Sarah Palin installed a tanning bed at the governor's mansion

What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?

A tanning bed!

Seems Sarah Palin installed a tanning bed in the governor's mansion in 2007.

"She did. She paid for it with her own money," Roger Wetherell, chief communications officer of Alaska's Department of Transportation and Public Facilities told Us Weekly.

"It was done shortly after she took office [in early 2007] and moved into the mansion," Wetherell told the Narco News, who first reported the story.

According to Wetherell, it was paid for with her own money and purchased used from a health club.

Tanning beds can cost up to $35,000 to install in a home -- not including  parts, Alaska-based Color Me Tan manager Erin Weise told the Narco News. Weise added, "I don't think it's normal for people to have a tanning bed in their house. It's expensive."

Palin's running mate, John McCain, battled skin cancer in 1993 and 2000 and has admitted to being a regular wearer of SPF 30, long sleeves and a hat in the sun. Bet he won't be in favor of her installing one of these babies.

The irony here is that Palin declared May 2007 to be Skin Cancer Awareness Month in Alaska. In the press release, it read, "Skin cancer is caused, overwhelmingly, by over-exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from tanning beds.”

Photo: Getty Images

Comments

[Bob Hunter]

I can't wait for the LAT's expose on Joe Biden's hair plugs!!!

[Jim]

OMG...she put a tanning bed in her home and paid for it with her own money? What vanity.

Can you imagine if another VP candidate paid to have hair plugs put in to help his looks.

Oh wait, that did happen.

[mntx]

According to Teaching the Infant With Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals light therapy is a tool to help the development of children with Down Syndrome... now, I wonder if the left took that into consideration or is this another case like the left mocking McCain's POW injuries.

Maybe she should have played the game like a good democrat and demanded the taxpayer pay for it?

[ben franklin]

I like how fast these Republican idiots jump on the comment boards after a negative story. for all the hair plug talk -- aren't you guys big Reagan fans? didn;t that moron keep dying his hair jet black when he was 120 years old so he could more closely resemble a giant drag queen? tell me he didn't look like a complete fool so I can imagine what you look like. douche bags.

[Jim]

Here are just a few links showing it costs not even close to $35.

$1,600 here http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2039308

Meawhile we Pelosi taking Botox shots, Kerry & Edwards hitting the tanning booth during the 2004 election.

Good grief, is this really what the left has now...is this what they are resorting to?

[stonhinged]

I wonder how Dish Rags resident expert on tanning, Color Me Tan manager Erin "I don't think it's normal for people to have a tanning bed in their house" Weise deals with this:"Skin cancer is caused, overwhelmingly, by over-exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from tanning beds.”

Ms. Weise, I think the message here is...find another line of work.

[kmk]

Wow, mntx! An angel must have come to Sarah in a dream and told her she was going to give birth to a Down Syndrome child (which makes me query why she needed amnio).

The tanning bed was bought in 2007, shortly after Palin took office.

Her son was not born until April 2008.

[Nick Osborne]

She bought the bed before the baby was conceived so I guess that squashes that pushback.

[feralwind]

There's not much sun in Alaska during the winter....the days are short, drab and foggy most of the time.

UV radiation is necessary to keep the body's circadian clock in good operating order.

Healthy bodies need it.

I doubt if Palin was using it specifically to look like a California chick.

Think outside the tanning bed, folks....

[ben franklin's conscience]

It's easy to jump on the comment board because the stories are written in such an idiotic way. This Alaska, not LA, where a tanning bed takes on a different significance. Apparently the reporter didn't factor that into the story. Another astonishing error is the cost, you can buy a good used one for less than 1/10th of the quoted price.

[Vote4Change]

I know tanning beds are sometimes used in Sweden because of the lack of light during the winter months, and I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for putting a tanning bed in the Governor's Mansion ...

but doesn't she live the majority of the time in her home in Wasilla? Why not install it there -- especially when she paid for it herself? Obviously it's hers, not the state's ...

Not an indictment, just a question
(see, we don't all have to attack each other)

[Robert Tulloch]

ben franklin ?? You are a pathetic moron. Anywhere near MI? Be fun to put you down.

[Robert Tulloch]

ben franklin ?? You are a pathetic moron. Anywhere near MI? Be fun to put you down.

[Jlauer95]

WHY IS THIS A STORY???

This is no one's business. Buying, owning, and/or using a tanning bed is NOT ILLEGAL or IMMORAL or UNETHICAL.

Libs always say "Stay out of people's bedrooms," I say, "Stay out of people's tanning beds."

[Jlauer95]

Hey idiot...

She had an amnio because she was in a "high risk" age group (over 35). OB/GYNs strongly reccommend amios to all pregnant women in high risk age groups in case they might be carrying a child that may have DS or may have a defect that can be fixed in utero (a defect would be "too late" to fix after birth).

It is for the latter reason that a pro-life woman will choose to have an amnio. If a defect can be fixed in utero, then she will want to have that done.

[John Lott]

Given the lack of sun during the winter in Alaska, I would assume that there are actually some health benefits to having a tanning bed. The question is how long she uses it for, not whether she has the bed.

[babypook]

What does she know about the causes of skin cancers?
Aarrgh.

[Ross]

She uses it to make moose jerky.

[Jim]

Jlauer95: fixing a "defective" child in utero... hmmm... that would beg the question... why would you want to "fix" god's creation?

[jvr]

Wow. You people must not have anything else to do. Tanning bed...wow...major news...keep playing with your toys kiddies.

[James]

And Barak Obama installs cigarettes into his mouth (he's a smoker).

In all seriousness, how is this a story? And where on earth did $35K come from? A tanning bed is about as much as a plasma tv, about $1000.

This story is a joke in every possible way.

[Dan]

It's not that this is a huge ethical controversy, it's that it's just a funny example of how this person symbolize everything vapid and superficial about politics and celebrity. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Idaho, what do you expect, a library or study being renovated in the mansion.

You have to admit, this makes even the strongest Palin fan cringe a bit. It's okay. I cringed through John Kerry in 2004 and still voted for him.

[bubble burster]

She may have paid for the tanning bed with her own money.

But she did not pay for the electrical updates required to run it in the mansion.

The taxpayers handled that bill.

[Jonathan Brother]

The more you post crap like this the stronger Palin gets.

[jjv]

aren't you guys big Reagan fans? didn;t that moron keep dying his hair jet black when he was 120 years old so he could more closely resemble a giant drag queen? tell me he didn't look like a complete fool so I can imagine what you look like. douche bags.
*****************************

Ronnie Reagan? You mean the most popular president (still) to ever serve the nation? The one who not only defeated but HUMILIATED the loony liberals in 2 elections?

Well, get ready for Ronald Reagan 2 because that's what we have in Sara Palin.