Obama's "Lipstick on a Pig": Insult or Idiom?
I’m sure you’ve heard by now the infamous line that Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack H. Obama said:
“You can put lipstick on a pig,” he said as the crowd cheered. “It’s still a pig.”
“You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still gonna stink.”
“We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”
Is this a swipe at Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin – as the McCain camp believes - or is this just a common Washington saying?
Well, I did a little Google search on “lipstick on a pig” and this is what came up:
1. Urban Dictionary: slang for when someone tries to dress something up, but is still that something. usually used on ugly broads, when they put on a skirt and some lipstick and well, they still look like the same digusting pig. “You put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.”
Hmmm….
2. Amazon.com: Lipstick on a Pig: Winning in the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game by Torie Clarke. Torie Clarke, by the way is a “former communications director with the Pentagon in the early years of the Bush Administration and a former advisor to Senator John McCain.” (Italics mine.)
That’s interesting…Might have to get this book and read it.
3. Everything2: As a metaphor, it indicates a lost cause or a futile gesture.
This is what Obama says he meant by it.
And No. 4: Chris Pirillo: Windows Vista: Lipstick on a Pig, dated July 18th, 2006.
See the definition in No. 1.
As you can see, the phrase has multiple uses and apparently has been around for some time. It also appears that it’s used quite extensively in politics to categorize failed policies. Unfortunately for Obama, he decided to use it too recently after Sarah Palin used the “What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick” phrase. As a result, the phrase is carrying a double connotation, and not all positive.
Could it be a slip by Obama, or could it have been planned deliberately so they could excuse it by saying, “Well, John McCain has used it, too.” I don’t know. No one knows what the Obama camp truly meant by the statement. I think in this case, we’ll have to take Barry at his word and give him a pass on this. (Yes, I just said that!) See the update below.
The McCain campaign needs to focus on other things – like actual policies – instead of parsing words. Now I know they weren’t parsing words. See the update below. There’s only 54 days until Election Day, so let’s start getting serious about what this country needs. Quit playing word wars and quit the personal attacks - on both sides! America is sick of it.
Update (7:42 p.m.): Okay, I must confess something. I didn’t get to watch the video earlier (Streaming media is blocked at my place of employ). But now that I’ve seen it, I have a different opinion. Based on Barack Hussein Obama’s hesitation, rubbing of the forehead, and the audience’s reaction, it is clear that it was a deliberate swipe at Sarah Palin – there is no doubt in my mind now. So as far as the last paragraph of the post above – ignore it. IT WAS DELIBERATE. That is all.
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I saw his comment not as an attack on Palin, but more as an attack of McCain policy. I just figured he was comparing McCain to Bush which of course the McCain campaign hates.
McCain's campaign did incredible damage control by asserting this was a slight on Governor Palin. Of course, the second they did that is the same moment when EVERYONE started talking about lipstick on pigs. Both politicians have used the idiom several times in their respective campaigns, just the McCain camp was able to thow it back on the Obama camp.
There is a difference between insulting a health-care plan and insulting a person!! Obama owes Palin a apology! I have been trying to decide who to vote for and this has done it for me!