Was 'lipstick on a pig' offensive?

Mike Huckabee doesn't think Barack Obama was talking about Sarah Palin, and John McCain has used the same term in talking about a Hillary Clinton proposal. Still, Republicans are doing what they can to fan the flames:

State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff: "Regardless of Senator Obama's intentions, his comments were sloppy, inappropriate and indicative of someone running scared. His campaign has been unable to combat the excitement and enthusiasm generated by Governor Palin's nomination, and his only response thus far has been personal attacks. This seems to be a pattern with Senator Obama. He has trouble admitting when he has made a mistake; he did it with the surge in Iraq as well. I would ask that Senator Obama apologize and move on. This campaign should be about ideas and America's future, not personal attacks."

Orange County Commissioner Mildred Fernandez: "This latest remark follows a string of snide, demeaning comments from the Obama campaign. This line of attack is disgraceful and should be offensive to every American woman, regardless of her political views. Governor Palin deserves the same respect that any man in this race would be given, and she is certainly owed an apology by Senator Obama."

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Comments

[Oinkfest]

Cool out, Mildred and Ellyn.

I'm sure the McCain didn't mean to call Hillary a pig...

Oh. Wait. You meant Obama?

Hm.

Hey, Ellyn and Mildred: quit hiding behind pretend "controversy" and talk about the issues McCain and Palin stand for... unless, of course, they and you are on the wrong side. In which case you'll want to go with your current line of attack.

[The Rock]

Even if Obama did not intend the remark as a slur on Palin, his audience seems to have interpreted it as such. The Great & Mighty Obama is alleged to be a master of oratory but to seem him stumbling and fumbling and using these crude phrases, whatever their intent, sure takes the polish off that prize. If Obama can't elevate with his language, what's he got? He surely can't run on his record of executive experience or legislative accomplishment.

Why does Palin continue to lie and hide behind her lies by avoiding interviews. These boldface lies are amazing. They should nickname her the "lieing VP".

--McCain and Palin's attack on earmarks in the face of those she has requested joins other statements by the vice presidential nominee that have been widely debunked:

_Palin routinely claims to have put an end to Alaska's infamous "bridge to nowhere," even though she supported the project during her gubernatorial campaign and turned against it only when it became a national embarrassment and Congress threatened to cut its funding.

_Palin has claimed that she put the governor's jet on the Internet auction site eBay, and McCain has said it was sold at a profit. However, the jet was never sold via eBay.

_Palin says she eliminated the governor's chef from the state budget, yet she gave the person another job in state government.

Is there no end to the Palin lies and republican hypocrisy. Do they think voters are stupid?. How can Palin make such bold-faced LIES?

McCain and Palin castigate the earmarks she seeks
By JENNIFER LOVEN,
Associated Press
September 10, 2008

FAIRFAX, Va. - Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, equated lawmakers' requests for funding for special projects with corruption on Wednesday even though Palin herself has requested nearly $200 million in so-called "earmarks" this year.

Campaigning in Virginia, McCain suggested earmarks are particularly shameful at a time when families are struggling with rising food, gas and home mortgage costs. He vowed again to veto any bill that contains such funding.

"I got an old ink pen, my friends, and the first pork barrel-laden earmark, big-spending bill that comes across my desk, I will veto it. You will know their names. I will make them famous and we'll stop this corruption," McCain said during a rally at a park in suburban Washington, D.C.

Palin has sought $197 million worth of earmarks for 2009, down about 25 percent from the $256 million she sought in the 2008 budget year. As mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, she hired a lobbyist to seek federal money for special projects. Wasilla obtained 14 earmarks, totaling $27 million, between 2000-2003, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

[HussainObama]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7600670.stm

Withall the lies and hiding form the media the McCain campaign and Palin is making and the hiding out from the media Americans it is not surprising that this camapign by lies is the new strategy. Americans shouldbe outraged and the media should start calling thes lie out loudly!!. McCain himself has made the same comments speaking about Hillary Clinton on heath care. The McCain campain slogan "lies, Lies and more Lies"

Obama accuses McCain campaign of 'lies'
McCain camp:

Associated Press
September 10, 2008

updated 2 hours, 5 minutes ago
NORFOLK, Va. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday accused Republican John McCain's campaign of using "lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics" in claiming he used a sexist comment against vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Calling it "the latest made-up controversy by the John McCain campaign," Obama responded to the Republicans' charge that he was referring to Palin when he used the phrase "lipstick on a pig" at a campaign stop Tuesday.

