(Jake Turcotte)
Pigs and lipstick? The campaign gets really weird
By Jimmy Orr | 09.10.08
As Barack Obama said a few days ago, “You can’t make this stuff up.” And that’s true. But this time the campaign went from weird to weirder yesterday due to something else Obama said.
What’s the big hoo-haa? The old saying about putting lipstick on a pig changed the conversation from pork (as in earmarks) to the actual farmyard animal. Specifically whether the Democratic nominee called Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin a pig (see video below).
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Crazy? Well, when expressing skepticism over whether John McCain can bring about change in Washington, Obama lampooned the idea, using his strategy of tying McCain close to President Bush.
“John McCain says he’s about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, ‘Watch out, George Bush – except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl Rove-style politics – we’re really gonna shake things up in Washington.”
“That’s not change,” Obama continued before launching the land mine. “That’s just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
No harm, no foul, right? After all, as we’ve noted earlier - many politicians say it. When you Google exactly what Obama said yesterday, Dick Cheney’s use of the phrase is the top result.
Too close for comfort
The problem according to the McCain people, is that it was too close to Sarah Palin’s stump speech phrase, “You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”
As a result, the McCain campaign is saying that Obama called Palin a pig. And they went hog-wild in responding to the alleged smear.
A hastily arranged conference call was set-up with the leader of the newly formed Palin truth squad, former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift.
“Ultimately, I think the American people will realize that calling a very prominent female governor of one of our states a pig is not exactly what we want to see when we supposedly are going to have this great debate that is the politics of hope,” Swift said.
New commercial
Today, the Republicans have rolled out a new web ad that presents Palin’s “lipstick and pit bull” phrase followed by Barack Obama’s “lipstick and pig” phrase followed by Katie Couric. Katie Couric?
It’s a a snippet of video from this past June when Couric was talking about media coverage of Hillary Clinton. Couric says, “One of the great lessons of that campaign is the continued and accepted role of sexism in American life.”
We’ll see how long it takes before Couric gets involved in this kerfuffle.
Tempest in a teapot?
The Obama folks called the reaction”phony.”
“Enough is enough,” said Obama campaign official Anita Dunn. “The McCain campaign’s attack tonight is a pathetic attempt to play the gender card about the use of a common analogy — the same analogy that Senator McCain himself used about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health care plan just last year.”
Former presidential contender Republican Mike Huckabee isn’t concerned either.
“It’s an old expression, and I’m going to have to cut Obama some slack on that one,” Huckabee told Fox News.
<< Another poll shows same result: Obama, McCain tied | MainComments
2. Kevin Pierce | 09.10.08
PARTY ANIMALS
NEWSWIRE:
“…the difference between a hockey mom and a Pit Bull? Lipstick.”
– Sarah Palin
“You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
– Barack Obama
If you can let the sleeping Pit Bull lie,
And avoid the ******* and its hooving,
Then here’s a rule for pigs you should apply:
They’re only lying when their lipstick’s moving.
http://www.newsandverse.com
Light verse, ripped from the headlines
4. Bubba | 09.10.08
I’m confused…Are they upset because they think Obama insulted her makeup, or her deodorant…Or both?
6. bob | 09.10.08
Palin may be officially the Republican VP but everyone know very well she is a marketing weapon that boosted McCain campaign.Without her McCain was buried alive,politically of course.
To me she is the next President not McCain and thats exactly the kind of image Republicans are pushing to win.And of course because after 8 years of the worst Presidential bankruptcy ever in America you really need marketing solutions.Thats all its left for Republicans a marketing campaign pushing a good product and they found one.Brilliant.
So hey cant take the heat don t walk in the kitchen because its gonna get hotter and hotter…
7. Leah | 09.10.08
Isn’t Sarah Palin’s comment just as sexist? I’m sure there are plenty of hockey moms and soccer moms out there that would take offense to her comment. Barack wasn’t talking about her and didn’t even mention her. Now I’m starting to see why the Republicans believed there was WMD in Iraq. If you believe it enough, it must be real.
8. Glaora Svlotas | 09.10.08
To call a woman a pig??? How dare he!!! I thought he had class…not anymore.
9. Dee | 09.10.08
McCain has gone way over the line with negative ads about Obama. The McCain and Palin team have little to complain about the remark made by Obama. McCain and Palin have uttered nothing but lies and will continue to do so.
So, if you look like a pig, and smell like a pig, what’s wrong with the remark about lipstick? No matter what you do, you are still a pig, and that goes for McCain and Palin!
10. Patrick | 09.10.08
That is utterly ridiculous. They’re really grasping for something, anything to make Obama look bad. However, instead of attacking his policies, McCain manages to lower the bar even further by inventing insults against his campaign.
Seems like no matter who takes office, we’re stuck with more of the same.
11. Matt | 09.10.08
Yeah, I’ve gotta say the lipstick and pig expression was around far before Palin’s hockey mom & pitbull line. Palin can’t just take ownership of a common expression like that.
13. Robert Sayles | 09.10.08
Your report is negligent in leaving out some very important information:
McCain himself used the phrase more than once, including last year, when he was talking about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 1990s health care plan.
He said last October, “I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
14. Kristen Murray | 09.10.08
I’d believe it was just the use of a rather old saying, if and only if, the democrats had NOT just spent the last few weeks vicously smearing Palin and previously giving Hilary the shaft.
Did Obama use an old phrase thoughtlessly, possibly yes.
Was this a good way to attract female voters, NO.
16. carrie mills | 09.10.08
It is really sad to be in that mind set of those voting for Obama. They need help and prayer. Shows you the immaturity and no slef control at all. He is not God and MY GOd is in control of this country. Obama has issues and not a leader. I can tell by the body language between him and his wife. She seems to be more of the leader.
17. George | 09.10.08
Lipstick on a pig, is how I feel this economy has been for years under GWBush, outsourcing of jobs, one sided trade deals, foreclosurers, inflation, runaway health care costs, stagnant wages, and double doses of inept media making hay out of comments rather than doing their fricking job of trying to hold politicians accountable in turning this economy around.
Isnt there enough problems for you people to be examining than meaningless dribble of candidates.
How about finding our how they are going to balance the budget, deal with China and our export of good paying jobs, poor education, lousy costly healthcare and the diminishing role of this country and its indebtedness to communist china.
Why dont you talk about the 3.4 million jobs that have disappeared and how this country will become competetive in the future.
Get a life and start doing your job OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
18. BBD | 09.10.08
Boy the McCain camp is awfully touchy for hiring Wonder Gidget and finding new success. Suddenly the Republicans can only be the funny people?
I think not. If you can’t handle the comedy heat, stay off the open mic.
19. Jussie | 09.10.08
Now this is just plain bickering! I defended Palin when attacks were geared towards her family. I heard what Sen Obama said in detail and did not feel like it was directed towards Gov. Palin. Read the transcript. As a solid republican supporter I must agree that it is a cheap use of the sexist card by the republican party. Do research and you will find it is common Washington verbage also used by McCain at one point. Lets grow up and wait to hear what she has to say on her views and direction of the country. Lets not play the victims when we are just as much to blame on scrutiny of our opponents! To be frank bickering like this and playing victim is really turning me and alot of other McCain/Palin supporters off. It is getting to the point that sheerly the media and our opponents feel like they are walking on thin ice when mentioning her. Almost as if she is untouchable. Republican strategy and tactics are getting old and boring. We are gonna lose to dems because of this. Lets grow up and stick to facts. C’mon….Thanks!
20. beevee | 09.10.08
I fail to see any reason why McCain’s campaign is going so up in arms about a policy remark Obama made. I did not think he was referring to Palin at all. Mcain made similar remarks about Ms. Clinton’s health care plans before. Looks like the Mccain’s campaign wants to tie every remark to Palin and paint Obam’s camp as seixist just to gain the sympathy of voters. It is not going to work. Then talk about policies. Besides Ms.Palin is too cute to be called a pig. She is more like a pitbull with lipstick on unprovoked attack.
21. Greg | 09.10.08
The spin on Obama’s comment is completely ridiculous. We are obviously returning to grade school playground antics…..”He said pig…..Mommy, he called me a pig” Please…..the comment by Barack was not directed in that way. The Republican spin masters must think we are all drinking the Koolaid. I will take a pass myself. You going to have to do better then that McCain/Palin to get my vote. Why not talk about the real issues? Call me crazy.
22. Redding, California | 09.10.08
Obama was quoting McCain when McCain was speaking about Hillary’s health care plan! — Give it up, Repblicans, and talk about REAL issues!
23. rsingh | 09.10.08
you must be kidding me? McCain’s team is REALLY reaching on this one. Do people really beleive that Obama was referring to Palin when he made this comment, if so get help!!!
24. Ritaa United Kingdom | 09.10.08
How pathetic is this? McCain should be ashamed of himself. He is no elder statesman. Just another used cae sales man who would say anything to sell his wares! I hope the Americans can see through this. How can this man then parade himself as respectable to the world ever? What a shame!
25. shade | 09.10.08
If the analogy were about Palin, she would be the lipstick, not the pig. The pig, in this sense, would be the same old GOP platform that McCain is presenting, see? And then Palin would be the lipstick McCain is using to try to pretty it up. Get it? Palin is not the pig, if the analogy is about her at all, but the lipstick. And she already said the difference between her and a dog is lipstick, so obviously she doesn’t have a problem being compared to lipstick at all. Nothing to see here.
26. Chris Moy | 09.10.08
You might recall that John McCain used the same exact phrase about Hillary Clinton during the primary. Much ado about nothing. But why not look at the McCain commercial that’s now running that accuses Obama of teaching sex education to Kindergarteners. It’s an outrageous lie. The bill he actually signed was created to protect children from predators. I think we know who the ‘predators’ are in this presidential race.
27. MichaelB | 09.10.08
Media… what a cheap shot. I support neither of these two parties but can’t let this pass as journalism. The lipstick/pig saying is in common use in trading and marketing in general. What a huge stretch to attach it to the hockey mom thing.
Can we get back to issues now?
Who has a plan to stem the $9 trillion national debt which its interest alone costs us 1/3 of our tax bill. You want to stimulate the economy? Try leaving some discretionary income in our paychecks after the federal, state and local government Sopranos work us over.
28. Mike | 09.10.08
What’s the difforence between Palin and Bush………LIPSTICK
lets all grow up and quit insulting pigs!
29. I know a pig and Palin isn’t Babe | 09.10.08
How is refering to their ideas for change, the same as calling the “barracuda” (an ugly fish I must say) a “pig”? The repugs are a master at this political game, poor sports no matter if they win or lose. Such a pitiful way to live the blessing that the journey of life is.
30. Byron | 09.10.08
I guess that the Republican policy is to throw whatever ******* they think might stick at a wall and hope. If no one actually checks, then they win by knowingly lying, throwing ****** at the wall and blaming the other side for being dirty. Absolutely amazing - and disgusting. I hope all of it sticks to them and the smell drives voters to the other side.
31. Theo | 09.10.08
We all know what Obama said and meant. Unfortunately Republican voters are dolts who are about as intelligent as my dog. They won’t get it. So sad.
32. Scott | 09.10.08
The fact that Obama paused for applause after the statement shows that he knew what people would infer from his comment. He and his speechwriter are probably quite upset that their implication of McCain’s age went undetected.
I’ve no doubt they are truely suprised by the reaction to the comment as they never expected it to overwhelm the agism implied in the same breath. But rest assured they knew they were going to get an audience reaction out of the intentional double meaning.
34. Mom from Tennessee | 09.10.08
McCain used the “Lipstick on a Pig” adage himself months ago when he was referring to a Hillary Clinton policy. It’s an old saying. I’ve heard it used many times here in the South.
I think the McCain camp’s whining and complaining about Obama’s use of the same adage is like …. THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK! …
If Sarah Palin can’t stand a little mud on her, then she shouldn’t have started slinging it in her speech at the GOP convention. I found her extremely offensive, divisive and not particularly bright. Wake up, America!!! This is not a Homecoming Queen race that we’re deciding. This is a presidential election.
