Wednesday 10 September 2008

Of lipstick and cartoons


A lot of (Republican) people in America are up in arms over an alleged insult by Democratic Presidential candidate Barrack Obama against Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Whilst addressing supporters at a rally in Virginia, Obama compared the Republicans' attempts to portray their policies as "change" as being equivalent to "putting lipstick on a pig". Following so soon after Governor Palin compared herself to a pitbull in lipstick, many have interpreted Obama's comment as a slur against Palin. Certainly the reaction of his audience, as can be seen in this YouTube clip suggests that they saw a connection.

Obama denies the slur was intentional, so, despite his quite obvious pause before delivering the line, and prior evidence of a habit of sexism on his part I will accept his word, with the caveat that if it wasn't a deliberate insult, it was a very dumb thing to say, given that an idiot would realise people were bound to make such a connection, after the publicity following Palin's speech .

However, of more interest are the words he spoke directly before the "pig" reference. To quote him, he said "John McCain says he's about change too. Exce- and and so I guess his whole angle is - watch out, George Bush - except for economic policy, healthcare policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl-Rove-style politics, we're really gonna shake things up in Washington."

In this connection readers might find the Tom Toles cartoon (below), which appeared in the Washington Post four days earlier, of some interest.
It seems BO may have learnt some tricks from his Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden, who some may recall was caught plagiarizing a British politician (Neil Kinnock) in his 1988 campaign, the only difference is that this time Obama is plagiarizing a cartoon!

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Hat Tip Newsbusters

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you giving Obama the benefit of the doubt on the lipstick reference. McCain has used that one before as well and it's a pretty common expression. As far as that cartoon goes, it is a good one, and right to the point. Obama should keep using that theme in one version or another, in my opinion.

Hope your family is doing better.

Sarah Maid of Albion said...

"Lipstick on a pig" is certainly a common expression, and it is indeed true the McCain used it in relation to Hillary Clinton's health policy a while back.

However, the difference is that when McCain used it, it was not days after Hillary had caused headlines across the nation with a reference to the fact that she wears.....lipstick.

The pittbull in lipstick line was one of the most memorable lines from the campaign and certainly the one most closely identified with Sarah Palin.

You only have to look at the audience reaction to see that they saw a connection instantly, and Obama should have as well.

If he didn't one has to question whether he is intelligent enough to be elected Community organiser, let alone President.

Anonymous said...

let the USA elect a third world president, it will be the fastest way for the real nature of the caucasian race to show itself.
How many liberal caucasians are left in South Africa?????