"I don't care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics. Enough is enough," he said.

Obama's reference was to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an outside group that in 2004 made unsubstantiated allegations about Democratic nominee John Kerry's decorated military record in Vietnam.

In his initial comments Tuesday, Obama was delivering a dissertation about McCain and President Bush when he used the lipstick aphorism — not Palin. In fact, his reference to the Alaska governor later on was a defense of her strong belief in religion.

The lipstick maxim is hardly new to either Obama or McCain. The Democrat has used it in the past, and McCain repeated the folksy metaphor when he criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on health care. McCain was never accused of being sexist when he uttered those words.

[The Guy]

Oh COME ON.

Even McCain's surrogates are admitting that they're just playing politics with this phony outrage:

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/09/annnnnnd_scene.html

It IS offensive when Obama says it, but not when McCain says it. When Sen. McCain didn't object to a woman who called Hillary the B-word in asking him a question, that wasn't sexism. There was nothing wrong with that because, well, John McCain was involved. Glad I could clear this up for everyone.

Obama has also defended Palin against attacks on her family.

[From the Balcony]

Anything to divert people from the real issues of the campaign because they know
that's where they lose.

Spin, disingenuous reinvention, personality politics, historical revisionism, anything but the
issues, ANYTHING BUT THE TRUTH!

If any of you Obamites check the record, according to emails traced to the Obama campaign office Obama's statement was premeditated and intentional. As evidence, all you have to do is to watch the video and observe the crowd's reaction before he even completed the sentence. He knew exactly what he was doing. Just listen to the lyrics of his fellow rappers and you will quickly see their attitude about women.

TO: McCain Campaign and VP Sara Palin:

Your contined lies will not be tolerated. You have lost votes based on these many deceptions to the American people and contnue to lose votes that will cost you the election.

P.S. Media outlest, it is your job to make sure the truth is being told to Americans, PLEASE DO YOUR JOB and bring the lies of ANY candidate to light. Lies by a candiadte for president is an affront to our American democracy and what our country is founded on. They must not be allowed!

Signed
The American People

---McCain repeated the folksy metaphor when he criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on health care. McCain was never accused of being sexist when he uttered those words.

---McCain repeated the folksy metaphor when he criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on health care ... Oh God help me I've got obsessive compulsive disorder!

[Mencken Jr]

"Lipstick on a pig" is older than my grandfather and means "trying to make something ugly look good". The only people who misinterpreted it are the McCain lackeys who could misinterpret the Sermon on the Mount if they needed to.

[Will]

McCain was talking about the health care plan itself, saying the plan was a pig with lipstick.

obama was talking about mccain and palin themselves, saying they are appearing that they will be for change, but they arent.

One was aimed at a plan, the other was aimed at people. Got it, good.

Economy in free fall. Russia aggressively expansionist. Iran assembling nuclear components.

Let's spend at least two more days debating lipstick on a pig.

[Will]

For the record, i was not offended by the comment, but thought it was funny.

My wife, however, who is not into politics at all, told me she thought it was offensive.

Given that Governor Palin’s lipstick on a pit bull remark drew so much attention, it’s disingenuous to think audiences would not make the association when Senator Obama made that similar remark. And even if his intent was not to slur Palin, Obama’s delivery and word choice was crude, and rather fumbling. His candidacy thus far has been based on his soaring oratory, his ability to inspire mass audiences with his speeches. What’s soaring in these lame remarks? He came off like a bit of an amateur. Sans oratory, what is Obama going to run on? His executive experience and legislative achievements? His voting present so many times in the Illinois state legislature, or his singular lack of published papers and articulated postions during his tenure as a law prof?

[Donald Lance]

What;s offensive is that Barry knows better than to utter that phrase a mere 12 days after Palin used it in a joke. Then the media points it out to make some to-do about nothing to avoid the issues that really trouble America. What's worse is then Barry talks down to the Americans like we are the stupid ones who don't understand. Sorry Barry, but your gas tank says "E". Keep talking and the polls will continue their current trend.

[Will]

Lance, maybe i dont frequent this blog enough, but is Barry Barack???

To: Donald Lance

Why dont you show a presidential candidate the resepct he has earned by referencing by his first name or are you of the mindset that you will "put the uppity n*&%^er that dares to run for president in his proper place by deaming him". Thats the racist view your continued disrespect conveys. It makes you sound very small minded and unamerican. No one referrs to John McCain as "Johny" to try to demean him.