The media needs to force her out in the open and make her answer some tough questions that we as voters want to know about her. There’s nothing gender related about that, sister!! To quote another old adage, “If you can’t run with the Big Dogs, then stay on the porch!”
35. Malenga | 09.10.08
Yet another example of how pitiful and hypocritical the McCain campaign is. Honorable? Hardly. I miss the old John McCain, before he turned into a Karl Rove zombie.
36. Jerry | 09.10.08
I worry more about the fact that Obama has close ties to muslim born criminals, american born terrorist and racists of 23 year aquaintance than I do about him using and old tired worn out saying.
The man is full of old tired sayings he really needs new material.
He says he is in this campaign for hope and change, half of american wants change we hope for change but we would also like to hear a real honest to god plan that will provide change that makes sense.
So far Obama has Flipped this way and Flopped that way on ever issue as the situation and audience warranted the flip-flop, one day he is for something the next day he is against it, the next day he is for it again, it depends on who he is talking to at the time. He uses the same old tired rhetoric day after day after day.
He lies about Rezko, he was silent about Wright until the media finally got off it and actually nailed him on the facts. If they had not nailed him on the facts he would have never opened his mouth about the issue, letting sleeping dogs lay.
But another tired saying is “if you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas” personally that is how I feel about the Obama Team.
37. ML | 09.10.08
I’ll be the one who needs to say it then. McCain/Palin are kind of like pigs and yes they are wearing lots of lipstic, but they are still pigs. Recycling the same Bush/Cheyney policies and trying to pretend that this is change? Pathetic they are. Obama is too much of a gentleman to have meant it like that. I, on the otherhand, am a mean feminist and detest what Palin stands for and finds McCain creepy and about as unmaverick as one could get.
ML
38. Sonny | 09.10.08
I don’t understand the controversy. For the longest time, we have used this idiom, and like any other, it never means that something is a pig or it has lipstick applied on it. In the world of business, it is common to use this analogy to describe minor modifications to an existing product.
39. S in PA | 09.10.08
This is the start of the kind of idiocy that the press and the American people get hung up on instead of anything substantive. The Republicans are playing us all as fools. Wake up and smell the coffee: no one is going to get anywhere with discussion about who called whom a pig or not…
Perhaps we should just get the four of them on Jerry Springer and elect the one that handles a chair over the head most effectively.
40. mike | 09.10.08
obama called her a pig becoz she is a racist ******* so she deserves to be called a pig. obama doesnt care about white women vote he is petting pretty good support from all the sistas in the ghettos so why should be worry
41. Leon J. Radomile | 09.10.08
It’s pretty clear what Mr. Obama was getting at with his lame attempt at pig humor. Please try not to insult the intelligence of the non-Harvard educated electorate by spinning this. I thought this gentleman was supposed to be smart. But then again, ALL his educational records seem to be unavailable for review, how strange.
42. Jeff | 09.10.08
Governor Palin may not be a pig but as mayor and governor she has spent plenty of time at the federal feed trough.
43. joe | 09.10.08
You can tell by Obama’s delivery, he paused for effect, that he knew what he was saying, and that it was a reference to Palin. His audience knew too.
44. Mike (FVThinker) Burns | 09.10.08
That is such an old turn of phrase…and perfectly appropriate to use in his example…that it is laughable that some may be upset about it. Of course I don’t blame the McCain campaign for making a big deal out of it; anything goes to get political advantage. For me it has the opposite effect, though. Focusing on ridiculous things like this tells me that there is a lack of substance in other areas.
45. Jenny-Flock | 09.10.08
Apparently McCain said the same thing to Hillary - on her healthcare policy
Can the McCain camp have it both ways?
That’s will have to be the elect Sarah McCain sympathy vote appeal to women !!
If I support Sarah Palin - can we go and hunt polar bears in Alaska?
46. MichaelMerriman | 09.10.08
The media is sensationalising Mccain statements to give him publicity more than he deserves.He is now on a change message but has not proposed anything that can be scrutinised for change. He has launched a negative campaign , something he vowed not to do which is not compatible with truth and integrity.As a the Professor noted in the blog he has become a political ****, and is now hiding behind a womans frock tail. Maybe this is the reason he can call the remarks sexist not considering he made the same exact verbatim remarks about Senator Hilary clintons health plan earlier this year. It is joke when a man has to hide hide behind a woman while trying to prove his strength and independence.He is unfit to lead and should not be elected.
47. Kel | 09.10.08
Here is what Obama had to say:
“Look, she’s new, she hasn’t been on the scene, she’s got five kids. And my hat goes off to anybody whose looking after five. I’ve got two and they tire Michelle and me out,” he said.
First of all, it’s Michelle and I and second of all, if two kids tire them out and two is too much for them, then maybe they shouldn’t be running for office. So, now he is comparing by the number of kids one family has versus another?? That’s so silly. I know families that have seven kids and have it more together and provide more structure, do more for the world than parents who have it all and only two kids. What’s he doing?
48. James | 09.10.08
lol. That’s funny. I guess she’d rather be considered a mauler of old lady’s and children than an animal who provides what one third of all meat products?
49. jodi | 09.10.08
No Way No How NOBAMA………The difference here is that it was clearly a sexist comment by either male candidate but when McCain made the comment the democrats ignored it rather than defend the qualified female candidate running in the dems primary while when Obama used the same words they were meant to connect to Sarah’s lipstick comment and therefore was even more sexit but the Republicans stepped right up to call the sexist a sexist. It is too bad the dems forgot what they stood for and now with Obama/Biden will easily lose to McCain/Palin with my help and I am a lifelong democrat. Watch as Massachusettes votes NOKERRY AND NOBAMA. Stand up for Women’s Rights and against the sexist Obama and Kerry (MA Senator Primary 9/16)
50. steven | 09.10.08
Please: The Media is slanted so far left it is disgraceful. The loss of newspaper funding as left most hack liberal leaning lefties angry.. They are rallying around Obama like he is the Alamo. Just because I hate George Bush does not mean I will therfore swing to the compleate opposite… We need fair and balanced reporting.. Your objectivity is liost and you are such elitist you can not see it… shame on you
51. copycat | 09.10.08
I’m not an obama fan,(or a mccain fan for that matter). The comment, and the context indicate that he was making a point on mccain’s policies, not palin’s sex (yes, sex, not gender. words have a gender, most living creatures have a sex.) Nothing either candidate says will convince me that they are the right person to lead this counrty. I will still be voting Barr/Root this November.
as a side note, neither Obama, nor McCain qualified for inclusion on the ballot in Texas.
http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/obama-mccain-fail-to-qualify-for-texas-ballot
52. Micyok | 09.10.08
Come on people, what is going on here. Take the words at fact value, that is what Hilary did when McCain used the exact term last summer. If they are going to us sexism they will need to be careful is can be a slippery slope. Also if Palin is to be VP she will need to learn to let things roll, and play ball. This type of back and forth pickering is NOT good for the county, and does not solve any of the problems we are now facing. McCain and co. need remember the phases they have used before they start slinging mud.
53. Quintin | 09.10.08
Perception is reality. The audience made the connection, and he seemed to make a deliberate pause, so I would say there was intent to draw a connection to what Governor Palin said. Whether he planned to sound call her a pig, I don’t know. If the expression were, “You know you can put lipstick on a elephant, but it’s still a elephant,” I think it would not be as inflammatory, but you still know that he intended to make a jab at Sarah Palin. Either way, Senator Obama should do the right thing and apologize for the connection to her.
Senator Obama makes gaffes like these all the time. George W. Bush may not be a great speaker, but he’s not the one on the ballot. Senator McCain is, and I have much more faith in him saying and doing the right thing.
54. Karen | 09.10.08
I can’t believe they’re making such a big deal over that. It’s just an old saying. As a Republican, I think we need to keep our focus on the issues, because that’s what concerns all of us the most. We want to know what John and Sarah going to do for us once they get into office. We need some serious economic help here in the heartland.
55. jon | 09.10.08
Utterly ridiculous.
One of the most commonly used phrases in the English language
(lipstick on a pig)is now a sexist remark?
Pallin wasn’t even part of the discussion…he was talking about
McCain. I am so disgusted by our political system. I’m even
considering voting for real change…Bob Barr.
Jon
56. Diane | 09.10.08
That’s a V E R Y long stretch. So now Obama has to make sure that no figure of speech or common phrase he uses contains any words that used in a phrase from a recent Palin speech? That goes beyond the ridiculous.
I find it more interesting that the “newly formed Palin truth squad” is headed by someone with the last name of “Swift”. While clearly a coincidence, I suspect it forebodes what kind of ‘truth’ we can expect. We’re already seeing it.
57. Paul Molyneaux | 09.10.08
Yes, weird it is, and the Republican ticket has turned into a freak show, with a beautiful dynamic centerpiece that plays the role of everyone’s mommy, but cannot talk to the press. And they are eager to pump the campaign full of a fog of nonsense rather than talk about the issues that will damn them.
58. Bogie | 09.10.08
The Republicans seem to be offering no programs, no alternatives, and no changes. All they have are attack ads and attack people, trying to demean the Democrats. If they were offering something we could examine and discuss, I might respect them. But I can only muster disgust at the way they are campaigning.
60. Dan Fedder | 09.10.08
If you logically can say that Barack Obama was calling Sarah Palin a pig by referencing that statement, with the same logic can you not say that Sarah Palin was calling all hockey moms dogs?
61. George Hite | 09.10.08
Pardon me while I yawn. This is not responsible news gathering. This is “much ado about nothing”. Worse yet, this political bickering and name calling borders on juvenile behavior.
63. Michael | 09.10.08
Okay, okay, okay! Enough. If Republicans really want to pretend that Obama really meant this for Palin, then we know why they cannot understand that the country is in a deep whole. May be that is why they still claim to be champions of small government, fiscal responsibility when in the last forty years only a Democrat in the White House actually reduced the government and balanced the budget resulting in a surplus. I like McCain and I believe he still would be better than Bush but this pretence by the GOP, calling a press conference to see what was meant by this old saying or what Obama means if he mentions the word pig, lipstick, milk, chicken, cow or any animal in the same sentence, is beyond reason. We are not such idiots to believe this charade are we? Is the Republican base that daft to understand what Obama meant? Please give us some credit and stop this pandering. The GOP told Hillary to take a punch in the boys club if she wants to be president. They asked what she would do if terrorists played the gender game, they said get out of the kitchen if it is hot for her and now they want to put every criticism under “gender” including this old adage? Come on give us some credit. We are not that dumb!
64. doug | 09.10.08
Teh democrats are becoming unhinged. Obama knew what he was saying. The crowd laughed. they understood the reference. For Obama to say anything other than “sorry, that was in bad taste” and simply move on shows what a selfish liar he is.
65. Stanicus | 09.10.08
So, he’s not allowed to use the same phrase that John McCain used a while back. Hypocrisy at its best. Try again.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/info/kilkenny.asp
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html
67. JLA | 09.10.08
What a joke. He is clearly talking about McCain, not Palin. I sure hope this backfires on the GOP.
68. dragonfly777 | 09.10.08
Obama is getting weirder and weirder. What’s with all the lipstck comments? Ok I can understand one, but the guy is harping on it. What the heck is he doing? So much for issues and the high road. Biden attacking Downs syndrome children?? The Democrats are getting bizarre!!
69. Sheila | 09.10.08
Putting his comment in context it is obvious how he meant it and how his “followers” took the comment. It may be an old Washington term, but his speech writers knew how it would sound. Isn’t this the same campaign that two months ago thought everything was racist or at least tried to make everyone think that anyone not voting for Obama is racist. Forgive me for this, but if we can’t talk about a “dark horse” we shouldn’t be able to talk about a “lipstick wearing pig”.
