Sleeping in Palin's Tanning Bed

Liberal blogger Matthew Yglesias and other sources report that Sarah Palin had a tanning bed installed in the Governor's Mansion in Juneau, Alaska after she became governor. There was nothing unethical about the purchase. Palin paid up to $35,000 for the tanning bed herself.

Of course, there are critical types who might think that Palin's buying her own tanning bed is a sign of an unusually high level of vanity. But there are other possible explanations. Perhaps Palin was using the tanning bed as a medical treatment for seasonal depression. Winters in Alaska don't feature a lot of sun. Come to think of it, Alaska winters don't feature any sun at all. Maybe Palin just needed some extra light in her life.

There's also the chance that Palin made the tanning bed the center of her social life in the same way that West Coast types use jacuzzis. Palin hired former Wasilla High classmates like Franci Havemeister into high profile Alaska state jobs after she became governor. There wasn't anything unethical about Havermeister's appointment to a $95,000 director's job in the Alaska Agriculture Department either. After all, Havermeister did list her love of cows as a qualification for the job.

Anyway, maybe she invited some of her grateful friends over for late-night tanning parties.

Palin might also be training for tanning competitions like Zonker in Doonesbury. As seen in the picture above, Palin's yellowish look indicates that she would be early in her training. But Palin might be working her way up to the kind of "Waikiki Brown" needed for championship tanning. Husband Tod Palin is a championship snowmobile racer. Maybe Sarah decided to take up an adult sport of her own.

Of course, it could be vanity after all.