US Features
Pigs, lipstick and smears in the 2008 election (News Feature)
By Chris Cermak Sep 11, 2008, 2:09 GMT
Washington - Depending on your political persuasion, Barack Obama either made an innocent remark or a sexist slur when he referred to John McCain's message of change as putting 'lipstick on a pig' during a US election rally.
The campaign of Republican nominee McCain slammed the comment - a common expression in the United States - as clearly directed at his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. A web advertisement released Wednesday charged Obama with using a demeaning smear.
'Ready to lead? No. Ready to smear? Yes,' the McCain ad said of his Democratic rival for the White House.
It was the latest accusation of sexism in the hotly-fought election campaign and dominated a cycle of US media coverage since Tuesday evening.
Obama on Wednesday said he meant nothing by it and derided the reaction as 'phony outrage.'
Palin is bidding to become the first female vice president in US history, and the complaints rang similar to those made by supporters of Hillary Clinton's failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year.
The latest uproar began Tuesday, when Obama said that McCain's vow to bring change to Washington were hollow due to the Arizona senator's support of unpopular President George W Bush's economic and foreign policy.
'That's not change. That's just calling ... the same thing something different,' Obama said at a southern Virginia rally. '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. It's still gonna stink.'
There was no specific reference to Palin, but his remarks came one week after the obscure governor's introduction to the nation in a landmark speech accepting the Republican nomination, calling herself an ice hockey mom. One of her most memorable lines in that address: 'They say the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull: lipstick.'
Jane Swift, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, said that Obama owed Palin an apology, in the first conference call of the 'Palin Truth Squad,' a new network created by McCain's camp to push back against 'internet and liberal smears' since Palin was tapped as vice president in late August.
The network mirrors Obama's own 'truth squad,' set up earlier this year to counter false internet rumours, including that Obama, who is vying to become the first African-American president, is of the Muslim faith.
The 'lipstick' flap had Obama's camp in full damage control. The campaign e-mailed reporters a series of video clips and quotes of McCain and other Republicans using the same 'lipstick on a pig' expression in other contexts over the last two years. McCain used it earlier this year in reference to Clinton's health care plan.
Conservative and leftwing news commentators traded barbs over Obama's intentions.
Sean Hannity of Fox News called it part of a deliberate 'strategy' to demean Palin. Mark Halperin of Time magazine declared Tuesday one of the 'lowest' days for media coverage in the 2008 election.
At a McCain-Palin rally Wednesday in Virginia, some supporters held up 'read my lipstick' signs. A woman who introduced the candidates chided Obama: 'calling girls names is something you do in fifth grade, and I don't want a fifth grader running the country.'
Obama on Wednesday blasted the McCain camp for 'the latest made-up controversy' that distracted from important issues in the US election campaign.
'It would be funny, except of course the news media decided that was the main story yesterday,' Obama said ahead of a discussion on education in Norfolk, Virginia. 'The McCain campaign would rather have the story about phony and foolish diversions than about the future.'
COMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in US
- 1. Mitt Romney Addresses Tea Party Summit Pictures
- 2. Seven injured as US Navy plane crashes into apartments
- 3. At least three injured in US Navy plane crash
- 4. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, others to face death penalty trial
- 5. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, four others to face death penalty trial
Older Talkback
page: 1
The DNC sent investigators to Hanoi to dig up dirt about McCain from the people who were kicking his teeth in during the war. The Obama campaign sent a team of 30 lawyers and investigators to Alaska to dig up dirt on Palin. They have attacked her children, including the newborn:
downspalin.blogspot.com
The DNC official in South Carolina stated yesterday that McCain had selected a running mate “whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasn’t had an abortion.” There have been accusations that Palin has faked her pregnancy to cover for her daughter, censored books, fired troopers and taught creationism, all of which have been proven to be outright lies.
If they are this viscous, small and proven liars, can they be trusted with running the country? So far the Obama campaign has proven themselves to be bigger liars, bigger thugs and MORE paranoid then the Nixon campaign.
FREE HAWAII.
Native Polynesians for an independent Hawaii. We demand immediate withdrawal of all US occupation forces from the Hawaiian Kingdom.
I have entered this comment here to catch a current feature and will paste it in others if need be. I hope SP4 reads it.
I read time and again criticism of SP4. This just displays the ignorance of many otherwise good Americans who simply have not the intellectual capacity to appreciate what the man says.
I have poked SP4 a few times and apart from the occasional **** he has been impeccable in his responses.
