I'm sure everyone's heard by now about the McCain side calling foul over Obama's use of the "lipstick on a pig" phrase. To place it in context, Obama was asked about his policy vs McCain's and he responded that McCain's was not any change, that it was the same ole' same ole. That's when he went on to say that “That’s just calling something the same thing, something different," and "But you know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You can you can, wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after 8 years," he continued with "We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”
McCain-Palin spokesperson, Maria Comella, said in a statement "Barack Obama’s comments today are offensive and disgraceful. He owes Governor Palin an apology."
Personally, I'm outraged at their outrage. I recall when Hillary Clinton proposed her health care reform plan, it was John McCain who used the exact same phrase, to quote him, he said "I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." And no one heard Hillary demanding an apology for being called a pig. Why? Because she wasn't called a pig! She was smart enough to know that it was a jab at her policy, not her. She knew that he was saying her policy was no different than the current, which is debatable, but still... And last year, when John McCain was quoted as saying "It's all about withdrawal or not withdrawal, okay? I mean that's what it's all about. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." – John McCain, 2007...He was never called insensitive or offensive.
And again,in 2007, he showed he is no stranger to the use of this common phrase when he said "It gets down to whether you support what's being done in this new strategy or you don't. You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig in my view." – John McCain, 2007.
Even the Cheneys get in on the action of prettying up the pigs in their parts.
Dick, in 2004, said this of John Kerry, "Or as we say out in our home state of Wyoming, you can put all the lipstick you want on a pig, but it's still a pig." – Dick Cheney, 2004.
And not to be left out, Lynne Cheney got in on the piggy-prettying party in 2004 when she said "John Kerry tries to put a bunch of fancy, fancy talk...but there is nothing you can do to really -- to really obscure that record. You can try, though. And in Wyoming, we've got a saying for what it is when you keep trying to make something that's not so good look good, we call it putting lipstick on a pig." – Lynne Cheney, 2004.
Listen, all I'm saying here is all this talk about the stupid pig comment is silly nonsense. It's smoke and mirrors to distract people from the real issues. The real issues that Obama was trying to talk about in the first place. Health care. Employment. The wars. The economy. Education. It seems like Idiocracy is coming to America, and I thought that was just a bad social commentary. See, as long as people use this knee jerk reaction rather than stopping to pay attention to the full picture, the truth becomes occluded. We have to think, pay attention, educate ourselves, and not blindly trust what our corporate employers, news media, and politicians tell us. We have to take the time to understand the issues at hand, and where each candidate stands on those issues. Only then can we make an informed decision. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to see the debates.
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