[The Rock]

Oh come on. References to McSame and McAinus and Johnny this and that are all over this blog as well as slurs about McCain's age, senility and continence.

Obama knew darned well what he was doing. He heard the audience reaction before the words left his mouth. Any other intrepretation is simply ludicrous.

[Ignatius]

I would say that in a vacuum, no.

But we're dealing with a fishbowl here not a vacuum.

It's as difficult to say something is unequivocally offensive as it is to say it's not offensive. What offends some people may not offend others. To the people it offends, it's offensive. To those who aren't offended, then it's not offensive.

In the corporate world, we're taught that if a statement offends 1 person that hears it then it is indeed offensive (and we will more than likely get sued). Either way, the guy's running for President and should have chosen his words more carefully.

So let's show respect and let's please address him by his full name: Barack Hussein Obama.

It seems to be a general Democratic party problem. Fowler said that Palin's only qualification was that she didn't have an abortion. I suppose by that analysis the only qualification Obama has for office is that HIS MOTHER didn't have an abortion.

It seems the Chris Matthews types run the Democratic party.

If Obama gets totally freaked out and can't handle a "hockey mom", how can we expect him to deal with Ahmadinejad, Chavez and Putin?

Remember Macaca? Remember Bill Clinton playing the race card? You reap what you sow. Enjoy your turn twisting in the wind.

[Donald Lance]

What's REALLY funny to me is that these Barry-moths accuse me of being racist because I call "The Big O (that's zero-not an 'O') Barry. They all know everything about their chosen one except the fact that was what he called himself in high-school. It's in the yearbook if you don't believe me. Check it out, get educated on the term "racist", and actually try to rebuttal me on something. The uneducated youth in this country are truly depressing.

To be sung to the tune of M-O-T-H-E-R in honor of Sarah Palin:

B is for the Black race card that he is playing,
A is for Ayers, he knows so well,
R is for the Radicals he hangs with,
A is for the Arrogance, the swell,
C is for his commie leanings,
K is for the Kenya in his blood,
O is for his Obtuse preaching,
B is for Biden that he loves,
A is for the anti-American he is spewing,
M is for his Muslim kneel and pray
A is for his Attack on Sarah Palin,
Let’s hope that she will rule the day,
Put them all together, and they spell Barack Obama,
And let’s hope the country never goes that way.

Hey,what was the name of that guy who is Obama's running mate? You know, the huffy guy with a hair transplant. His name is Bumkiss or something like that.

Obama/Biden 2008.

Empty Suit / Phony Hair

Biden has more cosmetic hair, face and tooth surgery than Michael Jackson. I understand he uses the same Doc as John Kerry to shoot up on botox. Biden is just as phony on the outside as he is on the inside.

Didn't both tickets pledge not to campaign on 9/11? So how is it that Palin gets her media unveiling on 9/11 with Charlie Gibson? Do you think she will fail to remind viewers of the date? Why has no one appeared to notice this?

5:47 is correct. Senator McCain said the same thing. Where was the out rage?

It would be an insult if he said it about an ugly woman, or if he said it as a muslim.

No. He said it the same way McCain said it about Hillary. However, my opinon is a pig is a pig, even when she has speech writers helping her. She may have charisma, but that speech was written for her with the sound bites that wooed the hungry crowd. She is for imposing her religious beliefs on all of us, she and McCain will be appointing two Supreme Court Judges to help impose the extreme religious rights agenda on us. They will circumvent the Constitution. She is constantly sorrounded by dead animals. I have no problem with real hunting, but to shoot animals from an airplane or helicopter is pure cowardess. She is also a hypocrite. Flip flops more the Kerry did. She has been re made and they are trying hard to continue to fabricate her real self and create someone that she is not. She may very well be a pig in lipstick. The Constitution protects my opinion and right to express that.

Donald Lance

It clearly insinuates a bigotted tone to call a presidnetial candidate by a "familail" name by those who know him when you are neither a long term family friend, long tern acquaintance or direct family. You don't personally know senator Barack Obama from High School. His name is "Barack Obama", he is a US Senator. Use it!!!No one refers to John McCain as "Johnny". This is America and we are better than that and continue to try to be even better.

Muslims are afraid of dogs, especially lipstick wearing pit bulls.

And the Constitution also protects my right to say 6:46 is an imbecile. And you don't even have lipstick.