70. emm | 09.10.08
How low of the McCain campaign, and Swift who wasn’t a leader with integrity, to take Obama’s quote out of context and play the phony sexism card. As a female, I am insulted that McCain it shows now clearly picked Palin in order to use the ’sexism’ card and play on female’s emotions that wanted Hilary. This strategy to pick a female with out much experience and who has never left the country - how the heck can she run our country if she hasn’t been outside of the USA??? - is becoming more and more clear. McCain touts ‘change’ and ‘female rights’ when the truth is ‘more of the same’ and ‘no right for a woman to choose’. Isn’t it funny or SAD that Palin said she was happy with her daughter making her own choice - whereas if Palin gets in office she wants to take that right away from females????
What is going on in our country?
71. Abarafi | 09.10.08
Obama’s statement is pretty literal. He didn’t say “Palin,” he said it in the context of McCain’s campaign trying to co-opt the theme of “change.” In that sense, it makes perfect sense. Change doesn’t mean doing the same thing but calling it something else. It doesn’t mean lying about one’s real interaction with Congress over the “bridge to nowhere.” I just hope most of the American people pay attention to what these people are saying, and what they have actually done. But, I’m being optimistic. As George W. tried to say, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” Here’s one time we should pay attention to George W. He was right about that.
72. Amanda G | 09.10.08
If Republicans had actually listened to the speech they would have seen that he is calling McCain’s politics the pig, clearly not Palin.
74. dragonfly777 | 09.10.08
Just watch the segment on what Obama said, he sure did call her a pig! He is out of his mind and truly losing it. Definitely lost mu vote now and forever!
75. Tony | 09.10.08
Didn’t Palin stand in front of millions of TV viewers and call herself a pitbull? Why are the Republicans so up in arms about the ‘lipstick on a pig’ comment?
I don’t happen to love pigs, but do dogs have a higher status in the kingdom?
If anybody should be upset at the perceived comparison, it should be the pigs. Wait… they already are.
77. wsw | 09.10.08
“First of all, it’s Michelle and I and second of all…”
Hey, Kel, I hate to break it to you but if you fight a grammar war with Barack Obama, you’re going to lose. My kids don’t tire I out, and therefore my kids don’t tire my wife and I out. If that’s your most incisive criticism, well, it seems a bit like grasping at straws. Get a style manual.
78. Honey Rogers | 09.10.08
When will Sarah say something original. She’s mouthing the convention speech that was written for her. She keeps the E-Bay line about the plane which was sold for less than it was worth. And that untrue bridge statement. You stand there and cheer all the lies. The thought of her being president, which its certainly possible with a 72 year old running mate. Please America read and become informed. Vote for Obama, no one has to know. Vote for change that will affect your family for the bettterment. Think about it we have two oil men in the White House, why are we paying 3.85 for gas? No energy policy that would please the lobbist for oil nd gas.
We can not afford four more years of the same with an old man that is out of touch with the middle class, whether its suburbs, small towns, low income, without a job, you must put aside your beliefs about a black man named Obama. It’s just a name and remember he is one of two races, vote for his white mother’s genes and Kansas morales and ethics. Remember his white grand parents raised him. Can you imagined what they went thru? The world is looking at us. Whether you want to accept it or not, we need friends. We don’t have friends and that’s why McBush statements to “RUSSIA” were ridiculous. He knows all of our tropps are spreaded all over and much too thin. The world knows McBush does not have the temperment to become president of the U>S> Ask Bob Bar? All the Republicans know he is not fit to lead. I promise they know and they cringe at the possibility that you are dumb enough to vote for a man because he is white and not because of his Bush-like policies.
Will Sarah repeat that speech to Putin. Just not ready for prine time. I don’t trust her or McBush with my life or the troops. Wake up Americ. Demand that McBush talk about the issues, not this pig garbage. Obama’s tax plan goes directly to the middle class, McBush is the same old thing that brought about 6.1 unemployment records foreclosures, same old policy for Iraq. It’s now showing tht the surge didn’t complete it’s mission. America, tell John McBush to speak about the issues NOW! He’s making a fool of the uneducated white population. If it’s his blackness, you can be an intelligent racist and vote for the good and effective change Obama will certainly bring. There is absolutely no difference in McBush policy than George Bush. Wake up people in the small towns, they are using you and you stand there and let them. You continue to applaus those speeches that DON”T address your needs, you’re in awe of a woman that lies daily. You don’t need a degree to recognize McBush will lead us in the same directions. More wars with no friends to assist. This is not the time to pick fights when we don’t have the military force to back up those silly comments of McBush on Georgia. Small towns picture Obama as Michael Smith, white, and makes a better case for the middle class and pull that level for real change not that unbelievable maverick campaign. Barr spoke of McBush and he nailed it. Vote OBAMA. Voting for a qualified black candidate will assist you to the 21st century. Show Ameica, whites in small towns, that you don’t need to be elitess or educated to recognize a good deal when you see it. Please wake up at the very least force them to focus on issues not celebrity of a woman candidae. Vote “ISSUES” not gender appreciation.
79. J MICHAEL | 09.10.08
I saw the whole speech last night. 1st one I have watched by any of the politicians and nowhere did Obama call or make a reference Palin is a pig. I am getting sick of our political process for the half truths and lies and the news media for the way they report the news, more lies/half truths than truths being reported.
80. bill blount | 09.10.08
Obama prooving himself to be nothing more than a daily political machine political hack - plausible deniability is a forte
82. patmac | 09.10.08
–First, this analogy is wholly colloquial and often used in politics (for better or worse). In fact, it’s been used by both McCain and Obama in other contexts going back months/years.
–Second, setting aside the possibility that Republicans are illiterate, it is utterly and *objectively* clear that “the claim of change” is the lipstick, and “the same old set of policies” is the pig.
–Here’s the full quotation of what Obama said, not a *single* reference to Palin. (Journalist and other Republicans who do not provide the full quotation are nothing short of dishonest.)
–”John McCain says he’s about change too,” Obama told a crowd here. “So I guess his whole angle is: Watch out, George Bush — except for economic policy, healthcare policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics, we’re really going to shake things up in Washington..
–Next Sentence: “That’s not change. That’s just calling the same thing something different. But you can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, and it’s still going to stink after eight years.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-campaign10-2008sep10,0,311675.story
–Let’s all go back to our English classrooms people. Nothing to see here. Aside from the hilarious fact that Republicans are suddenly concerned with political correctness, end of story.
83. Cooday | 09.10.08
Schmidt, Rove and Davis are attacking the Pig Wearing Lipstick? Because they branded Governor Sarah Palin as their Pit bull wearing Lip stick? What is the difference between a Pig and a Pit bull?
Pigs, also called hogs or swine, are ungulates which have been domesticated as sources of food, leather, and similar products since ancient times. From Wikipedia
Pit Bull is a term commonly used to describe several breeds of dog in the Molosser family that were historically used for dog fighting. From Wikipedia
Proof that they are attempting to steal the fashion vote and the pet vote.
Democrats courting all Republican and Independent voters who love Lipstick and Fashion
Lipstick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euSNghJULgM
Fashion show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCcTRjxP-Fc
Democrats are courting all Republican and Independent Pet owners
and their family! You heard right! Their Pets are their Family too!
We will not concede Talking Dog fans!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYaw5tGYAs
We will not concede Funny Cat fans!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTasT5h0LEg
The real change team for the last 19 months
Change we can believe in!
Vote Obama/Biden ‘08
84. Mr Piggy | 09.10.08
As a pig, I resent this remark. I find Palin disgusting, and I am immediately writing to the Obama camp for an apology for myself and all my fellow suet.
85. kyle | 09.10.08
This is just silly. The real test here is how stupid the American people are. If we can’t see this is BS and completely made up then we own our own demise. Let’s talk about issues not some new form of swift boating.
86. Doug Suttor | 09.10.08
Just shows that the lefties that brought us all this pc speech can’t adhere to thier own standards. Also shows that the democrats don’t have anyone to criticize since they stand up for women’s rights. Or is that that they only stand up for the left’s (women’s) rights.
87. nathan | 09.10.08
you people that are getting uppety about this remark need to get a life. If you read the transcript or seen the actual meeting you would know and can clearly see that this was not a direct remark towards Palin even though McShame’s campaign would like you to think so, after all they are scared of losing and are grasping at straws to make obama look bad.
This is a low and dishonorable way to run a campaign and this coming from a man who was a pow for 5 years I would think he would have more honor then this instead he has proved that he is a puppet.
88. Jeff | 09.10.08
Typical Republican response. Can’t talk about the issues or their pathetic record so you make up a phony controversy and let corporate media run with it. Soldiers are dying in Iraq. Bin Laden is still free in Afghanistan. The US government just took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which will likely cost taxpayers billions. But all corporate media wants to talk about is this phony “lipstick” story!?!?!?
Wake up people.
89. QuietusMaximus | 09.10.08
It’s official. The country is being run by children - petty, unprincipled children.
90. Tom | 09.10.08
McCain and republications are so much liar and are lying to this country. They are surrounded by lobbyists and all special interest people now they are distorting the statement said by Barack and make fuss about it.
MaCain and Palin, your days are gone. You just lost my vote.
Disgusting McCain.
91. Lou | 09.10.08
Can you all really be that dumb? Common sense analogy used in english. Lipstick on a pig means to dress up an already ugly idea and make it palatable for everyone. The “pig” being bad policy. My God are you people that stupid? Just goes to show how much you hate this guy you can’t even discern what a 5th grader could probably figure out!
92. KIM | 09.10.08
Wow! That’s saying a lot from a Muslim like Barack “Hussein” Obama — his real name btw!
93. Retta | 09.10.08
Your kidding right?! What a way to twist someones words around and totally take them out of context. And why is this is even a news story?? If this is how the McCain party is going to play politics, I hope the people can see through it and ignore such pathetic tactics. How childish!
94. Jaxon Fairfield | 09.10.08
Wow, I don’t think a lot of you guys even READ the article… that or you didn’t understand it. Obama DIDN’T call Palin a pig. He wasn’t even TALKING about Palin. He was comparing McCain to Bush! Does everyone think he was trying to call McCain a fish, too?
95. RAC | 09.10.08
So, is the Republican Party implying that their VP choice, Sarah Palin, is a pig! It seems to me they are if they are feigning offense at that tired, old saying. I could see if Barack Obama made the analogy to a pit bull with lipstick…
97. Joe Z | 09.10.08
The story leaves out the fact that right after the “lipstick on a pig” comment, he started talking about Palin!
We’re getting a chance to see his real character, now that he’s on the ropes. Not such a nice guy after all.
98. Mikel Wintermantel | 09.10.08
Are you telling me that this is reaction from the GOP? All up in arms and freaking out over a “perceived” insult? How thin skinned of you. What are you going to do if you win and some foreign leader insults you? Threatens you? Are you going to cry? Scream “THAT’S UNFAIR!”
The world is tough. Get used to it and grow a pair.
99. J | 09.10.08
Listen to the words in the video…. Did Obama call Palin a pig? Hmmmm…. nope. Where did I get that idea then….. Oh YEAH! From the Christian Science Monitor. They connected two disparate ideas in order to taint the Obama’s words. The Christian Science Monitor made it up. Telling lies and creating controversy suits them well, just look at all the comments. People love this breed of garbage because it is so much easier for them to wrap their simple minds around this stupidity than real issues. Wake up. Stop wasting your time thinking that the election is about name calling and start looking at the candidates solutions to this nations problems.
100. CindyLou | 09.10.08
I was an ardent McCain supporter up to this point, but his hypocrisy in calling Obama on a phrase that McCain himself has used is abolutely outrageous. I will vote for Obama now.
101. Kb | 09.10.08
This says it all:
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/apology_not_accepted.html
The last line is the best line: “Talk about putting lipstick on a pig.”
Wow, a week is a long time in politics.
–
Kevin B
I’m saying it now: President Barack H. Obama, Jr., 2009 - 2017
102. Booth | 09.10.08
I FEEL LIKE I’M IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE!!!!! For anyone commenting who didn’t actually read the story - READ THE DIRECT QUOTE!!! This discussion is a distracting waste of time. There is no doubt he was talking about “putting lipstick on the pig of Bush’s failed policies and calling it change.” He didn’t even obliquely reference Palin. Someone mentioned the story didn’t reference McCain’s own use of the phrase - IT DOES!!! YOU HAVE TO READ THE WHOLE STORY!!!! It’s not even that long!