EVERYTHING SP4 says is explicit and well put. If you just have a fetish to knock the intelligentsia of this world, then I suggest you find something more in your line and go play with your Teddy Bears and yummy-dummies.
SP4 is out of your class, don`t play with the big boys if you have`nt got the balls to do it. Just demonstrates your ignorance.
Couldn't agree more.
You are so full of sh*t that you have to be SP4 tooting his own horn. EssPee is a brain addled drug addict. And Kathy, the homecoming queen, is another of his sock puppets.
If SP is such a genius why is he wasting so much time on this site calling people names, belittling and commenting on everything and everyone, obcessed with the 'F' word, and all the time patting himself on the back? There is a more diplomatic/intelligent way to go about voicing your opposition to a comment than the way this individual does, which turns people off and questions his so-called 'intelligence'!! He is an expert on everything - just ask him!
(regarding the angry political division in the US)
'There's no division within the US. It's only a fabrication reported in the biased media'
SP4s comment was so stupid, it was beyond dumb.
Anyone else out there think there's no angry political division in the US?
SP4 a Genius?
Well, who ever said that has shown us they're not one.
You quote a saying from 'The DNC official in South Carolina'
Hey Bubba ... did you notice that it wasn't Obama or Biden or anyone from their campaign who said that?
Here you are blaming Obama for what another person said?
Ridiculous and shameful.
What a stretch in your effort to smear by association. ... YOU are the worst.
Re: your ' 30 lawyers ' sent to Alaska by Obama remark.
It's a lie that has been refuted.
But You like telling lies ... so you keep posting it anyway ... regardless of the truth.
Don't you think it'd be kinda hard to hide 30 lawyers running around asking a bunch of questions in a small Alaska town?
Ge'ez ... you guys have no shame on how low you'll go.
... 'Mission Accomplished' a bit prematurely.
We know Palin can deliver one-line jokes to endear her audience.
But we've yet to see how she's gonna do in the big leagues of a national election, with critical national and world issues.
Right now her supporters are all giddy with joy because she has, for the moment at least, given new life to a failing McCain campaign.
But it's gonna take a lot more than an ability to tell a joke to sustain it through to the general election.
Eventually - soon I hope - we'll stop talking about lipstick and start talking about the real and important things facing our nation.
And those voter concerns that McCain was trailing in prior to her selection, (his attachment to Bush's polcies, the wars, the economy, etc) will be the major topics of discussion again very soon.
Personally, I think the initial Palin spark will rapidly diminish.
Regardless ... The 'Bush+McCain liability' hasn't gone away with her arrival ... They're still gonna have to overcome the dark and unpopular Bush shadow before the election.
And McCain has too much of Bush's lipstick on him to be able to do that, no matter who his running mate is.
..never wrote anything on this article, until now.
Palin is doing exactly what they wanted her to do.
He says 'I never wrote anything on this article, until now.'
Same article headline ... the thread being split to this new one.
monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/features/article_1430020.php?compage=10 &comcount=11&comlimit=10
You can find multiple posts from SP4 ON THIS ARTICLE.
You are such a shameless liar SP4.
monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/features/article_1429941.php?compage=50&com count=58&comlimit=10
..you're going bugsh-t over all of this. Do you actually live your lives like this?
Palin's 15 minutes are almost over. The press has a short attention span that would make Brittany Spears look like Steven Hawking. They'll need a new cash cow soon.
You lied.
I got to admit, it's right. Everytime someone in the press goes over the line, and that's a lot of times a day, Palin gets another 100,000 votes.
This was a terrific move, nominating someone with more experience than Obama, and then letting those snail traps on The View rip her up, or the blogs, etc. Now, right when they wanted blood, all the focus is in Texas.
... every time McCain says 'I'm John McCain and I approve this message' ...
... to an ad the is a blatant lie (like the one saying Obama called her a pig ... or the one where McCain says Obama wants sex education for 5 yr olds - when the truth is, it had to do with educating the kids on how to protect themselves from sexual predators ...
Every time McCain says he endorses that kind of FALSE, in the gutter, campaign smear ... he turns off a large portion of the voters who are sick of the Rove-style politics ... and it will cost him votes.
Keep it up johnny ... you'll get bit by your own hand.
page: 1
Of couse he ment it:Sep 11th, 2008 - 04:54:49
Take a look:
www.democrats.org/page/community/post/elizabethberry/Cgsq
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w613nayrYwo
Report this comment