The talk
du jour today on the cable shows seems to be Obama's lipstick-on-a-pig comment, which McCain's surrogates have criticized as disgraceful and sexist for which they have asked Obama to apologize.
Here is what Obama said:
Senator Barack Obama said:
OBAMA: Let's just list this for a second. John McCain says he's about change, too. Except -- 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. That's just calling some -- the same thing, something different. But you know, you can -- you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig.
It seems that Palin's "pit bull with lipstick" comment is what invited the interpretation that Obama was referring to Palin as a pig. But it is clear from the context that Obama was talking about McCain's policies -- which (in the mind of Obama) are really Bush policies dressed up in a new "McCain" guise. Interpreting Palin as a pig with lipstick also ignores the metaphors of the expression; Palin would necessarily be the lipstick applied to McCain and not be the pig herself.
Anyway, I thought I'd post on this because the media is somehow unaware that such an expression has been widely used in the past few months in reference to McCain's campaign -- long before Palin was announced as McCain's running mate. First we have this remark by Mark Kornblau:
Mark Kornblau said:
"Mark Kornblau, a former spokesman for ex-Sen. John Edwards's (D-N.C.) presidential campaign, said that strategy will prove effective for Obama in the current political environment. 'Barack Obama is coming right out of the gate with a strong, straightforward argument for change from the failed George Bush economy,' Kornblau said in an e-mail. 'Meanwhile, John McCain has to put a lot of lipstick on that proverbial pig as he makes the case for four more years.' " (The Hill, 10 June 2008, p. 6, via LexisNexis)
And then a month later from the DNC itself:
Damien LaVera said:
"Maybe John McCain should call his latest tour the 'Lipstick on a Pig' tour because no matter how many shades of lipstick he tries, in the end it's still a pig,” said DNC spokesman Damien LaVera." ("From the Road," by John Bentley, July 7, 2007, 9:22 am, via
link)
Democratic National Committee said:
"When John McCain rolls out his 'Jobs First' economic tour in Denver today, he'll have a lot of explaining to do to the American people. Senator McCain, according to the Wall Street Journal, 'isn't expected to say anything new' and will only 'repackage proposals he has already outlined,' the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig." (Statement issued by the DNC, PR Newswire, 7 July 2008, 3:50 pm GMT, via LexisNexis)
And then after this, the expression was picked up and used by bloggers:
Adam S. said:
"Honestly, trying to make McCain look like a good candidate is like putting lipstick on a pig. He looks completely unnatural when he’s speaking off a teleprompter, he makes several major gaffes a week, and he’s consistently playing catchup on Obama on all of the issues." -- Adam S, July 22nd, 2008, 4:13 pm, via
link)
Shaun Mullen said:
"McCain's attempts to put lipstick on his pig of a campaign have been so inadequate that they border on the pathetic, and a consequence has been an inextricable slide into the only alternative he and his advisers believe to be available - Rovian smear politics." (Shaun Mullen, "Why Is John McCain So Desperate," The Moderate Voice, July 29, 2008, 8:44 am EST, via LexisNexis)
All of this has exactly the same thought as Obama's recent remark, and show that Obama was simply following what other Democrats have said before him. Obama also used the lipstick-on-pig metaphor earlier to refer to policy in Iraq:
Senator Barack Obama said:
"I think that both General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are capable people who have been given an impossible assignment," Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday in a telephone interview. "George Bush has given a mission to General Petraeus, and he has done his best to try to figure out how to put lipstick on a pig." (
Washington Post, 14 September 2007, A13, via
link)
Finally, it is worth noting that McCain himself used the expression to refer to Hilary's health care plan being a recycled version of the Clinton administration plan:
Senator John McCain said:
"Mr. McCain also criticized the Democratic plans, but his comments were more in passing and were far less barbed. But when asked about Mrs. Clinton his speech, he said her proposal was ''eerily'' similar to the plan she came up with in 1993, when she headed a health care reorganization effort during her husband's administration. 'I think they put some lipstick on a pig,'' he said, ''but it's still a pig.' (New York Times, 12 October 2007, A20, via LexisNexis)
He was talking about policy, just like Obama. But I don't recall anyone criticizing McCain for making a sexist comment about Hilary Clinton.
The media loves blowing up these manufactured controversies.