103. Kirk Goolsby | 09.10.08
This is a great example of how the GOP controls the debate. They a valid critism, edit it out of context, call it a rude personal attack, and the media takes the bait.
The political race then is turned into a contest of personalities/mud slinging instead of a debate about issues.
This is time tested and successful way many a GOP candidates have got themselves elected, even if/when they are empty of substance, on the wrong side of the major issues, deeply flawed, or have the cards stacked against them.
Thus the media is failing to do its job, and America loses.
105. Christine W. | 09.10.08
The Obama camp, and his followers( sheeples)did this sexist nonsense to Hilary and they are trying the same old dirty politics on Palin! I lost all respect for the Dems after what they did to Hilary, and became even more disgusted after Obama’s FISA flip-flop! Stop the woman bashing you sexist Pig!!!! Oh, and just shut the Heck up if all you gonna do is spew lies, insults, rhetoric, and no real content of policy in your speeches. I’d rather have a woman in the white house who prays for God’s will and help for this country than a man who can sit for 20 years listening to Hate sermons screeching from a pulpit! SAYS A LOT ABOUT A PERSONS CHARACTER!!!!!!
106. Trutheriser | 09.10.08
Everyone is missing the point. Obama was saying that Palin is the lipstick and McCain is the pig - Palin is the newspaper and McCain is the fish. So infact he complimented Palin and insulted McCain. It is a very accurate analogy that clearly illustrates the trick republicans are trying to pull on the America people to get their pig elected. That pig being John McCain. But lipstick smears and wears off quickly. It needs to be re-applied, which is why McCain keeps Palin so close on the campaign trail. Without Palin to make McCain look good everyone will see him for what he really is.
Also not enough attention is being paid to the fact that Palin is an unknown quantity who is turning out to be quite deceptive, vindictive and extreme and alot of her attraction to voters come down to her looks, compared to Obama and McCain. So even if the analogy is applied to her it is very accurate and highlights how her looks are being used to manipulate voters. She looks good but she is a pig of a politician. The lip-stick on a pig analogy is also an accurate discription of McCains lies about being an agent of change and a maverick.
All three interpretations of the lipstick/pig analogy clearly describes how the America people are being deceived by the McCain Palin ticket. A vote for Palin and McCain truly is a vote for lipstick on a pig, whichever way you look at it. After two weeks of republican hype and hoopla Obama has very accurately described the republican ticket in a way that everyone can easily understand.
107. JB | 09.10.08
I recently heard a comparison of the Democratic & Republican parties, that highlighted the Republicans as being able to stand up in front of millions of people and lie with a straight face, while the Democrats are constrained by their ‘Politically Correct’ ideals.
I’m not suggesting the Democrats have a monopoly on the truth, all politicians have an incredible ability to ’stretch the facts.’ I am saying that a small cadre of Republican parrots are extreme examples of BS vendors.
The Republicans constantly re-enforce their unspoken mantra;
“Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up.”
108. ann | 09.10.08
the economy is going down the drain, we have no economic stability, power or dignity, and we are worried about lipstick on various animals! way to go, americans! this is the depth of our thoughts and decisions! These are your priorities for your self and your childrens’ future!
109. Jim | 09.10.08
If its not racist for over ninety percent of black voters to vote for the black man because he is black as they certainly abandoned Hillary, why is it racist for a white man to want to vote for a white man especially one who is a war hero and has always put his country first? So now it’s not sexist if a black man calls a woman a pig. Well he shouldn’t mind when the women vote for anther woman. The rock concert and biased media will be over at election time when the silent majority speaks.
110. hendry | 09.10.08
Just get to the point everyone… are we all Ready to have President of USA with middle name of Hussein?
Come on guys and get real… Barack Hussein Obama… He can be a President of somewhere in Middle East, NOT USA.
111. sothere | 09.10.08
I don’t have time to check if someone already posted it, but here is hypocrite John McPOW McCain saying that Hillary Clinton is Lipstick on a Pig:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMPYkNQlJMM
112. Olna Reeves | 09.10.08
I don’t know whether lipstick pig is intentional as a secondary veiled reference to Palin, or not. Probably not.
However, the Republicans don’t even bother trying to be subtle about their lies and slurs,like their ad that claims Obama legislated for “comprehensive sex education for kindergartners,” when it reality, it was an awareness program about inappropriate touching, to protect kids from sexual predators. The Republicans seemingly have no limits, and in my opinion they are getting worse as the days move forward to election time, and people ARE going to notice, and hopefully begin to wonder.
McCain will end up being like Bush. The war was a disaster in 2006, and Bush told us all it was going very well, a great success. We’ll never be able to get a straight answer out of McCain/Palin. Obama, I believe, would give us straight answers. He wouldn’t be attempting to rewrite the constitution, so he can torture others. The world would not regard Obama as stupid and ridiculous, as they think of Bush.
Since Jesus was a “community organizer,” and Pilot a governor, Republicans are only bothering to veil their racial slurs, something Republicans have been doing for decades. So, “community organizer,” for Republicans, was a code word for “black panther radical.” Who over 50, can forget a time when politicians from both parties were overtly racist, such as George Wallace, gov. of Alabama in the 60’s and 70’s. With a party of only 30 black delegates out of 2200, the Republican party has taken up the mantel to destroy Obama in any way they can, all to protect their corporate backers and the complex that supports Republicans and their 1% “seven homes” elite of super wealthy white guys.
Bush and McCain are all about blood, guts, money and glory. The only difference is, for war, Bush let others do it, whereas McCain was actually involved himself. But, he very much wants young people to enlist and continue sacrificing their lives for the beauty of doomed causes, e.g., Iraq.
And yes, Obama is actually interested in helping all of America prosper or at least survive, including people who lose their jobs. McCain is going to want new wars in Georgia, Iran and (?)if he could, go back and fight Vietnam all over again. He comes from generations of men who obtained glory only through war.
I want a peace maker for president. A strong, dignified, intelligent, well-educated, thoughtful person like Obama, not a hot-headed (in spite of his kindly facade) geezer with a failing memory, and a chip on his shoulder, and poor grasp on the difference between Sunnis and Shiites. McCain was against torture of prisoners a few years ago. I thought it was the ONE great thing he got out of his experience as POW. Yet now, he’s for torture, because he’ll be for anything that gets him the Presidency. Once there, it is very likely, he’ll continue all Bush’s policies, and drive this country into a hole that will destroy the environment, (drill, drill, drill), create terrible job losses and frightening inflation.
113. Aengil | 09.10.08
He didn’t even MENTION Palin! How can anyone possibly think “he sure did call her a pig”?
Let’s be completely clear about this: he DID NOT mention Palin. He mentioned John McCain, John McCain calling himself change, and John McCain’s policies. John McCain’s policies are the pig, calling them change is the lipstick.
The ONLY association to Palin is that the expression Obama used - in the same way in which he’s used it before and John McCain has used it before - has the word ‘lipstick’ in it and Palin recently used the word ‘lipstick’ as well. That’s it.
Now if you choose to believe that Obama is calling Palin a pig because of that, that’s up to you. But you’re going out on a pretty shaky limb to insist that that tenuous a connection is certainty. Do you think ANY reference to lipstick from now on is a reference to Palin?
114. Dave | 09.10.08
Here is a picture of Hillary depicted as a pig in lipstick by the Republicans bet McCain never complained about this.
http://oldbluejacket.com/images/lipstick_on_a_pig.jpg
115. kenguskhan | 09.10.08
Talk about sexism. What if Sarah Palin looked like Golda Meir? She was chosen because she’s pretty. Her politics could be to the right of Goering, but hey, she’s hot!
116. Jim T | 09.10.08
Obama made the lipstick comment to tarnish the new popularity of Governor Palin. And his supporters had no problem with him throwing smears like that. However, she’s strong and she already has her own sense of integrity. I feel that the mudd that he throws just falls to the ground. I’m surprised that he did it. Female voters may react negatively to it.
117. Juliette Vaucaire, Esq. | 09.10.08
Will the real Barack Hussein Obama… please stand up?
The more he talks the more we get to know the real politician. From “clinging to guns and religion” to “lipstick on a pig” through “my muslim faith” the only way to know what he really thinks and feels is by looking at these clues.
As Reverent Wright said, Obama will say what is expedient, but the real Obama is the one that comes out in his subconscious remarks.
For me as a democrat, Hillary supporter and feminist his greatest sin is putting down women and he is at it again. He passed over Hillary fro the #2 spot and that hurts inside more than anything else because most of us have been passed over many times by sexists male such as Mr. Obama. I refuse to vote for this man. Sarah is not a pig. Never another season of silence!
Juliette Vaucaire, Esq.
119. Brooks | 09.10.08
I looked up “lipstick on a pig” and it is actually a slang saying. If Obama didn’t mean it about Sarah Palin, then he shouldn’t have said it days after she said “the difference between a soccer mom and a pitbull. lipstick”. He does often misspeak. Either way it shouldn’t have been said, but even though I don’t like Obama, I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt.
120. Jonesy | 09.10.08
Check with: tinyurl.com/6sakv2
Apropos: http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=215
122. Tim | 09.10.08
McCain’s hoping to win just by calling Sexism against Palin on every issue….Any self-respecting Woman would know better then to believe the Palin hype…and this lays bare what she is there for. So McCain can take any attack and call it sexist…this is exactly what Obama wanted to expose…pure genius Obama…pure genius!
123. melody | 09.10.08
are we forgetting that Obama vetoed the bill to stop killing babies in Illinois just because they were unwanted. The babies are born and then left to die in the soiled linen room. Not to mention the fact tha while being interviewed by George stepanophalis Obama said he was a devoted muslim. them George quickly corrected him and had to remind Obama it was “christian”
Lets look at who Obama really is!!!
124. Mattie | 09.10.08
I’m not going to judge wether Obama was simply using the phrase or smearing Palin, but to me it shows poor judgement of Obama to use the phrase at all. Everyone has been talking about Palin’s lipstick comment, so any lipstick phrase used so soon after that is going to be questioned.
Think before you speak.
125. soothsayer | 09.10.08
Of course it was a thinly veiled reference to insert gender bias into the campaign, by using an established often used semi funny line. The Democrats better be careful here, this could backfire, not just from the gender bias perspective. But for the comparisons; i.e. “if you cloak a liberal with an articulate black man, seemingly immune to criticism, you still have a liberal.” - and the Rep’s could claim “they started it”
126. Opsman000 | 09.10.08
It seems to me that what you see is what you get. Are negative campaign ads a reflection of morals, ethics, or character?
127. kj | 09.10.08
Huh? Is this seriously news? I know American voters are semi-retarded, but come on.
129. Adam | 09.10.08
The Obama lipstick remark, even if he HAD been referring to Palin, is nothing compared to remarks McCain made about Hillary and Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno. They were very mean spirited, as was Ms. Palin’s acceptance speech where she denigrated Community Service. What was the theme of the GOP convention again?
130. Gob Bluth | 09.10.08
This is equivalent to Howard Dean’s scream at the Iowa caucus… this remark will haunt Obama regardless of its intent or context. What a stupid thing to say.
131. Independent George | 09.10.08
The concept of a “Truth Squad” is frightening. Whose truth anyway? When did Jane Swift become omniscient? This is a brilliant move by Steve Schmidt to turn a non-issue into headline news. He is the next Karl “Turd Blossom” Rove.
132. FlyDiesel | 09.10.08
If you watch the delivery, the hooting, guffaws and raucous applause says it all. Obama wants it both ways- to insult Palin with the crudest allowable language, and then claim he is the victim.
