The AP:

“Sarah Palin is blaming gender bias for the controversy over $150,000 worth of designer clothes, hairstyling and accessories the Republican Party provided for her, a newspaper reported Thursday. ‘I think Hillary Clinton was held to a different standard in her primary race,’ Palin said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune posted on the newspaper’s Web site Thursday night. ‘Do you remember the conversations that took place about her, say superficial things that they don’t talk about with men, her wardrobe and her hairstyles, all of that? That’s a bit of that double standard.'”

Excuse me?

John Edwards was given ridicule for his $400 haircuts. John Kerry was given hell for his seeming Botox injections. Barack Obama’s ears have been the butt of jokes. Bill Clinton was teased for his nose and chin. I cannot begin to count the politicians that have been teased for their comb-overs.

With regard to Hillary Clinton, she is a former First Lady. In case you are unaware how Jackie O. and other first ladies have iconicized the role of the First Lady in the hearts of Americans, perhaps you need a history lesson. Hillary Clinton is a political celebrity. Of course she was paid attention to, in ways both good and bad.

Furthermore, the issue here is not how your rear looked in a particular suit or if a jacket was good for your skin tone. The question here is regarding the ethics and excess that went into your $150,000 makeover.

Of course every politician needs a makeover when they hit the national stage. But is it right to have your own party spend $150,000 in this endeavor while you are trying to campaign under the guise of being a down to earth hockey mom? I think not.

You speak of gender bias as though you’re the victim here, Sarah. However, the real victim is every other woman in this country who will pursue a political position on the national stage, for now the nation has the image of your bumbling idiocy burned forever in its memory.

Should you still feel as though you are the victim in all of this, consider this question: do you really think you would have been put on the Republican ticket if you weren’t a woman? The fact that McCain and his advisors actually thought Hillary supporters would flock to a ticket just to vote for a woman and completely ignore your desire to overturn Roe v. Wade is not only ridiculous: it’s insulting.

So, Sarah Palin, with regard to who is truly suffering in all of this, I have but one question for you:

Where’s my apology?