Big-Media Clothing Budgets Are Fair Game

I find Andrea Mitchell of NBC oddly charming. She is unpretentious, straightforward and racked by insecurity, which I always find appealing, so long as you're not grabbing my arm.  She works hard, she's smart, and she doesn't pretend to be a thinker. The other day after someone had tee'd off on Sarah Palin's clothes budget, she grinned and said: "Fortunately we're in television, we're not running for office." Charming. But incorrect, I would argue. Why aren't big media clothing allowances fair game, especially if the media are speechifying about how much ordinary people spend? After all, Sarah Palin only raided Neiman Marcus because she was on television.