On the other hand, if he truly did not mean disrespect- which is highly doubtful, he is a conniving, bare-knuckle politician in the worst traditions of Chicago, but he is not stupid- he should apologize for the gaffe. Clearly, his entire audience got the punch line and made the connection. What would he say as President in, say, Riyadh? “Have you heard the one about Mohammed…”
He makes gaffe after gaffe, and the MSM watches his back. He makes W look urbane and sophisticated. At least with W, all you have to get used to is ‘nuke-you-leer’; he doesn’t insult or belittle other people, act like the second coming complete with phony presidential seal and styrofoam Greek columns at stadium events, or throw all of his primary supporters most cherished ideals under the presidential campaign bus. Just yesterday, Obama gave up on raising business taxes. I don’t see how that bus keeps rolling with all the people and ideas under it.
133. indytucker | 09.10.08
‘If the shoe fits’…’if its clucks like a duck and walks like a duck’…and now ‘like lipstick on a pig’. When did these cease to be common axioms and become seen as personal attacks? Does she own the word ‘lipstick’ now???
McCain made a grave mistake in picking a running mate who has already been made into a barbie doll. And to think, we may be on heart murmur away from her being President of this great land!!! That’s tragic!
134. Bubba | 09.10.08
The A.S.P.C.A. has filed charges against O’Bama.
They claim it is animal cruelty to compare the pigs to the G.O.P.
135. Colin Hill | 09.10.08
The amount of people in these responses that think Obama was calling Palin a pig even after reading the EXACT QUOTE is astounding! How do you people even dress yourselves in the morning? It frightens me how easily people can be lead even when there is contradictory evidence right in front of them. Unbelievable!
137. cac | 09.10.08
Pigs…Lipstick…Pitbulls… I know those are the issues that matter most to myself and other Americans in this campaign. They are way more important than healthcare, jobs, Wars, taxes and budgets. I guess his spin on Obama’s innocuous remark (clearly directed, not at Palin, but toward an actual issue), just shows that McCain really meant it when he said this campaign was going to come down to personalities, not issues. I guess when McCain heard Obama say “You can’t just make things up.” He assumed he was talking about Palin’s cosmetics. Thanks again, John, for keeping it all so real.
139. Richard Eich | 09.10.08
Maybe the McCain campaign should propose a list of words and expressions that are now off-limits for use by the Press and the Obama campaign.
If they’re successful in November, then they can move on to banning books.
140. Jason | 09.10.08
So how many people here make over 250,000 a year? If so then i could see why you would like the republicans. I grew up republican all my life until Bush. Does anyone actually understand that the republicans hate you if you make less than 250,000 a year? Basically you are nothing to them. I am voting for Obama and the cheap, weak shots that get people all fired up over a simple phrase is going to through this to the less than informed. Why can’t we just concentrate on the facts? What will the next president actually do for this country? How will they do it? And will we get back on track so that people can afford to make a living or even drive to work so they can spend more time with their family and less time on the bus. Get a grip people. A comment that is well known that is slander and comes out being sexist, are you serious? I believe in God and country and I served in Desert Storm. I believe my God, the one that cares about the poor and the sick is the one in charge. That is why I want a President that cares about the people of the US and not how much money he can make off of them. Get a clue people, read something other than your forwarded emails
141. JDW | 09.10.08
Obama’s audience thought or knew it was a reference to Palin. With all the speech codes forced on us by the left, you people should know better than anybody the use of sophistry, language reference and rhetorical tropes. Had Palin said the Obama campaign is “uppity”, you’d people sh*t yourselves. Well, his audience - HIS AUDIENCE - thought he was calling Palin a pig. Why, then, wouldn’t the McCain campaign? He called a fresh female politician a big. And if he didn’t, his audience was sure thrilled that they thought he did. I won’t even get into Obama’s next reference regarding fish. Go Barry Go.
142. msgijoe | 09.10.08
Hey!! The governor herself implied the difference between her and a pit bull was lipstick. A lot of people think a pig is a nicer animal than a pit bull.
143. gg | 09.10.08
In response to #47 Kel’s grammatical “correction”:
Obama’s “”Michelle and me” is correct because they are the object of the sentence, not the subject of the sentence.
That aside, why try to read so much into a compliment he gave to Palin?
144. Olna Reeves | 09.10.08
One more thing. Republicans have turned the race into one about personalities instead of issues.
Even so, I have very strong intuition. I knew Bush was going to be a disaster from day one. Just hearing him talk for a few weeks on TV, and I just didn’t see how it was possible, that people would want someone like that. That people could be so gullible.
Now it is worse. Palin delivers one speech, written to create an image for her, and suddenly no one even cares about McCain anymore, as if he’s not on the ticket as the President.
In 2000, I absolutely couldn’t believe it, that people were going to elect Bush as president, because Gore isn’t someone they want to have a beer with, and now it is hard to believe that anyone would continue a Republican administration for another 8 years, after this disaster. But, I guess I’m old now and can believe anything.
145. Keith | 09.10.08
Come on. The comment was directed at McCain not Palin. Move along now, nothing to see.
147. USA Embarrassment to rest of the world | 09.10.08
Our national debt is how much? 9-10 TRILLION dollars?
The budget deficeit is 400+ billion dollars?
How many thousands of troops are fighting overseas?
How many people lost their jobs in the last 8 years?
How many people don’t have healthcare in the great USA?
How about the energy crisis?
F all that. Let’s talk about lipstick and muslims and reverends and celebrities.
148. aerocaster | 09.10.08
Anyone who takes the time to read Obama’s entire comment can see the “lipstick on a pig” comment refers only to the McCain camp’s REPUBLICAN POLICIES. Nothing more.
Can I say Obama was just calling a spade a spade, or will some idiot in here say I’m being racist?
149. Ted | 09.10.08
This nonsense doesn’t even deserve a response. Why does the media fall for this ****? Oh, because it an effective GOP tactic.
The GOP and the “Big Lie” strategy:
A propaganda tactic utilized by fascist regimes of various stripes — including the Nazis, who put it to chillingly effective use during their tenure. It’s also a favorite strategy amongst Republican political strategists of the Karl Rove sort.
In a nutshell, the Big Lie involves two components: One, you tell such a whopper of a lie that it gives people pause – i.e., would/could authority figures really lie about something important like this?
Two, you repeat the lie over and over again until finally, the skeptical start believing it, and the unsuspecting simply assume it’s true because they’ve heard it so much.
150. Chris | 09.10.08
Sen. Barack Obama’s reference to “lipstick on a pig” has Republicans demanding an apology and Democrats accusing Sen. John McCain of a “pathetic attempt” to play the gender card.
McCain’s campaign said Obama’s remarks were offensive and a slap at Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin — despite the fact that the Arizona senator himself used the phrase last year to describe a policy proposal of Hillary Clinton’s.
Obama’s campaign responded by saying McCain was running a “dishonorable campaign.”
Obama made the remarks at a Virginia campaign stop late Tuesday afternoon.
“John McCain says he’s about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, ‘Watch out George Bush — except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics — we’re really going to shake things up in Washington,’” he said.
“That’s not change. That’s just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after eight years. We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUY9S6iCvk
Check out the truth about this pig above.
151. Karla | 09.10.08
It is sometimes embarrassing to be an American; times and stories like these are prime examples of the shamefully infantile behavior of our leaders, aspiring leaders, media, and citizenry. Women and children are murdered in Iraq and Afghanistan and our government dares call it “collateral damage;” our primary and secondary public education system is floundering; it is no longer directed by sound pedagogy but by impotent policy in the guise of inclusive rhetoric; the least powerful are the most neglected: our children live in abject, generational poverty; we cannot depended upon our institutions to honor the social contract between workers and employers, the tax-paying citizens and the tax-money-squandering politicians, and yet hundreds of minutes of broadcast air-time, thousands of words, and countless hours will be wasted as we debate the intentions behind a candidates use of a tired cliche. WAKE UP AMERICA!!! We’re on the precipice– we can dive headlong into the abyss, where circumstances will continue to worsen, but most of us won’t care as long as we’re entertained; or we can realistically assess our situation, forego greed for honor, disregard for responsibility, and selfishness for magnanimity, and maybe we can soar instead of sink.
152. M | 09.10.08
Obama did not call Palin a pig. This is typical GOP tactic to distract on things that are false. They can’t talk about issues so they bring up idiotic feigned indignation about something that didn’t happen. McCain used the phrase himself when he talked about Hillary’s health plan. Let us not forget the nasty comment he made about Chelsea Clinton when she was a young teen. “Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.”
– Sen. John McCain, speaking to a Republican dinner, June 1998.
This video was done by a fellow pow of McCain’s who also attended the academy with him who says McCain is not cut out to be the President of the United States. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KjsEs46C70
153. MaxMax | 09.10.08
This all prooves just how ignorant these republicans are. They believe anything. Hilarious. And I’m ok with them being stupid morons. They must have some deep seated belief that Sarah Palin really is a pig. Can they get any dumber? They didn’t even include the last line of the quote, “You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after eight years. We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”
We should round up all these brainless nitwits and ship them to Iraq.
154. Dorothy | 09.10.08
Please people!!!! Find something substantial to complain about! We are acting so shallow when we don’t speak to issues and go on about such petty irrelevant fodder.
156. Reality Check | 09.10.08
Let’s see. Democrats are suppose to be for equal rights for women and the democratic presidential candidate verbally attacks a woman. Called her a pig. The democrats question Sarah’s ability to be a mother and a VP candidate. Never hear anyone question whether Obama can be a father and a president. The Democrats are suppose to be all about protecting children yet they go after Sarah’s 17-year-old daughter. Definitely a double-standard here.
As for the hockey-mom/pit bull comparison. As a mother of two and a professional, I can totally relate. You have to be tough to handle the stress of being a mother and holding a full time job.
157. Matt | 09.10.08
This is ridiculous. Of course the remark was not intended. It’s embarrassing that the McCain campaign has no greater plan of attack than to victimize themselves by twisting Obama’s words. Pathetic. if McCain is willing to waste that much money on such an ineffective T.V. ad, how much money will he be willing to waste in the White house?
158. St. Louis | 09.10.08
Chicago Guy,
You are not fooling anyone. You were not going to vote for Obama anyway, and I am going to use an analogy directed straigt at you. “Wolf in sheep’s clothing”…well you are a republican, blinded by ignorance poorly dressed in democratic clothing.
159. Cronos | 09.10.08
Wow, way to miss the point Kel…
Obama makes a positive statement about an opponent, and it’s supposedly an insult? He’s just stating that he wouldn’t criticize a parent of 5 when he’s at his max as a parent with 2.
And it would be Michelle and Me. When it’s Me vs I, you would use the one that would be there if “Michelle and” was not in the sentence. In this case it would be “and they tire me out” not tire I out…
On topic, Obama clearly wasn’t calling Palin a pig, he was clearly stating that McCain/Palin is lipstick on Bush Policies.
Now when is Palin going to take ANY questions from the press? Obama went on the O’Reilly Factor, but Palin won’t even take a question after any personal appearances? One has to wonder why…
“47. Kel | 09.10.08
Here is what Obama had to say:
“Look, she’s new, she hasn’t been on the scene, she’s got five kids. And my hat goes off to anybody whose looking after five. I’ve got two and they tire Michelle and me out,” he said.
First of all, it’s Michelle and I and second of all, if two kids tire them out and two is too much for them, then maybe they shouldn’t be running for office. So, now he is comparing by the number of kids one family has versus another?? That’s so silly. I know families that have seven kids and have it more together and provide more structure, do more for the world than parents who have it all and only two kids. What’s he doing?”
160. Greg | 09.10.08
What Obama needs to do is call McCain out. Pull the surrogates off of the viscous cable news cycle and ask John McCain to state flat out whether he thinks he (Obama) is sexist. He needs to ask on a national scene, maybe a press conference why McCain is focusing on wedge issues and cutting off access to the press.
Or maybe he should bring back McCain’s “Hot chicks dig Obama” ad which truly was a sexist ad. Ask why John McCain thinks women are so stupid they vote not with their pocket books in these tough economic times but based on looks. American women are smarter than that. This would be a strong counter punch.
