My ducats, my dresses, my ducats

Oh, come, come, come. The Republican National Committee, having no better way to assuage its wrath over a thoroughly lost election, is now going to avenge itself on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe. Here, surely in all the realm of the Silly is the silliest reaction of all.
Hey, come on. They were the ones who looked at the gowns and jewelry sported by McCain’s rich wife at the convention and decided they’d better dress up Palin to match. So, with Cindy McCain’s wife as her model, Sarah obliged them and dressed herself up. She didn’t shop at Goodwill. Neither does Cindy.
So Sarah spent the past weekend sorting through which bra and set of undies she bought, and which were bought by the Republican Party. The Republican Party is coming to reclaim whatever it bought. It’s also muttering about making Palin pay for whatever she wore.
Palin points out that she shopped a lot like my wife does (at different stores, no doubt!). She took home three or four items, picked the one or two she liked and returned the rest. A good bit of the $150,000 probably came right back. (My wife has occasionally terrified me by coming home with a credit card full of goodies—and then returned most of it next week.)
But the Republican National Committee is having none of any rational explanation. The election has been lost. It is obviously all the fault of Sarah Palin’s wardrobe. Think, if they had only had that $150K to work with, it would have made all the difference. McCain would be president-elect.
It was the outfit from Saks that turned the tide—not at all the fact that fellow Republican George W. Bush has the lowest approval rating since Jefferson Davis (who also fought an expensive losing war). The election wasn’t lost in Iraq; it was lost on Fifth Avenue!
The fact that the entire financial structure of the United States—run according to the best conservative Republican principles—collapsed a month before the election had nothing to do with it. It was all the fault of those shoes she bought. And don’t forget the other accessories.
The fact that his IRA just tanked, he was likely to be laid off—or his once huge company was about to go under, that gas hit $4.00 during tourist season, that grocery bills are climbing, medical co-pays are on a non-stop rise, and that he’s about to lose his house, made no difference to the American voter.
His attention was focused on Sarah’s new clothes. He was outraged that money that might have bought a few more TV spots went into her wardrobe. This, and this alone, sent him out in great numbers to vote for “change”. So feels the Republican National Committee.
I understand that there is an emotional response to a thrashing like the Republicans took last week. I can well understand that the desire to figure out what went wrong (some of it should be obvious) is almost a compulsion right now. But let’s stay rational.
Sarah Palin did not lose the election. (And, if she did, blame the guy who picked her—she didn’t force her way onto the ticket.) She didn’t hand the nation to Obama. Blunders on Wall Street, blunders in Iraq and Afghanistan, and just plain horrible timing in the financial crisis did the damage.
Making a big thing out of repossessing Palin’s new clothes really isn’t going to help in figuring out how to react to the Democrats next year or in how to win in 2012. If Republicans have found a technical reason why buying her clothes is illegal under campaign finance law, then let the Party reimburse the campaign funds.
She’s not a rich woman. Even thinking of charging her for what she wore—at their behest—is cruel to the point of insanity. If there is a legal error here, they are as much or more responsible than she is.
In the realm of not just the silly, but the picayune and petty, this action pretty much takes the cake. Okay, Republicans, get mad. Get mad that the Democrats were able to raise such unbelievable amounts of campaign funds. Be angry that Obama came up with a message that resonated with the electorate.
Come up with some new ideas, new programs, figure out better fund raising tactics. Getting mad at a vice-presidential candidate that you cheered in September—and who tried to do exactly what she was told to do until it became so obvious that it just wasn’t working—should be beneath you.
Enjoy the dresses, RNC, and may they bring you many new voters.