Live From the Sty, Obama Calls Palin a Pig in Lipstick

Barack Obama stepped in it big time today. Addressing the McCain/Palin message of change and reform, he told the audience at a town-hall event:

You can put lipstick on a pig … it’s still a pig.

Oh yes he did. And he got a standing ovation.

If Obama didn’t spend so much time in the sty, he might not have pigs on the mind. But his purported intentions with this outrageous turn of phrase are irrelevant.

After Sarah Palin’s joke that lipstick is the only thing that distinguishes a hockey mom from a pitbull, there was no question in Obama’s mind that people would realize he was calling Sarah Palin a pig. Like the liberal media, he indiscriminately tossed out a slur to seed hatred, then he’ll pretend to take offense that his intended meaning is being skewed.

Like his running mate who earlier today called Sarah Palin a backward step for women, Barack Obama epitomizes poor taste and poor judgement.

Ready to lead, indeed.

Update: Hot Air has video of the slur and audio of the response from the McCain camp. Reporters are actually suggesting that this isn’t a gendered comment.

Update 2: Tammy Bruce captures the problem with Obama’s words perfectly. “Make no mistake, Barry has created the culture of sexism within the Democrat party, and this is just one more indication that it’s his choice for his campaign to use the personal destruction of women as its standard.”

Update 3: Hot Air updates us that an Obama rep has called the McCain camp’s response “a pathetic attempt to play the gender card.”

September 9, 2008 · Filed Under Barack Obama, Election 2008, Misogyny, Sarah Palin

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You Know What’s Great About Barack Obama?

Obama is the sum of his missteps, lies, bad ideas, and questionable associations, and that gives Republicans plenty of political fodder. There should be no temptation to manufacture false rumors to undermine his campaign because his history, his positions, and indeed, his very character serve to enfeeble his message.

And yet, people seem to relish taking Obama’s words out of context. Doing so is unfair, hypocritical, and quite frankly, sleazy.

On Sunday the big story was that Obama had admitted his Muslim faith during a televised interview with George Stephanopoulos. Sure, that’s what it sounds like if you artfully truncate the clip at just the right point. Voilà, a viral sound bite!

But as Allahpundit and Ann Althouse point out, if you watch the full segment it’s clear that Obama is addressing a smear, not admitting to lying about his faith.

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And this brings us back to what’s great about Obama. The man spent 20 years attending a Black Liberation Theology church with a hateful, anti-Semitic racist for a pastor. For his opponents and critics, that’s a big fat cherry atop a three scoop sundae. Why bother massaging the truth, when reality is low hanging fruit, ripe for the picking?

September 8, 2008 · Filed Under Barack Obama, Election 2008

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