Lipstick On A PIG???

“Lipstick”, and “pitbull” are two words that have been associated with Sarah Palin since she made her now famous joke at the RNC Convention:

Do you know what they say the difference is between a hockey mom and a Pit Bull?”

“A hockey mom wears lipstick.”

Soon she was known as “the Pit bull with lipsticK”, and liberal columnists wrote sneering op eds featuring the term. Obama supporters chanted, “No Pit Bulls! No Pit Bulls” at a recent Obama rally.

Today, at an Obama rally in St. Louis, MO Rep Russ Carnahan said:

“For all his tough talk [McCain] buckled to the right wing of his party in his choice. Picked someone with zero experience in national government, zero experience in foreign affairs. There’s no way you can dress up that record, even with a lot of lipstick.”

And via The Politico, in Lebanon, VA:

Obama poked fun of McCain and Palin’s new “change” mantra.

“You can put lipstick on a pig,” he said as the crowd cheered. “It’s still a pig.”

“You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still gonna stink.”

“We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”

Now, the McCain campaign is saying that Obama called Sarah Palin a pig. His supporters certainly took it that way:

Ben Smith is quick to point out that Obama didn’t call Sarah Palin a pig, per se. Of course he didn’t in so many words.

But is it possible that the Obama campaign would be so careless as to use the word, lipstick and “pig” , and believe it would not be seen as a juvenile put down aimed at Governor Palin?

Eight months ago, I might have given Obama the benefit of the doubt. But he does have a history of this sort of thing.

PUMAs remember:

Hat tip: AoSHQ

UPDATE:

Michelle Malkin thinks the “pig” part of the joke was meant for Sarah, and the “old fish” part was meant for McCain. I think she’s right.

UPDATE II:

More lipsticky goodness from Juan Cole:

What’s the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists? Lipstick

I wish I were kidding.

Again, how is it possible that Obama didn’t know that “lipstick” would be associated with Palin?

Ace thinks it’s a clever ploy to make her overreact, and sound like a prissy girl. Because no one can prove that it was meant as an insult.

Nobody should overreact.

Just remember.

UPDATE III:

The McCain Camp responds:

Thanks to Gateway Pundit.

UPDATE IV:

Captain Ed piles on:

Now Obama and his team want to pretend that this sequence had no meaning whatsoever.  It’s always difficult to gauge intent, but one would have to think Obama an idiot for not seeing the subtext of his own statement, especially since the crowd understood it all too well.  Obama himself has cried about the supposed racist attacks of Republicans and the McCain campaign all summer long, without ever once giving any evidence of it, and certainly not a data point like this.

If Obama wants to argue subliminal racism, he has no defense against overt sexism now.  This is his game, and he just proved himself incompetent at it.

Excellent point. Captain Ed withdrawals a few more examples of Obama’s sexist insensitivity from the memory bank:

• “She’s got the kitchen sink flying, and the china flying, and the, you know, the buffet is coming at me.” — April 20

• “You challenge the status quo and suddenly the claws come out.” — February, Tulane University
• “I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she’s feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal.” — February

UPDATE V:

Some funny suggestions for Palin to use at their next campaign stop:

From Mama AJ at AoSHQ:

Gov. Palin tomorrow:

(Steps up to the microphone.)

(Starts to speak, then stops and reaches down and picks up something small.)

(She is now applying lipstick in front of this huge crowd that is laughing and cheering.)

(After a few minutes, the cheering dies down and she begins to speak.)

“Oink.”

(The crowd roars anew…)

From Rush on his radio show:

Start your next rally by taking out a handkerchief and wiping off your lipstick. Then announce, “There, I’m just a pitbull.”

Heh!

UPDATE VI:

From The Democratic Party Blog August 30:

Palin does not change one single thing of what the Republicans are offering which is four more years of  George Bush.  All that McCain did was to put lipstick on the Pig (the Bush Administration whose failed strategies have wrecked our nation).  Nothing has changed except for an exciting and sexy dash of lipstick to freshen up their tired old face of more of the same.

In this instance, the pig is clearly meant to represent the Bush Administration, (as she’s careful to note). The lipstick represents Sarah Palin which is vaguely sexist, but not something I would lose sleep over.

If Obama was repeating a meme from within the Democratic party (and it’s very true that they’ve been very eager to link McCain/Palin to the Bush administration), he should have been more careful with his words. Much more careful. Again…the crowd at the rally responded to his remarks by laughing and cheering. They, clearly, were linking the whole phrase to Palin.

UPDATE V:

Don’t look now, but it’s looking like Obama stole borrowed much of his “lipstick on a pig” speech from a Tom Toles cartoon in the Washington Post. The comments are almost word for word from the Tom Toles cartoon.

If you recall, preceding his “lipstick on a pig” remark, he went through a laundry list of ostensible similarities between McCain/Palin and George Bush:

“‘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 going to shake things up in Washington!’ That’s not change … you know, you can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.”

Here’s the cartoon from September 5th:

A Freeper originally caught this.