161. Bill | 09.10.08
What a crock. How is it possible that people can say Obama has lost my vote because of this. John McCain said the EXACT SAME THING about Hillary’s health plan.
Have older women in this country just gone crazy?
162. Tom J | 09.10.08
Yes, McCain used that phrase about Clinton’s health plan. Good for the goose, good for the gander. End of discussion.
McCain picked Palin in a cynical attempt to get a permanent ‘get out of jail free’ card (Monopoly allusion). They won’t even let Palin talk to journalists unless they show ‘proper respect and deference’. DEFERENCE?! When did these snarky Republicans ever show ‘deference’, let along respect, to the voters? As for how they’ve spun the facts on Obama…just check out the list on Snopes.
163. Cathy | 09.10.08
For crying out loud… Obama referenced McCain by name, and listed a slew of policy issues; clearly he wasn’t talking about Palin. It’s not his fault she proudly referred to herself as a dog with lipstick on TV last week, leaving herself wide open for people to make a connection. But it is the height of hypocrisy to suggest her political opponents can’t call her out on what she represents - the same old spin on the same old Republican lies. Obama is right, McCain is running the most cynical campaign I’ve ever seen, and after 8 years of Rove/Cheney/Bush, that is saying something! His selection of Palin is like Jefferson Davis choosing Uncle Tom as a running mate. The truth is the Repubs, including Palin, are such misogynists they think all our daughters should be fair game for any rapist who wants to become a father. Of course they complain should someone dare to criticise Palin; for them women are slotted into the classic madonna/whore construct, and Palin is The Madonna. If I hear one more time that she’s a mother, as though most women who’ve ever busted their behinds in life didn’t do it while raising children, I will vomit. Do not confuse biology with merit, folks - were she a black woman in the ‘hood with five children, these same Republicans would be telling us how lazy and unworthy of support she is. McCain continues to bring insulting ugliness to politics, apparently thinking if he says the word “change” enough people will go all wide eyed and stupid. Heck, they’re not even bothering to put lipstick on their pigs at this point!
164. Matt | 09.10.08
Obama has repeatedly gone out of his way to praise his opponents as individual, and stick to criticizing their policies. The idea that this was a deliberate personal attack seems just a bit far fetched.
And to take the McCain camp’s outraged response as anything more than a political ploy is just as bad.
166. Nick | 09.10.08
The GOP is pretty pathetic. They are either extremely underhanded and two-faced OR they are unintelligent and reactionary buffoons. Either way, they come across as unfit for office.
Are they going to cry to the “terrists” about how they aren’t playing fair? Or are they going to label anyone who questions their tactics a “terrist”?
We don’t need any more of this insanity…
167. Linda | 09.10.08
Obama should not lose sight of his goals to become President. Forget targeting Palin and keep on the issues of war, the economy, and health care.
168. Jean | 09.10.08
This is incredible. For one thing, why won’t anyone run the whole speach - everyone is just picking out what they want to play or print to make the situation look as bad as they want it to look. Obama WAS NOT directing his remark at Palin. Why was it ok for McCain to use the phrase against Hillary last year - and his WAS directed at Hillary and her health plan, but Obama can’t use it againt the Republican party as a whole. These idiots that are pointing the remark at Palin are grasping, just like McCain and his campaign are grasping. Why isn’t McCain telling us HOW he’s going to change the country; why isn’t he giving us his plan for the country? Because he doesn’t have one - it’s going to be more George Bush. The only thing he can do is slam and try to discredit Obama. He’s even stolen his “change”. You can go back to McCain’s 2000 campaign and he never used the word “Change” even then. Now he suddenly starts using it in September 2008 - because he has no original thoughts, ideas, or solutions - just more Bush. I’m an independent and McCain lost any hope of earning my vote when he started his smear campaign. Tell us what the heck you’ll do for the country McCain, and quite bashing - and lying - about the other candidate. Read this article - very good and hits on a lot of points people need to understand. http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2008/09/10/6719116-sun.html
169. Diane | 09.10.08
Can I have some substance please? This isn’t a news story. Tell me what Palin herself has to say about policy and her ideas on how to resolve our nation’s issues. Tell me Obama’s or Biden’s responses to what Palin has to say. Or to what McCain has to say.
If Palin continues to avoid the press, that’s news also. A vice presidential candidate who won’t face the press and by extension the public is a huge red flag.
Any and all juvenile bickering should be totally ignored.
Remember, very few of us will ever be in a position to invite any of these guys/gal over for dinner, or have to socialize with them in any way. Any president who can balance the budget, bring home jobs from overseas and/or create new jobs here, fix or at least markedly improve the housing crisis, honestly work toward freeing us from our dependence from oil, or otherwise improve conditions in America is a president that is doing the job s/he was hired for. These are the things we should be looking at. When the media gives credence to such ridiculous “stories” they do so at the expense of the real news.
170. A Friend | 09.10.08
Not that it matters, since this is a false debate by design. Notice how we’re not spending this time talking about the economy?
There is one group of people that should feel insulted. It’s us: the voters. We are being manipulated and distracted.
171. Ex-pat in Australia | 09.10.08
I think this entire matter is preposterous. Making this an issue, when it is clearly not one, is the definition of ’simulation politics’. People think politics is being done, when it’s really a bunch of smoke and mirrors.
I’m guessing the same people who find this affair to be significant are the ones who also made an issue out of wearing a flag pin.
And this is why American politics, from afar, still seem like a joke. Unfortunately, no one’s laughing.
172. TimH | 09.10.08
Isn’t McCain a little bit old to be hiding behind the skirts of Palin? I guess the straight talk express ran over a cliff….
173. JohnL | 09.10.08
Expect to see much more of this from the McCain campaign. Another 2 days of honest debate will be lost due to this (non)story. The goal is to get to November 4th without having to answer pertenant questions regarding policy and governance. They know their positions are unpopular, so every opportunity to waste time must be exploited. If the media really want to do the country service they will ask questions that force the candidates away from the warmed over fragments of thier acceptance speaches, which is what we have been getting.
Whomever is elected president this fall will not have a script to follow. Keep that in mind as you decide where to spend your vote.
174. J.P. | 09.10.08
I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE PIG THING. BUT IF ELECTED ( GOD HELP US) SHE WILL BE A CHENEY WITH LIPSTICK
175. Mrniceguy | 09.10.08
Because he paused for effect, I agree, there was a double meaning intended. Not sure if all the hoopla is needed over it though. Obama is a smart guy, he should have just avoided it. I’ll vote for McCain only because Obama has no experience and all the questionable ‘friends’ he has.
176. Marie Lovett | 09.10.08
I better stop using that phrase because some Repulican is going to tell me what I really meant!
WoW! This is obserd. Obama lists White House policies he feels are not going to change uses a well known pharse and it’s tied to Palin.
…ofcourse if the she fits.
177. Gus Wynn | 09.10.08
If Obama usesthe word “pig” and McCain’s surrogates cry, “hey, he’s talking about Sarah Palin!”, who is the sexist?
In case you weren’t listening closely enough the first time, I’ll repeat exactly what Obama saying: the GOP is trying to distract you with nonsense.
I’ll be voting for the candidate that will best help average Americans. Anyone want to discuss the economy, energy policy or ethics in DC?
178. Jim | 09.10.08
How can anyone possibly read this, think about it and then come up with the conclusion that Obama is unfit to lead. It’s nice to see that some people can see through the nonsense of McCain and Palin. It’s as Obama said in his acceptance speech, you make a big election about small things. They’re trying to control the debate over this nonsense so the truth can be avoided and mushed over, thanks to the sensationalist media. Every 4 years, I think to myself, “This election can’t possibly be worse than the last.” Every year, I am proven wrong. American politics is the laughing stock of the world, and rightly so.
179. Martin | 09.10.08
the comment was in bad taste. What if McCain or Palin had made a monkey reference?
180. Zoe | 09.10.08
Obama was extremely shrewd in his use of the pig/lipstick analogy. He and his audience knew exactly what he was saying (don’t forget that he followed it up with “you can wrap an OLD fish in a paper called change, and it’s still going to stink”. But he also knew that the MSM was going to give him a free pass, as they have since the very beginning, in the primaries.
But that doesn’t matter now: it’s too late for Obama’s star. Because what this proves is that he’s shaken up by Palin, and that he’s taking it all personally. He’s so shaken up, in fact, that he can’t resist being a “pig in a necktie”. Wow. If Palin upsets him this much, what’s he going to do when that phone call comes at 3am? Text Hillary?
181. MarySavoca | 09.10.08
Obama should do an add with a picture of a pig with Saras face-heavily lipsticked-caption:I did not call her a pig! Second half, JSMc drawn as lipsticked pig - caption : I called him a pig.
Mari
183. Pat | 09.10.08
Palin-McCain just lost my vote, if they can’t handle a proverbial comment from a fellow contender to the presidency, how will they be able to handle all the bad guys out there Ahmedinejad, Putin, Osama, Kim Il-Jong???? It takes more than being a hockey mom and a Gramps to lead the mightiest country on earth.
184. DS | 09.10.08
Today in America the wealthiest 1% owns more than everyone in the bottom 95% combined. Income inequality is at its greatest level since the 1920s - right before the great depression. Though the US has continued to make big gains in productivity over the last decade, nearly all of the benefit of those gains has gone to the wealthy, not the workers. American CEOs earned 411 times as much as average workers in 2005, up from 107 times in 1990. In the economic expansion of 2002-2006, the top 1% captured nearly three quarters of income growth.
http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2006prel.pdf
185. Tommy | 09.10.08
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
“Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father.” — John McCain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/sep/02/women.johnmccain
Oh and 47, You and I should discuss compound subjects and objects with pronouns sometime. It would be a hoot.
186. Franklin | 09.10.08
Phony outrage. And how about McCain claiming that Obama wants sex education for kindergardners, when in fact he really voted for a program that educates kids how to handle predators in an age-appropriate way (and can be opted out by parents anyway).
188. muffler | 09.10.08
Obama - Quote from acceptance speech 2008.
If you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things.
My comment is the expression used is older then John McCain. We have huge issue in this country that need addressing and people just want to go along with the republican slime all over again. It will be fun watching all of you arguing about this kind of stupidity on the bread lines next year.
189. C. Paulster | 09.10.08
Of course Obama meant it just as his live audience did take it… as a cheap and mean-spirited slur against Palin. (Do people react like this every time the ‘lipstick on a pig’ line is used? Of course not… it’s not inherently that funny at all.) Coming so soon after Palin’s own ‘lipstick’ remark received so much attention, it’s an obvious reference to her. Hiding behind shysterly claims of plausible deniability doesn’t change the obvious… and it sure lacks any sign of manly class, to boot. Obama seems to be increasingly aware he’s going down… just look at his nervousness in the clip. The Democrats’ various hysterical overreactions to Palin are just doing themselves more and more damage… but they’re not going to understand that until it’s too late, apparently.
190. Butlerreport.com | 09.10.08
Obama is doing all the work for the Republicans in alienating women country wide. His lack of experience is showing and I believe it will cost him dearly. Calling the potential future VP a pig? Not smart, not smart at all. Oink! Oink!
191. Ricardo | 09.10.08
Barack Obama should repeat this part of his speech every day until the end of the campaign. And once in a while, play a tape of Mclame saying the same phrase.
192. Joe | 09.10.08
It appears to me that the one thing Democrats are hiding is Nancy Pelosi and how closely her platform is reflected by the Obama campaign. Like her the only real “changes” he has proposed are HUGE spending increases into current federal social programs. That and of course his communistic ideals of redistribution of wealth. People earn their own bread and butter and another does not have the right to unilaterally take it from them.
193. garygech | 09.10.08
Obama is running for president and has many advisers. I saw him speak and did not think it was a direct reference but an indirect reference.
However, it is rather unprofessional and a poor use of words. Obama presented himself as the next JFK. Unfortunately for his followers, Obama is idealistic but far from ideal.