[Steely Dan]

A tempest in a teapot by a party that is so devoid of ideas that it always has to resort to mock outrage and sideshow issues.

Besides, Obama is a refined and educated man so the technical term would have been SOW were he referring to the new American Idol Shrill Sarah.

All of the knuckledraggers who rage against intellectualism and have done so since Richard M. Nixon perfected the dark art are once again being played for reliable chumps while their jobs are offshored, their kids go to bed cold and hungry and their homes become unaffordable.

This is such trivial swill that it is an insult to the intelligence of most Americans to even get sucked into it.

It clearly insinuates a bigotted tone to call a presidnetial candidate by a "familail" name

Honest Abe. I like Ike. Teddy. Bubba. Jimmy. Tricky Dick. John. Bobby. Come Clean with Gene. LBJ. Give 'Em Hell Harry.

[Steely Dan]

To 6:50 pm - unnamed GOP operative

"Muslims are afraid of dogs, especially lipstick wearing pit bulls."

More of the same racist demagoguery that insults Muslims as a whole to promote a stereotype that is used to scare the living hell out of the rubes.

Vintage Nixon, Atwater and Rove

Come on people, quit falling for this lame garbage.

I, at one time really had a great deal of respect and support for McCain. I have changed my mind since he changed who he was to what he is now. I thought I could count on him. I supported him when his own party, treated him like c r a p. I can no longer support him since he caved to those who hated him and the extreme religious right. He had the great chance to pick a Republican female running mate who did not just give good catch phrases that have been written for her. There are so many Republican women who have worked so hard for this party that reflect what McCain used to stand for and have far more experience. Picking Palin is truly an insult to Republican women like me. The media refuses to talk to the pro-choice Republican women and men (not party workers or Kool aid drinking elected officials). They just report what the right wing Republican women are saying and the Republican party workers. Start showing all the other Republicans and their response to Palin. The media needs to investigate how many Republicans have switched to independents since Palin has been picked. I think its very telling of how Republicans like me feel.

Oh just great. You guys go and ask a ethically challenged Bogdanoff to respond. You did not think she would be partisan? We, in Tallahassee know her intimate involvement in some very slimy things.

It was not offensive. It was not funny. The McCain policies for the war, the economy and for our energy crisis are the same as George Bush. Those policies are wrong. We need to change the direction of this country before certain people destroy it. Our Constituion and our ability to out think and out produce the world have made us great. Fear, divisiveness and torture should be left to despots and not the leadership of the greatest country on Earth. I will not vote for McCain and then wonder why things are the same as the last 8 years.

[From the Balcony]

I suppose if Obama had said "that dog
won't hunt" you'd be accusing him of calling Palin a dog. The McCain Campaign
appears to be making it up as they go.

GET REAL!

[Bucky Barnes]

Alas John McCain the "straight shootin maverick" has never been the same since he was neutered by a vicious Karl Rove orchestrated sleaze campaign that invoked the worst sort of racism and innuendo in 2000 in South Carolina.

The man has never been the same, the VC had to beat on him to break him to make those propaganda videos which is sad considering how cheaply he sold out to Rove and the Dobson wing ever since.

The biggest lie of them all (outside of Palin as a legitimate leader and not just a celebrity distraction) is that the John McCain of 2008 is 1/10 of the man he was before he sold his soul to Karl Rove and the Bushreich.

And he is selling the country out for chump change with this disingenuous crap campaign which does NOTHING to address the issues that affect us all.

Pathetic but rest assured that we as a country will forever be immortalized in history as an example of what NOT to be as a result of this election if the GOP poison bait is taken once again at the expense of American ideals.

I am no Obama supporter but at least the 'change' which he claims to represent is a change for the better and not the worst which an extension of the ruinous Bush policies will surely bring to us all like a biblical plague.

HAD ENOUGH or is more suffering needed to get the point that the Karl Rove GOP is a criminal organization that were it not for the spinelessness of the Pelosi-Reid Vichy Democrat class of 06 would have been broken up under the RICO statutes.

Just my two cents and I will be amazed if this comment isn't censored because the illusion of legitimacy for a rigged game is what is truly being sold this November.

Bogdanoff on the truth squad. I am still trying to decipher the doublespeak that she offered during the 2007 regular session on property tax reform. Her "truth" on Marco's tax plan at the time (that was about 10 endorsed plans ago) was so distorted as to suggest intentional lies.