amounted to just under $40,000.)
"Jackie had said that she, too, wore things straight off the rack and was buying them at $29 and $39 a dress. As I recall, these were maternity dresse, which she had ordered in several shades of the same style," reports Gallagher.
Gallagher also wrote that "The wife of the Republican candidate, Mrs. Richard Nixon, had spoken of her own 'plain Republican cloth coat."
Yes, Jackie came into the public eye in a pillbox hat...and never left.
F-a-s-t forward to 1984. Ronald Reagan was leaving the Rose Garden, having effectively ducked all the questions shouted at him. Sam Donaldson ("Hold On, Mr. President") wrote, "I sounded the give-up signal by saying, 'Well, at least congratulations on your new suit.' He was wearing a suit I thought I hadn't seen before.
"This isn't a new suit," replied the president, suddenly interested. I've had this one for four years."
"Okay," I said. "I withdraw the congratulations." And with that he entered the Oval Office.
A few minutes later, I was sitting in the ABC booth at the White House when the phone rang. "Mr. Donaldson, the president is calling," said the operator. "One moment, please." What could it be? I wondered.
"Sam," said Ronald Reagan, when he came
on the line, "I left you with a piece of
misinformation and I don't want to be
responsible for your making an error...I
told you my suit was four years old. But I
checked the label and I remember I bought
it five years ago. It's five years old, not four."...What were the chances
that I was
going to rush on the air with a bulletin that Ronald Reagan was wearing a four-year-old
suit? I thanked the president, made a sentence or two of small talk, and
hung up, shaking my head."
_________________
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe has the following
"eytse" (advice) for John McCain: A tight
"kravat" (necktie) could increase your
chances of developing glaucoma. Tight
ties may constrict the drainage path to the
jugular vein. So loosen up, John. It's a tie,
not a noose.
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