Obama is running into challenges where he is losing psychological energy. His campaign slogan, “Change we can believe in” was directly attacked and the attack was successful because it was based on his record that:
1. He did not stand for change during his career as a legislator.
2. We cannot necessarily believe in his changes
194. Mark McCoy | 09.10.08
Lipstick on a pig somehow differs from lipstick on a dog? Huh?
I’ve been a life-long died-in-the-wool Republican. Even if this WAS supposed to be an insult, are we really that weak that we need to cry about it?
C’mon McCain/Palin, you’d better start talking about fiscal responsibility and how you are planning to fix this budget crisis, or you are going to lose a lot of us who have ALWAYS voted Republican.
195. David in AZ | 09.10.08
It was a clear allusion to Palin (due to proximity in timing and he talked about her in the NEXT sentence).
It was designed to get the McCain camp off balance and re-take the offensive.
The charge of “phony outrage” is also pre-planned.
I’ve gone from not voting this year to donating money to the RNC. And I am not alone.
196. Robert | 09.10.08
Distractions, distractions, distractions!!! That’s really the Republicans’ game plan when they don’t have any issues on which to run. “Lipstick on a pig” is a commonly used expression, and in this case, there is no reason to believe that Obama meant it to apply to Palin. Those who see it as such are deliberately messing with our political discourse–creating controversy where there should be none. Sadly, the American people fall for this kind of trickery time and again, and so do the major media. This is a story that never should have seen the light of day.
Better to spend time uncovering the real Sarah Palin and John McCain, two pretenders. She pretends to be competent, and he pretends to be a maverick. Both are extremists, as their public statements and records clearly show. They both pretend to be opposed to special interests, when, in fact, they are reliable servants of the largest and wealthiest corporations in the land. Come on, America, wake up! You are being played for dupes again.
197. MW | 09.10.08
You’ve got to be kidding me. It is so obvious that Obama was not referring to Palin. But beyond this, does anyone really believe that if McCain had said in an off-the-cuff remark something like, “This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black” that Republicans wouldn’t defend his cliche as just a cliche? The Republicans can dish it out, but they can’t take it, even when “it” isn’t even there. In fact, I think it reveals a lot about Republican insecurities about their VP choice to respond in such an over-the-top way. Methinks they doth protest too much.
198. commecicommeca | 09.10.08
Frankly, I don’t know how anyone could possibly think that he was comparing her to a pig. She most resembles a hen, not a pig.
199. ChicagoGirl | 09.10.08
@ ChicagoGuy and anyone else who is stating this comment diminished their views on Obama - Why is it ok that GOP leaders including McCain used this same comment and it was ok for them? Please think before making such a huge decision that will impact all of our futures. If you are incapable of thinking for yourself then you really should not cast your ballot in the presidential election. You are just cancelling out votes from those of us who have enough sense to make an informed decision and not buy in to all of the BS in the media.
200. ChicagoGirl | 09.10.08
@ Martin’s comment:
the comment was in bad taste. What if McCain or Palin had made a monkey reference?
Just what is that supposed to mean?
201. lmwilker | 09.10.08
I find it amazing that the Rethugs have been throwing around allegations that Barack Obama has been playing the “race card” and the “victim card” and “race based victimization” and when Barack Obama uses a commoon term in a clever way they Rethugs howl that it’s “sexist” and that they are victims! More of the McSame rank hypocracy that we as a Nation have endured over the last 8 years and we say Enough!
202. Whitey | 09.10.08
What is the matter with you people!!! 9 Trillion dollar debt, 500 billion deficit, Economy teetering on the brink of recession, a war war that’s draining us of 10 billion a month not to mention all the lives lost and we are talking about pigs wearing lipstick?!!!
My head’s gonna explode!!!
203. Not one of the sheep | 09.10.08
Obama’s been using that phrase for the last year, way before Palin.
McCain used it just this year to describe Hilary.
Palin called herself a dog, in lipstick..everyone thought it was *cute*
Enough high school rhetoric..could the media try to address issues?
Shame on You CS Monitor.
204. jefflz | 09.10.08
McCain knows his complaints about Obama’s use of the same phrase McCain used for Hillary’s health care plan is another cynical attempt to throw sand into the eyes of the electorate. Cynical like his attempt to steal the Change theme from Obama, cynical like appointing an airhead Christian fundamentalist as VP candidate, .. where is the McCain of 2000 - a so-called man of honor and dignity? He is now a puppet of the Rove/Limbaugh clique that with Cheney controlled the Bushies. The War Hero that hides behind a woman’s skirts and throws sand in the eyes of the voters - McCain has made hollow the word Honor .
205. Ram | 09.10.08
This is pure republican strategy to get their target demographic in this case women, all upset - at all costs. I know women are more intelligent and can see through dirty politics. Let’s get to the real issues..or we’ll have four more years of a stupid president and a smart veep.
206. J Gary Fox | 09.10.08
Sorry, but the diehard Obamites on Huffington Post clearly understand that the lipstick remark was about Palin. And they are cheering for more.
Just go to the postings on Huffington and hear the acolades.
And what about the “Old”, “Stinking fish” comment? It has to be related to McCain?
“Change you can believe in?”
I dimly remember some Senator being driven from the Senate by simply complementing a 100 year old retired Senator. No, it wasn’t the statement it was all the old baggage it supposedly contained. He had to be a secret racist to make those statements. Drive him into the wilderness.
What was the name … “Lox” or “Latte”?
Princeton Junction
207. Linda | 09.10.08
Hey! I heard the video snippet and understood him to say the PIG was GWBush and 8 years of his administration. But as #184 notes Obama can never be acccused of being the sort of crude and low person McCain has shown himself to be. Remember that very crude joke McCain made about Chelsea Clinton? There isn’t enough lipstick to begin to cover the ugliness of McCain’s lips uttering that one.
208. independant | 09.10.08
Pathetic Republican Tactics…I am so sick of it!
Do they think this is what people want to see?
I am having a hard time believing woman are falling for the hype behind Palin also,Palin is no Hillary and even tho I don’t like Hillary she has my respect.
The people of Alaska are afraid to talk about Palin (according to my friend that lives there) because if she loses in Nov. they are stuck with her wrath,that will be directed toward anyone that got in her way of the Whitehouse.
I was going to vote for Ron Paul as a protest vote but after watching the disrespect at the McNasty Convention (or is that the Palin Convention?)
I am voting for OBAMA the Rethuglican’t get into office again.
*I* can’t afford them anymore!
209. Ron | 09.10.08
I’m sure this won’t be the last of these news sound bytes we love to hate.
To me, the real issue is that a political party is willingly parading Sarah back and forth in front of the opposition as some kind of bait and HOPING for something like this to happen.
Sarah should be INSULTED by the way she’s being used while her children and women everywhere look on and learn. I hope this isn’t the “strategy”.
210. EveryWord | 09.10.08
If I were Barack, I would have just stated the obvious: McCain is the “pig,” and Palin is _his_ lipstick. He has slapped her on in a desperate attempt to remake himself, but we’re smarter than that. McCain is still McCain, just increasingly more desperate, cynical, and dishonest. And we are still not hearing any plans or intent from the Republicans about the issues my family cares about most. Senator McCain has sold himself out — sold out the man he _used_ to be.
Barack should continue to take the high road, emphasizing issues, his goals and objectives, and let his staff answer the small stuff. He should not speak directly about Palin — that’s Joe Biden’s job (and Hillary’s, if she would care to come out of the wood-work.)
211. republican cutie | 09.10.08
You can put lipstick on an elephant, but it will still plop. The tax payers of this country have suffered enough under the last eight years of plop. The treasury is spent. Our heritage is spent. The military is exhausted, and it’s more of the McSame. It’s time for change, and lipstick no longer makes one iota of difference. I’m moving to the middle.
213. Pithy Opiner | 09.10.08
Oh, sure, Joe. Like a presidential candidate is actually going to call someone on the opposition ticket a “pig”. Get real. If Americans decide Obama’s remark was directed at Palin, then they are as dumb as you. I’m American, conservative Republican and voting for McCain. But, don’t lump me in with your “Americans”!! I’m better than that.
214. Amanda | 09.10.08
It’s people that switch sides over a comment like Obama’s that put people like Bush in the White House. Suck it up, Republicsns! You’re only offended because you know it’s true!
215. mark 5.56 | 09.10.08
It has every thing to do with the moment Sarah won the country over, her teleprompter glitched and she ad-libbed her famous pit bull joke
the fact Obama employed “Plausible deniability” does not make it any more disgusting, just politics as usual
when you consider Obama’s “smells like fish” comment was buttressed by the pig comment and later by the underhanded jab about Sarah’s 5 kids, one can only conclude he was making a tasteless to feminine hygiene joke that at best belongs in a high school locker room, NOT PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
216. DisFisCon | 09.10.08
There’s a lot of subtlety at work here, and to some extent this is important stuff. Whether a president is able to effectively and appropriately withstand the verbal assaults of our enemies while at the same time maintaining the dignity of the office and the credibility of our country by not dropping to the same level is pretty important.
To me what’s important is:
- Who’s slinging mud.
- Who’s refusing to sink to that level.
- Who’s unable to cope with the mudslinging on a personal level.
- Who’s able to not only cope but flourish under this pressure.
I don’t think that, in historical terms, anyone will be impressed with the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth”, or the “Pigs in Lipstick Brigade”, or whatever.
217. Doug | 09.10.08
The election should be about policies and who would do the best job for the country and the citizens. Elections always have name-throwing and mud-slinging. If you won’t vote for someone because they said such-and-such, then you are looking beyond the issues.
218. Frank | 09.10.08
C’mon Leave Pigs Alone!
Especially no lipstick!
They’re already vastly
smarter than cats & dogs.
& most Republicans.
219. tpagy | 09.10.08
Well all I can say for Mcsame or Mcbush is you better watch your back gramps because the crazy christian domionist will take you out if you get elected ey want the PENTECOSTAL WITCH to be president so get your self a good food tester because Hagee and his bunch want the wicth to be president and for those who think its wrong to call her a Pentecostal witch needs google it and trust me I know its common in the Pentecostal Church see I used to be involved in that Cult before I got out!
220. Jessica | 09.10.08
anyone who’s getting insulted by Obama’s remark is an idiot. he used an old phrase that has been said many times before, and the fact that Republicans are trying to make look Palin look like a victim after all the **** they said about Hillary playing the victim is so hypocritical.
221. Tim | 09.10.08
Sounds like he was talking about McCain to me, but I guess you could also jump to conclusions and get offended.
222. Gina | 09.10.08
Obama is worse than disingenuous, he’s a a bold face liar! Does he think Americans are that stupid? I guess he’s gotten away with lying to us so many times, with the bias left wing media looking the other way, that he thinks he can get away with anything … like, “I never heard Pastor Wright make an anti-American racist remark in TWENTY YEARS”. The democratic argument that the lipstick/pig remark was used before doesn’t hold any water, because it was used in a different context. This time it’s obviously a nasty slur directed towards Palin, in lieu of her lipstick pit bull remark. Elect McCain/Palin in November 2008.
223. Jada Pink | 09.10.08
Democrats!! Obama does not want you to make such stupid comments because he needs people like me - independent vote. He knows that you have already drunk the koolaid, therefore, you can’t turn back. He may have his base but he depends on us to win the White House. So, give it a rest!!
224. GWash | 09.10.08
As I read this, I’m sitting at my desk with a cat in my lap. If you could see that, you might not find it offensive if I said “I like a little ***** on my lap.” However, if you’re an adult, you recognize that there are two interpretations. The thing that makes Obama guilty is that he’s smart enough to know that the association with Palin was automatic after her convention speech. Otherwise, you have to believe he was too clueless to know what he was saying. You choose.
225. PalinRocks | 09.10.08
If McCain made any remark that could be misconstrued as racist, Obama’s campaign would be all over it like flys on pig ****. Obama makes a sexist joke — a ****py one at that — and says that’s not what he meant. LIAR! He is an uncouth elitist — smug, arrogant, condescending. Send him back to the projects to be community worker. He seems to be successful in duping the less fortunate — but not the intelligent American voter. McCain will win this election by a landslide.
