Frankly, the reported $150K spent on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe doesn’t strike me as outrageous. Given the obscene amounts of money a campaign costs, $150K is just pocket change. And whatever else you think of her, she looks fabulous.

Sarah, honey, do you get to keep the clothes? Or have they made you save the tags so they can return them when the election’s over? Just askin’.

Marc Ambinder writes that Republicans are disgusted.

This sort of spending is without precedent — the closest approximation for any campaign I’ve ever covered is make-up expenses for television interviews and commercial shoots — , and [McCain-Palin spokesperson Tracey] Schmitt’s weakly defensive response tonight indicates that the campaign is deeply embarrassed by it and has nothing to say in their defense.

Some people think blowing that much money on clothes and makeup when the country is moving into recession sends the wrong message. Well, I say lah-dee-dah. What better time to spend like there’s no tomorrow? You could argue that it’s just when people are feeling poor and shabby that they need a fashionista to look up to. Why do you think all those Fred Astair-Ginger Rogers musicals, in which the glam stars danced in lavish gowns and swanky tuxes, were so popular during the Depression? And let’s not forget Eva Peron’s fabulous Christian Dior wardrobe. The peasants loved her.

As I see it, Palin is just paving the way for elitism to be popular again.

You know her fans expect her to be beautiful. Why else would they have been so upset at the Newsweek cover photo that showed all of her pores? You would think that somewhere in that $150K she could have found the money for a decent facial. Or at least, tweezers.

But let us not be catty. Frankly, as a hillbilly girl in the Big Apple myself, I appreciate the need to fit in, wardrobe-wise, and not look the country bumpkin. The upper echelons of the GOP, the people who show up at the gazillion-dollar-a-plate fundraisers, probably do not shop at Wal-Mart, either.

So go for it, Sarah. And burn those tags so you can’t return the clothes.