Sarah Palin was first, I think, when she said the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom like her was "lipstick." Then Barack Obama used it comparing Republican nominee John McCain's policies to Republican incumbent George Bush's. "You can put lipstick on a pig," Obama said, "It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."
The GOP, of course, promptly accused Obama of "offensive and disgraceful" comments and demanded an apology. Hunh? McCain himself, once upon a time, used lipstick as a metaphor when attacking Hillary Clinton's health plan. It's a little like the old Abbott and Costello routine, "Who's on first?"
Obama, of course, wasn't attacking Palin; he was accusing McCain of tarting up old Bush policies to make them look new instead of tired and failed. But truth is always the first casualty in a war, and presidential politics is a war, of sorts.
It's not exactly new, anyway. Wasn't it Jimmy Carter, years ago, who talked about how you could put "diamonds on a hog" but it was still a hog.
Okay, diamonds one year, lipstick this year. It's cheaper; the pig won't mind; and, hey, it sure beats facts and issues, don't you think?
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