226. Joyce | 09.10.08
Immediately after this he talks about Palin. Why did you stop the video.
Watch the whole video. He is clearly calling Palin a pig.
Just like his rap star friends writing a song, KILL BILL O’REILLY
Obama is coming unfringed.
I switched my vote to McCain
227. Ralph Dreifus | 09.10.08
John McCain and the GOP can dish it out but as soon as anyone makes a comment that might hurt their feelings in some way they whine like whipped dogs. The Palin woman has ethical issues just like John McCain. There is the issue of the Ketting five and tha massive S&L failure in the 1980’s that is tied directly back to McCain and the GOP. Today we have a bankrupt nation and a collapsing financial system thanks to the GOP. Get real and start listening to what is being said before November 2008. Do you really believe the GOPs line of ****? And that is exactly what they are feeding you
228. dotty | 09.10.08
85. kyle |
This is just silly. The real test here is how stupid the American people are. If we can’t see this is BS and completely made up then we own our own demise. Let’s talk about issues not some new form of swift boating.
****
Swiftboating?
Republicans don’t have to do that Biden is lead in taking the Democrat party back for a bid to the Whitehouse.
He called Obama out for the femicide of Hillary and other great resumes, after B.O.’s last unPresidential move. He bluntly stated Obama’s judgement is bad, and endorsed Clinton for President.
Clinton/ Biden 2008 is a vote getter.
Osama Obama never was, and will drag anyone on the ticket backwards to the level he has sunk to.
If the ticket won’t change, Dem voters will see to it that Palin breaks the glass dome, so it is a non issue in 2012.
Biden is smart enough to know when the game is over and say it. He has been around a long long long time, and can swiftboat with the best of them.
Obama was never qualified to play with the big boys and girls.
Change is to take back the Dem party from the anti-americans, a block buster event if there ever was one.
PS. Forget the idea of Obama on the ticket at all. Few women will go back to an abuser.
229. dotty | 09.10.08
Doug wrote:|
The election should be about policies and who would do the best job for the country and the citizens. Elections always have name-throwing and mud-slinging. If you won’t vote for someone because they said such-and-such, then you are looking beyond the issues
****
At the coffee shop, Clinton, Nepolitano, Sebelius, are being called Obama’s mush team of Harem Scarem.
They are playing right into the Mc Cain Palin statements about those in public office seeking to elevate themselves over the needs of the people they took an oath to serve.
Responsibility over hope.
If these women think that their leadership roles are worth risking to “hope” for an accolade in the cabinet from Obama, they should think twice about having any followers or credibility. In Arizona, for instance, a Republican woman Jan Brewer is the acting Gov. while Nepolitano slogs through the muck left from B.O.’s inexperience
Abandoning her state responsibilities to shoulder the DemiGod in his Golden sled for a magic carpet ride, is the greatest career error Janet can make. She is embarrassing women everywhere with good and qualified resumes, that cannot be considered for #1 position because of gender.
Yes, this is about the issue of character.
A President’s character doesn’t fit B.O.
231. ModDem | 09.11.08
I predict that Republicans will now say that the use of the word ‘pork’ when referring to earmarks given to Alaska under Palin’s leadership is inappropriate and possibly sexist. News at 11.
232. Jenny | 09.11.08
Wow. I can’t believe this is even a debate. Can’t anyone even see how ridiculous this is? Frankly, who gives a **** which candidate “inhaled”, who forgot to wear a flag pin, and who used the word “lipstick” after an opposing candidate used the same word in a completely unrelated comment? I think people that focus on this **** and actually form their opinions based on it are MORONS! Which, less face it, is an alarming portion of the population. What about the f-ing issues people? Use your BRAINS. Pick your candidate based on what the **** they plan to do to improve this country.
233. aidan | 09.11.08
I can hardly believe some of the comments here. how anyone could misread Obama’s remarks to mean that he referred to Palin as a “pig?” is just beyond me. Plus, some of the clearly racist comments here are appalling. To Glaora - did you even read the transcript or even watch the video? In no way was Obama referring to Palin. This is a completely fake controversy concocted by the GOP to rile up the voters and play the gender card. and certainly to keep everyone from talking about the real issues. I’m just amazed that readers can’t see through the fog of manipulation - we’re facing the potential meltdown of the financial system. You need to start paying attention. Please get a hold of yourselves. And to vote for Palin just because she’s a woman is even more astonishing, knee-jerk and irrational. it’s pointless to have a woman in office if her policies are anti-feminist. her views on the environment, global warming, and a woman’s right to choose - are extremist.
234. Joelle | 09.11.08
I tried to read all the comments and was gratified that 1/32nd actually read/heard the speech.
Let’s admit it — all of us…. we are mad because we hear from both sides of the media the short infuriating tidbits that have nothing to do with what our hearts cry out to hear. Issues, whole sentences, complete speeches and my own particular beef: print headlines that misstate their own stories:
Obama “admits” — connotative word — surge was right” Listen to the interview and he says nothing of the sort except that better conditions were already in place and the surge didn’t screw it up (my words).
235. Sir Loin of Beef | 09.11.08
I aree with aiden (233). Are some of you people brain-dead? Was McCain calling Hillary a “pig” when he used the lipsick/pig idiom in referrence to her healthcare plan in the 90’s? Obama was talking about McCain’s education policies when he used the dreaded phrase, and I suspect Palin has nothing whatsoever to do with this part of the McCain platform, and probably has no idea what is in it.
Obama clearly did not smear Palin as a “pig” - but I will. She’s a crony-capitalist, theocratic PIG, just like her dottering **** McCain, and the people who echo this invented outrage are the pack of little piglets that fight each other through the feces to root at their swollen teats.
The McCain campaign is mollifying stupid Americans with jingoistic and libertarian imagery and holding back on the real policy; which will be to continue the cut-rate yard-sale of our common institutions to their corporate cronies.
236. Jeremiah Johnson | 09.11.08
Poor John McCain.
He and his people just don’t get it
You can take a donkey …
Dress it up in Top Hat and Tails …
Teach it the Texas-Two-Step …
But at the end of the day …
He’s still a Jack-***
237. cokids | 09.11.08
I think the best comment about this I’ve heard was Chris Matthews last night on MSNBC. He said something like, in 30 years when we are flooded by coastal waters, the heartland is scorched by heat where nothing will grow, and climate craziness is accepted; what will people then think of this flap over lipstick?
When there are REAL, pressing issues to worry about why are we wasting time on lipstick? Because it distracts people from the more important issues that McCain /Palin would look pretty weak with. That’s why! So vote Republican, if you are self-destructive; otherwise, you’ll know where your vote belongs!!
238. Sparkles | 09.11.08
I’d like to hear what the pigs, have to say about this.
Palin ain’t taking this bacon home.
Pigs, have their pride you know
239. Jenny-From-The-Block | 09.11.08
McCain camp is - going after Obama hard - on the remotest drop of a dime sound - they’re in there - McCain isn’t saying much - I’ll Fix Washington blah, blah, blah - but he is managing to grab a lot of the attention - it’s 60 days they know they don’t have much time - they’ll accuse Obama of anything.
Weird - makes CSM sound perhaps a little weird - who has it 100% right?
Obama needs to attack McCain – where are the Palin interviews / the one’s that will show more than her personality.
Palins got a great smile - but personally I think church and state should be separated.
240. rj | 09.11.08
What a phony, wag-the-tail diversion the “lipstick controversy” is. McCain must think we’re idiots to not realize that videos of him using the same expression — targeting Hilary Clinton, no less — would eventually surface:
McCain’s LipShtick:
241. Emanuel McCray | 09.11.08
In order to understand Obama’s jab, the entire context of his speech must be considered and the video viewed. Directly before he put lipstick on a pig he put his hand on his forehead and let the hate-filled comment rip. He truly called her a person he was digusted with. He chose the lipsticked pig so he could disclaim intent (plausible denial) by suggesting everyone uses the phrase. But what about the fish comment? Again, we must remember his background. Hate permeates the left side of politics. I have a saying: evil is good’s only other side; and Good is evil’s only other side. A good man would have never made the comment. Experience is the other side of inexperience. Obama is extremely smart. And on the other hand, a good political handler would have advised him to make the rude comment as a means to energize both bases and cause those on the fence to stay there just a little while longer. This was the advice given to him. He intentionally called Sarah a pig. Plain and simple. He knew he could get away with it with his party. That’s my First Amendment opinion. What’s yours? Emanuel @http://www.emccray.com
242. Lori | 09.12.08
Forget about all this: I invite everyone to read these two articles to know the truth about the Republican Party: If you love America and care for Americans do not vote Republican. http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/090508.html
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/082908.html
243. Erik | 09.12.08
This is all **** and a waste of time. Go vote for a 3rd party candidate. Many of them agree on the same issues that really need attention.
In fact, through Ron Paul’s coordination, several 3rd party candidates met together to promote discussion on four big issues America faces, none of which Obama/McCain are really talking about. You can read about it on Ron Paul’s “campaign for liberty” website.
I’m convinced that voting for the lesser of two evils will only give us more of the same every four years (more gov spending, more world entanglements, more restrictions on our liberties, more printing money from thin air). It’s as simple as voting for people we want.
244. Mark | 09.12.08
Any day now the Dem party will actually read George Lakoff’s book on how to FRAME issues. If they don’t learn how to steal the frame from the Rethuglicans they’ll never win any issues. It’s all about the frame and all about the meme. The Rethuglicans learned long ago how to do this. The Dems would do well to learn the same.
245. Anish | 09.13.08
Kel said
“Here is what Obama had to say:
“Look, she’s new, she hasn’t been on the scene, she’s got five kids. And my hat goes off to anybody whose looking after five. I’ve got two and they tire Michelle and me out,” he said.
First of all, it’s Michelle and I”
I say, learn some basic grammar
Do you say “I’ve got two kids and they tire I out”?
No, you petty loser, you say “I’ve got two kids and they tire ME out, as me is the subject and is assigned accusative case.
But I guess you ARE the type that will fall for this sewage the McCain camp is spewing in any case.
247. Dustin | 09.16.08
Are we really so stupid as a nation that we don’t understand METAPHOR? This was not name calling. A metaphor is a comparison. Here the pig represents George Bush’s policies, and the lipstick represents the way the McCain campaign has attempted to mask these same policies and present them as something new. Is the McCain campaign really so dense they don’t understand metaphor? Or do they just think you are?
248. Howard | 09.19.08
OBAMA = BETRAYAL
Obama supporters are foolish to think that he will never betray them.
Obama was a close friend of Pastor Wright for TWENTY YEARS.
Obama threw Wright under the bus for personal ambition.
McCain would not betray his country even after 5 years of torture.
You can put lipstick on a traitor, but he’s still a traitor.
249. jenny | 09.20.08
I cant believe mccain is making a big deal out of this, if you have a brain you know that Obama wasnt talking about poor Sarah, he was talking about McCain and what he was trying to say is that McCain can talk like he is going to change but he will still be the same. McCain has done nothing to back up what he says he is going to do and all he is worried about is attacking Obama for using a phrase that he has also used. I am a mother and i took offense to when palin compared hockey moms to a pitbull. Sorry but i am not a dog and also everybody knows that a female dog is called a “bitch”. I think she is a cruel person for killing animals for fun. If McCain becomes president it is going to be the same as it has been for the past eight years…is anybody better off now then they were eight years ago. I know people who have to choose between putting gas in their vehicle to go to work , or putting groceries in the house, thats sad, what is happening to America is sad and yes we NEED a change!!
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Joe G | 09.10.08
America will decide if Obamas remarks were towards the VP Nominee Palin. America can see right through the sly remarks by most in politics and Obama is no exception. He is on the defense since Palin was chosen by McCain and his remarks and supporters remarks are a sign of that. Politics as usual by a Candidate that is losing ground fast.