Politics First

Or is it cosmetics first? Maybe it's politics, cosmetics, then country? I know it's not country first -- that's for sure.

Today the Republican party is feigning outrage over Barack Obama's use of a tired old folksy saying: "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." Here is the complete unadulterated quote from Obama:

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.

What's wrong with that? Well, John McCain's new campaign video (which has since been pulled from YouTube due to a copyright claim by CBS) takes the comment out of context and makes it look like Obama is calling Palin a pig. Never mind the fact that Obama is obviously not referring to Sarah Palin! That doesn't stop the mainstream media from taking the bait.

The irony, of course, is that Obama was making a point about exactly these tactics. Instead of talking about economic policy, health-care policy, tax policy, education policy, or foreign policy, the conversation has been reduced to this frivolous bullshit.

Any media outlet that runs this story, should also, if they have any credibility at all, show this video of McCain using the exact same phrase regarding Hillary Clinton's health-care policy:



Funny, I don't think McCain ever offered an apology to Hillary Clinton, and I don't think she ever asked for one either.

Anyway, now that the sad and desperate McCain campaign has gone from "straight talk" to "trash talk," let's get back to something substantive.

McCain and Palin recently wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal titled We'll Protect Taxpayers From More Bailouts. Here is the punchline of their piece:

Fannie and Freddie's lobbyists succeeded and Congress failed. Under our administration this will not happen again.

Why do I find this so tragically funny? McCain's campaign is full of lobbyists! Including a few -- Rick Davis, Aquiles Suarez, and Carlos Bonilla -- who have lobbied for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac!

I'll believe that McCain is the "maverick" when lipstick-wearing pigs can fly.