Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had tanning bed installed in governor's mansion

You know, it is one thing for the McCain campaign to be calling Barack Obama an "elitist," or Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin calling Obama "a member in good standing of the Washington elite," however, you better make sure that in engaging in elitist attacks, you don't expose yourself to your own hypocrisy.

Which is exactly what Sarah Palin has done. From The Huffington Post:

Al Giordano of Narco News first reported that Sarah Palin has a tanning bed installed in the Alaska Governor's Mansion:

"The governor did have a tanning bed put in the Governor's Mansion," Roger Wetherell, chief communications officer of Alaska's Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, confirmed to this newspaper. "It was done shortly after she took office [in early 2007] and moved into the mansion."

Ben Smith of the Politico confirmed the report.

"She paid for it with her own money," Wetherell told Smith in an email.

UPDATE: US Weekly has more:

According to Wetherell, the tanning bed was purchased used, from a health club.

Tanning beds can cost up to $35,000 to install in a home - not including the cost of parts, Color Me Tan manager Erin Weise told the Narco News.


"I don't think it's normal for people to have a tanning bed in their house, " Wiese, who is based in Fairbanks said. "It's expensive."

Palin's running mate, presidential candidate John McCain battled skin cancer in 1993, and again in 2000.

"I coat SPF 30 on myself first thing in the morning, and wear long sleeves and a hat whenever I'm in the sun," McCain has told Newsweek.

Palin declared May 2007, "Skin Cancer Awareness Month." In the press materials it was noted, "Skin cancer is caused, overwhelmingly, by over-exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from tanning beds."

Now I really do not care if Sarah Palin wants to have a tanning bed in her governor's mansion, however owning such an expensive, frivolous, piece of equipment also shows just how out-of-touch, and elitist, Sarah Palin is. It is more hypocrisy coming from the McCain/Palin campaign.