U.S. News: 'Cindy McCain's $300,000 Outfit'

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According to U.S. News and World Report's Web site, Robert Schlesinger is the magazine's deputy editor and oversees all opinion editorial content.  Schlesinger blogs from the Republican National Convention on "Cindy McCain's $300,000 Outfit:"

ST. PAUL—Remember Pat Nixon's "respectable Republican cloth coat?" It's come a long way, baby.

To wit: According to Vanity Fair, Laura Bush's outfit cost between $3,400 and $4,300. But of course that's chump-change compared to the roughly $300,000 that Cindy McCain's cost (the biggest line-item being $280,000 for three-karat diamond earrings).

For those of you keeping track at home, Cindy McCain's outfit could pay for a four bedroom, three bath, 3,400 square feet house in Wasilla.

Schlesinger cites Vanity Fair, but he doesn't provide complete information.  The Vanity Fair piece concludes:

(All prices except Laura’s shoes and Cindy’s watch are estimates, and the jewelry prices are based on the assumption that the pieces are real.)

That pertinent fact wasn't included by Schlesinger, and you can bet as the story is picked up by other media outlets and bloggers, it won't be added.

Despite my reputation as quite the fashion plate, I wouldn't hazard a guess as to the actual cost of Cindy McCain's outfit.  I did check with a manager of a fine jewelry store and was told the estimated cost for the earrings is "highly unlikely."  Regardless of the real cost, what is the news here:  That wealthy people spend money on clothes and jewelry?  Quick, the smelling salts!

If Vanity Fair worked up a similar estimate for Michelle Obama's outfits at last week's Democratic Convention, I must have missed it.  Vanity Fair did place Mrs. Obama on the top of its best-dressed list recently "because she's our commander in sheath."

With Sarah Palin on the ticket, the mainstream media are worried and getting increasingly desperate.  The over-the-top bashing is obvious and the public is catching on.