Department of Stupid Comparisons

This is ridiculous:

Amy Strozzi, who works on the reality show So You Think You Can Dance and has been Mrs Palin's travelling stylist, was paid $22,800, according to campaign finance reports for the first two weeks in October.

In contrast, McCain's foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was paid $12,500, the report showed.

Not that the stylist was paid more, mind you - the ridiculous part is that anyone would be surprised. Of course you have to pay hair stylists more than foreign policy advisors for national campaigns! I highly doubt that Ms. Strozzi, whatever her creative merits, has contracted with the campaign because she believes that her style expertise could ulitmately change US foreign policy and, by extension, world history.

I'm absolutely certain that that's what's motivating Scheunemann and every other advisor engaged in these campaigns. These jobs aren't worth the headaches if you're only in them for the money, but they're worth everything you have if you're involved for other reasons. That's why legions of young interns troop to DC to work for free every year, why myriad apple-cheeked students out of college return to work for subsistence wages, and why hordes of graduate students mortgage their futures for tuition to pay for a chance to have influence. (And yes, I'm drawing perhaps a bit too readily on my own choices here, but they're not unusual.)

There are lots of reasons to criticize both campaigns here, especially on foreign policy. But as this race draws to a close, let's not get sucked into the stupid distractions. The stakes are too high.