Posted: Friday, September 12, 2008 12:00 am
Suddenly "lipstick" has become a loaded word. It may even become the theme of this campaign.
It was mildly funny when Sarah Palin asked the GOP convention delegates how to tell the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull and replied: "Lipstick."
This week, Barack Obama was talking about Bush policies when he said, "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig."
This is pretty old, and so it's not funny. But his audience thought it was hilarious. They responded to the line with applause and - some of them - a standing ovation because they thought it was a reference to the Republican vice presidential nominee.
The McCain people thought they would exploit the audience reaction, as seen on TV, and complained that Obama had "smeared" Palin in a way that was "disgraceful and offensive."
It was nothing of the sort. Obama was just using an old, unoriginal line meant to demonstrate that he's a folksy guy, a man of the people.
Obama reacted to the flap by accusing the McCain campaign of using "lies and phony outrage and Swiftboat politics."
The outrage might have been phony, but there was no lying involved, and also nothing that resembles the Swiftboat campaign of 2004. The audience of that Obama quip clearly thought it was aimed at Palin. Otherwise they wouldn't have laughed so uproariously. It's the campaign audience the Republicans should complain about, but of course that would not do them any good.
It is all a bunch of baloney, the usual nonsense, which we are condemned to endure for a few more weeks. Obama rightly called it the silly season.
The only effect so far is this: From now on, and probably for quite a while, nobody in public life will be able to say "Lipstick!" in public without thinking of the connotations and how the audience will react. (hh)