I found this picture in a news article this morning on the Google News page. This is great for the McCain gang – but really bad for the Obama crowd. Apparently, Obama made a comment saying “You can put lipstick on a pig… its still a pig” regarding McCain’s position that the republican ticket is the best for change. The comment came a week after Governor Palin’s stated at the RNC that the difference between a hockey mom (which she is) and a pitbull is lipstick. Did Obama mean to imply Palin was a pig? The answer is Who cares… The damage is done!
In the court of public opinion, its like OJ and murder – did he do it? You may convince me that there are people out there that don’t believe he did (in fact a Judge right now is trying to find 12 people to sit on a jury that don’t have an opinion on that old trial) but if you ask on the street that same question – some will say yes and some will say no – and both believe he did it. The same is true here. But that’s not the damage. The damage is the picture above. Shortly after this picture hit the internet, it quickly came down and dozens of similar pictures with Obama and McCain head to head began to show up (based on a page refresh of the google news page). Why? In my opinion its because there are a lot of Obama supporters out there that quickly realized that for Obama to win, he has to appear presidential, and pitting himself against the vp defeats that purpose.
The next article I read this morning was Obama’s reaction to the “lipstick” media coverage, in which he called the controversy “phony” saying, “I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage”. I remember once as a child I went into our pantry and grabbed a hand full of sugar cerial (which we rarely had in the house) and ate it in my room knowing I wasn’t allowed to. My brother caught me eating it and I quickly denied it. He wouldn’t let me get away with lying about it. I was so intent on denying the charge that I went to my mother outraged that he would accuse me of lying. I didn’t fool her for a second – I was busted! Obama’s outrage on the matter reminds me of my reaction after getting caught – phony outrage. So, I find it ironic that he uses those words to describe the media coverage and McCain reaction to the comment.
To accuse McCain of lies and phony outrage while demanding that we get back to the “issues” is like a throwing a punch while demanding civility.