I have something to get off my chest about appearances -

[hedgehog]

I buy cheap freshwater pearls to make jewelry with. Naturally, I spotted Hillary's pearl choker and earrings that she wears at debates. If I walked into a store that sells stuff like that, I'd have trouble getting a clerk to show them to me (that is, if a security guard didn't escort the tourist out the store first). Even imitation pearls that size would be over-the-top for any venues I normally attend (grocery store, blue jean church).

Those pearls would certainly replace my 30+ year old kitchen and baths with whatever I could dream up. They might even buy my house.

I don't think we're talking jealousy here, just questioning whether someone who has gone from a lot of money to tons of money so quickly has a snowball's chance in hell of understanding what it's like to sit down with a paycheck and stack of bills every two weeks. At that, at least I can pay all my bills -I have employed hard working relatives who can't.

I know we're not supposed to judge on appearances, But I'll take Bernie's J.C. Penney suit over those pearlsany day of theweek.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Bernie gets it. Hillary? Not so much. n/t

[Todays_Illusion]

2. I wondered why Hillary had chosen to wear those Republican pearls. Isn't that pratically a trademark

for Republican women? Remember Barbara Bush and her Republican pearl necklaces?

[Donkees]

11. "Barbara Big-Beads" :)

[TeddyR]

3. Is Bernie

Living paycheck to paycheck?

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. Are the Clintons living lifetime to lifetime?

[senz]

25. What an interesting, provocative thought.

Thanks.

[roguevalley]

30. I would think he is. He didn't enrich himself after all these years in service like she did. His

total worth is slightly more than her three speeches. By the way, release them, Hill.

[Fumesucker]

5. Has Hillary driven a car in this millennium?

Or Bill for that matter?

[Punkingal]

6. Of course not, but he drives a small chevy and has a wood stove in his house.

He does not have an ostentatious life-style. He lives like the rest of us.

[azurnoir]

24. and he wears flannel and denim when he speaks publicly too

[Orsino]

7. America loves the wealthy.

Clinton didn't make the rules. I hadn't noticed what you spotted, but would agree that the optics wouldn't seem ideal for 2016.

[politicaljunkie41910]

8. Such BS. I have a necklace similar to that and mine is costume jewelry and it looks the same.

It caught my attention because I liked it and I have one like it. I got mine from Macy's for $25 bucks after the discount they gave me. Try again, Mr. Freshwater pearls specialist.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. My mom passed away at 90.

My mom rocked pearls too, like Hillary.

I think I bought them for her for around forty dollars.

[hedgehog]

14. I'm sorry for your loss. My son bought me a string of $40 pearls from Hong Kong

they more than meet my standards, but there are many grades of pearls, and I'm guessing at A+. Matched pearls that size - I've never really seen before.

(PS - my pearls come out for weddings and funerals, but that's the life I lead)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. Thank you.

We make demands on women we don't make on men.

Put him in a blue suit, a red tie, and a white shirt and he's dressed for a funeral, a wedding, or a job interview.

[senz]

32. The point is, what does Hill have in common with the rest of us?

She has spent the past eight years (at least) aggressively raking in the dough and lives like a queen, socializing with other millionaires and billionaires. Is she out of touch with the majority of Americans? Can she understand our problems? Does she rely on paid assistants to provide her with normal-sounding talking points?

You can defend her all you want, but you can't stop people from asking legitimate questions. We, the little people, are not going to disappear for Hillary's convenience.

[hedgehog]

13. From what I can make out via the Net, those are real.

Let's face it, statement jewelry has something to say!

[Beacool]

29. I have seen Hillary many times up close and personal.

A lot of her bijouterie is good quality costume jewelry. Although she does have some very nice pieces that were mostly bought for her by Bill. I don't see anything wrong with Bill buying jewelry for his wife.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

35. When I had money I used to buy my girlfriend...

When I had money I used to my girlfriend:


Fendi bags

Dior bags

Louis Vuitton bags

for special occasions. We lost everything we had in the Great Recession and had to pawn them. A part of me died then. I took it a thousand times harder than her...I even had to sell my mom's wedding band.

