Yes, I Once Was A Make-Up Artist

This new wrinkle in the Palin problem really is now in a way all about lipstick. Pig? Not Pig. Not the point. Everyone has a talent, some more talents than others, but one of mine was that I was a very good make-up artist. I even have a resume with pictures of some of my jobs. Once I put lipstick on a Rottweiler. I'm not proud of it, but the dog did have a handler who assured me it was ok and would not hurt the dog. His handler was, no doubt, much better paid than I, but I didn't work for chump change. I was seldom told exactly what my job would be prior to arriving at the photographers studio. The dog was a complete surprise to me. But like any good make-up artist I was prepared for just about anything. There was also a stylist on that job. No expense was spared for the dog. Imagine what they are doing for Palin.

I have made perfectly healthy people with nice skin look like they had all kinds of wounds and scars and acne for the before photos, and then removed their icky skin problems and made them look lovely. All in the name of advertising for a skin care company.

I have worked on some gorgeous women making them ever more gorgeous for fashion shoots, for TV commercials or catalogues. I have also put make-up on Orin Hatch and Jake Garn, notorious Utah Republicans for local TV interviews. I almost got to put make-up on Colin Powell, but he travels with his own make-up artist. Who knew? It sure shocked me. This was several years before he became a member of the Bush Cabinet, but still.

Those were the Clinton Years and they were very good for me economically speaking. I acted in movies and three TV series. I did some voice work that paid incredibly well. I modeled. And I was a make-up artist.

No one goes in front of a huge audience or in front of a TV camera (especially in a studio) without make-up. But this two week paycheck for Sarah Palin's make-up artist is purportedly bigger than McCain's economic adviser's paycheck for a comparable time span. Humm. I guess you get what you pay for. $22,000. 00 for two weeks is a hefty paycheck even for a traveling full-time make-up artist. She makes more in a month than Joe the Plumber makes in a year. And plumbers aren't cheap. I do not begrudge the make-up artist her salary, but I do think they could have found someone perfectly excellent for Sarah without quite that price-tag. Same with the wardrobe. And is the RNC paying for everything? And who finances the RNC? Is this income? Taxed income? I know it is for the make-up artist, but... I wonder how many laws are being broken in all this financing of Palin and her family? I have no doubt the make-up artist knows how much she got paid and how much she will owe in taxes. And she's skilled. There is no doubt about that. She's probably smarter than Sarah, too.