L.A. BRONCOS FAN
09-10-2008, 03:29 PM
The Washington press corps is busy taking the GOP's lead today in manufacturing a "scandal" today over Barack Obama's metaphorical use of the term "lipstick on a pig" to describe the Republican ticket. The Washington Post's headline blares "McCain Camp Sees An Insult in a Saying." The reliably power-worshiping Mike Allen of the Politico screams "McCain Claims Sexism."
The GOP - not surprisingly - is doing its best at fake outrage, claiming Obama's comment was sexist and unacceptable, except for one problem: McCain used the same metaphor just a few months back to describe Hillary Clinton:
"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.'"
You can actually watch a video of McCain making this comment here:
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Look, I actually get the whole idea that "lipstick on a pig" can be interpreted by women as offensive, even if it is used in a way that has nothing to do with attacking women. I've tried to refrain from using it in my own writing, and clearly Obama was not using the metaphor to refer to Sarah Palin's looks or her gender.
But holding that aside - let's just get to the sheer hypocrisy here. Republicans claiming they are outraged when their own nominee used the phrase in a far more directly offensive way (ie. in directly attacking Hillary Clinton) is really absurd and disingenuous.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8120
The GOP - not surprisingly - is doing its best at fake outrage, claiming Obama's comment was sexist and unacceptable, except for one problem: McCain used the same metaphor just a few months back to describe Hillary Clinton:
"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.'"
You can actually watch a video of McCain making this comment here:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BR8IhMMhe8w&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BR8IhMMhe8w&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Look, I actually get the whole idea that "lipstick on a pig" can be interpreted by women as offensive, even if it is used in a way that has nothing to do with attacking women. I've tried to refrain from using it in my own writing, and clearly Obama was not using the metaphor to refer to Sarah Palin's looks or her gender.
But holding that aside - let's just get to the sheer hypocrisy here. Republicans claiming they are outraged when their own nominee used the phrase in a far more directly offensive way (ie. in directly attacking Hillary Clinton) is really absurd and disingenuous.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8120