Lipstick on a Pig

The good old Republicans are at it again. When John McCain used the phrase "if you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig" in reference to Hillary Clinton's healthcare policies, that was ok and not worth a comment. Now Barack Obama has just used it to describe McCain's attempt to promote himself as the change candidate, and suddenly it becomes a sexist smear against Sarah Palin. Not that Palin was referred to at all in Obama's speech, but who needs facts when you've got the Republican attack machine at full pelt.

Fortunately, Obama has chosen to respond aggressively to this nonsense, and it may just expose the vacuity at the heart of McCain's bid for the presidency. It certainly exposes the willingness of the Republicans to try any tactic to ensure their continued hold on the White House. McCain once had a reputation as at least an honest, if sometimes bewildering politician. How rapidly that has vanished!

For a scathing indictment of the still very newsworthy Sarah Palin, incidentally, the Daily Kos has this report on her time as mayor and governor in Alaska. The Palin bomb may yet explode other way.