Sarah Palin to put out lipstick line? Say it isn't so!
Because wonders never cease, yesterday, the New York Post reported that Sarah Palin's agents are seeking a beauty endorsement deal and pitching cosmetic companies to capitalize on the punchline to a joke she made during her speech at last year's Republican National Convention (she asked, "What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull?" Answer: "Lipstick.")
Assuming this news is true, let's consider what it means. Sarah Palin is a major figure on the national political scene and--whether you like the idea or not-- a serious contender for the 2012 Republican nomination. By entering the celebrity makeup racket, she'd be relegating herself to a space usually reserved for truly fluffy, low-talent shills, the Jessica Simpsons of the world, the Paris Hiltons, your spare Olsen twin. It seems impossible that anyone thinks this is an appropriate arena for a woman who aspires to be the leader of the United States.
That is, unless the person in question is out solely for buckets of cash, with little regard for how she gets them.
While it's admirable that Palin wants to further her family's financial situation, it becomes increasingly suspect, if not downright despicable, when that desire starts to smack of opportunism and greed. The former governor of Alaska received somewhere in the neighborhood of $11 million for her memoir Going Rogue, and she'll earn even more when the book is released next month and she enters the high-paying lecture circuit. It's hard to understand why a woman of means and momentous political ambition wouldn't now turn her focus to growing her credibility, instead of her bank account. But it falls in line with a real sickness in our culture, the idea that any publicity is good publicity, and that if hundreds of thousands of women go out and buy Sarah Palin lipstick, they'll probably be thinking and talking about Sarah Palin. And that this would be enough to sway them at the polls?
Who knows? Maybe this isn't Palin's ambition at all. Maybe the lady from Alaska just wants to sit back with a couple of extra-miniature chihuahuas, put on some sparkly lipgloss, spot herself on the cover of US Weekly, and debut a new show about who'd like to be her best friend.
Any takers?
NY Post
