This is surrounding McCain's latest claim of "sexism," accusing the phrase "lipstick on a pig" of being sexist when used by Obama but not being sexist when used by McCain. Oh, and for anyone who's counting, the McCain campaign did in fact invoke John McCain's former POW status in relation to lipstick and pigs. Yes, they did. :-)
And even better, the McCain people today accused Obama of calling McCain "a fish." Seriously. No word on whether McCain took the fish to be a herring (losing his bearings), a snapper (temper temper), a cod (rhymes with cad) or perhaps something more exotic like a mahi-mahi (no, that's the kind of fish McCain would accuse Obama of being).
If I may paraphrase Jake, John McCain thinks some pigs are more equal than others (and for the McCain camp, that's not a reference to Palin or McCain, it's a reference to "Animal Farm" (that is, unless Sarah Palin banned it)). It was hard to excerpt Jake, but here's a portion:
Why should anyone believe McCain didn't mean it about Hillary Clinton, but Obama meant it about Palin?
And yet, the inaugural conference call of what the McCain-Palin campaign is calling the "Palin Truth Squad" addressed Obama's remark.
And interestingly, the Truth Squad call was full of half-truths and statements that weren't true at all.
Speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift tonight flatly stated that Obama had called Palin a pig.
"[T]he formation of the Palin Truth Squad couldn't have happened too soon, as we saw when Sen. Obama in Lebanon, Va., this evening uttered what I can only deem to be disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee Gov. Palin to a pig," Swift said.
"Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin an apology," she said.
Asked why she was so confident Obama was "comparing" Palin to a pig, she said Palin was the only one of the four candidates on both parties' tickets who wears lipstick.
"She is the only one of the four candidates for president, or the only vice presidential candidate who wears lipstick," Swift said. "I mean, it seemed to me a very gendered comment."
But, Swift added, if "as part of his apology Sen. Obama wants to say, no, he was calling Sen. McCain -- who is a true hero in our country -- a pig, then I suppose we could wait en masse for an apology to that, as well."
It was pointed out to Swift that, after the line about the pig, Obama had said, "You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called 'change,' it's still gonna stink after eight years."
Swift then suggested that Obama was calling McCain a fish.
"I have a fourth-grader and two second-graders at home," she said. "I would not teach them that this is sort of a high-minded debate on policy issues when they are calling people rotten old fish or a pig. In fact, it sounds a lot like some of the least intelligent debates on the playground sound like at our elementary school."
A reporter then reminded Swift that in December, McCain was asked about criticisms coming his way from then-opponent Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., and McCain replied, "Never get into a wrestling match with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it."
Was McCain calling Romney a pig? a reporter asked Swift.
Of course not, Swift said.
It seems to me we should have one rule. If Obama was calling Palin a pig, then McCain was calling Hillary Clinton one. If McCain wasn't, then Obama wasn't.
