The first two times it was because of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The first, on the day after Obama's triumphant acceptance speech in Denver, GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain stole practically all of the Illinois senator's thunder by naming Palin as his choice for running mate. Then, for several days after Palin's speech at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., she continued to dominate news cycle after news cycle.
Now, at just about the time Obama and his choice for VP, Sen. Joe Biden, should have been closing the gap/bounce created by the GOP convention, Palin struck again. Only this time she didn't speak the words that served as a gut shot to the Obama-Biden campaign. No, this time the Democrats' candidate did it to himself. Recalling Alaska's First Hockey Mom's now-famous line from her speech about "the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull -- [being] the lipstick," Obama in a stump speech said, "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig."
Sen. Barack Obama: Wishing he hadn't
said that...
The GOP, pundits, talk radio and anyone else with an axe to grind against the Obama-Biden campaign let go with both barrels. On a day when the Democrats might have hoped to start laying out their agenda, clear of the RNC convention, they were forced to use air time, print space and their finite number of blogs/Web sites defending Obama, spinning and lashing out.
Meanwhile, McCain-Palin went about their business.
Extra: Obama appeared on David Letterman's show tonight to dispel the idea that he was saying Palin was a pig. There are no videos immediately available, but this old Top 10 list is still worth considering.
1 comment:
Are we really still fixated on this "lipstick on a pig" pseudo-news? Is this what our presidential discourse has been reduced to? Instead of a close examination of economic stimulus plans or health care strategies, or post-9/11 foreign affairs, we're debating if some cliche is "code" for someting else. What next, Pat Paulsen for President?
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