[Beacool]

36. Oh, my........

I'm soooo sorry. That must have been tough, particularly pawning your mom's wedding band. Were you able to get it back at some point? I'm sure that your girlfriend cares about you more than she cared about the purses.

I hope that things are better for both of you.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. I must be a saint...

Because the outfit I'm rocking cost around $25.00, and that includes my baseball cap.

[tularetom]

10. Or as my wife calls them "ping pong ball pearls"

Maybe she's just trying to imitate her "mother in law"?

[politicaljunkie41910]

17. As in the picture of Barabara Bush, white women where them to detract from their neck.

I would suspect that Bush's pearl are real since she's been wearing them for decades, but they make great costume jewelry these days that can cost you a few. To imply that you can tell real from fake on TV and then question someone's character based on what you think you see is ridiculous. And so what if it is real, it's not like she's dripping in fancy diamonds and pearls or something.

Quite the contrary. I've seen her dozens of times on TV over the past month, and most of the time she had on the same gold chain with what looked like little charms hanging from it. I thought it did nothing for her or her outfit. My thought was "she needs to stop wearing that tired looking chain, because I can't focus on what she's saying because that chain is a distraction". I also thought about the fact that she was campaigning there probably wasn't someone there when she's getting dressed in the morning to latch or unlatch her chain which is why she's wearing the same thing. You can shower in gold chains and wear them day after day if you don't have someone handing to unhook it for you, particularly at my age.

[tularetom]

18. I'm a dude and I don't know jack shit about pearls so I wasn't implying anything

When I saw the OP I was reminded about a comment my wife made upon seeing Clinton all pearled up. The mama Bush comparison was my doing.

Personally I'm more concerned with what comes out of her mouth than what is hanging around her neck, but again, I was just making an observation.

[roguevalley]

31. Cool. :D

[hedgehog]

19. "it's not like she's dripping in fancy diamonds and pearls "

That's exactly my point - she is.

I found older articles on the Net describing these as real pearls.

I've seen the prices on low grade medium sized pearls, and the pricing for necklaces of high grade, large matched pearls.

Trust me, those diamonds and pearls might not make it in the Dutchess of Windsor's collection, but they're pretty fancy.

[Tanuki]

20. Source, please? No disrespect, but we all know there is a lot of misinformation out there.

[H2O Man]

15. Recommended.

I've noticed the pearls, too.

[senz]

21. Total agreement. Real worth is on the inside.

If a person doesn't learn that fact in this lifetime, they have failed.

IMO.

[mhatrw]

22. But, but ... Bernie wears a pin! nt

[yeoman6987]

28. What about that tie. Might be 45 bucks. Shutter.

[roguevalley]

33. she has no sense about optics. Remember the 'republican cloth coat'?

[Tanuki]

23. I think it is unlikely that those pearls are "real.' Nobody can tell from what we see

on the TV screen, even you, notwithstanding your "cheap freshwater pearl" jewelry-making cred. Female politicians really can't win, can they? One minute they're being derided for being too "mannish" for wearing a no-frills, tailored outfit, and then the minute they dress it up a bit, look what happens.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2020002/Hillary-Clinton-wears-pink-pearls-Tim-Gunn-slams-mannish-style.html

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. When folks become a certain age their neck droops.

The pearls are a distraction... I suspect if it wasn't for the pearls folks would be talking about that. They already discuss her ankles.

[hedgehog]

37. I doubt the pearls in that picture are jaw-droppingly expensive,

and I find them appropriate for business wear.

[Beacool]

26. The Roosevelts and the Kennedys were far wealthier than the Clintons.

BTW, Bill loves to buy Hillary "pretty things", it makes him happy. For years Hillary was the breadwinner of the family. Bill made a pittance as governor. Now that he has the money to spoil his wife, he does so.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

34. "Dead Broke" doesn't mean what it used to.

[asuhornets]

38. What a petty post...n./t

[Arazi]

39. I seek out Jane Sanders in the crowd - she has a warm "earth mother" vibe

I like that the stylists haven't changed her "look" yet. I expect that will change as the campaign advances and her public profile gets raised but for now, I find it reassuring that she looks like the women in my life

She looks real

[Pastiche423]

40. And she is sharp and quick

Plus she was smart enough to marry Bernie!