November 16, 2009 2:36 pm ET
During an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Palin trumpeted the false claim from her memoir, Going Rogue, that criticism over reports that the Republican National Committee spent $150,000 to clothe and accessorize Palin and her family represented a "double standard," because "it wasn't a controversy with other candidates." In fact, Democratic primary candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and John Edwards were repeatedly criticized for their clothing and hair.
PALIN: It was, practically speaking, "Oh, good," because I don't like to shop, and that's going to be one less thing for me to have to worry about -- never thinking that it was going to a big controversy, because it wasn't a controversy with other candidates, and, "Where did they get their clothes?" and "Who's styling their hair?" and all that. That was a double standard, too, that I talk about in the book. [The Oprah Winfrey Show, 11/16/09]
Edwards, Obama, Clinton, and Biden were subjected to frequent scrutiny about their hair, makeup, or clothes. During the Democratic primary, the media devoted significant attention to Edwards' "expensive" haircuts -- which were brought up by moderators in two Democratic presidential debates in 2007 -- to Obama's clothing, including during the April 16, 2008, presidential debate and in a Washington Post article stating: "One of the most distinctive elements of Barack Obama's public style comes down to what he so often is not wearing: patriotism on his sleeve"; to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton's clothing, including linking Clinton's "bright colors" to a "likability problem" and calling attention to her neckline; and to questions over whether Biden had "taken steps to pre-empt baldness."
&mdash J.H.
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