Lipstick on a Pig: Blunder, Targeting Sarah Palin,or Clever Political Trap?
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Pig? Lipstick? -- The whole scenario illustrates what a travesty this political campaign is.
Question: How do you change the direction of a political trend?
Answer: You trap your opponent into a dumb attack that discredits him/her.
Barack Obama was not one of Harvard Law School's top debaters without being able to command a degree of cleverness.
His "lipstick on a pig" comment drew the desired response: feigned outrage from the John McCain campaign.
And the result? It got people thinking once again about the focus of the "lipstick/pig" comment -- the economy, stupid. And the fact that McCain has promised to replicate the Bush Administration's policies of the last eight years.
The press went crazy: BOAR WAR, shouted the New York Post. Boar War, Boer War -- get it? The price of pig graphics went sky high as Bill O'Reilly had flying pigs flashing across the screen of his show. Obama bantered with comic David Letterman, his timing of the appearance either incredibly perfect or a set up deal.
ENOUGH! Said Mr. Obama, unleashing the Democratic money machine to splash their own attack ads against the Republicans who have many vulnerabilities this election cycle.
The McCain ploy has quickly turned the discussion from a pit bull with lipstick, as proudly claimed by Mrs. Palin, to a farm animal that spends most of its time in mud.
Pigs, boars, pit bulls, catnip: where will the animal analogies stop?
The whole scenario illustrates what a travesty this campaign is. A juvenile, mud-throwing, face-smearing brouhaha.
The Democrats were out quickly with a television ad featuring McCain shouting "Fight, Fight, Fight," interposed over wild scenes of brawling and folks smashing each other ala Jerry Springer.
Pretty devastating stuff, tarring a Presidential candidate with his own words.
CNN unleashed reporters in Alaska and came out on 9-11 with an expose claiming that Mrs. Palin's acceptance speech at the Republican convention was, well, a lot of hyperbole. For example, she reportedly got $27 million in earmarks for the little town of Wasilla, a charge, if true, that belies her self depiction as a "reformer" who will end earmarks.
It's not like hype and hyperbole are new to the American political scene. It all started in 1840 when supporters of William Henry Harrison, hero of the War of 1812, began the first attack ads coupled with hype about their guy as the "common man." They used log cabins and hard cider to pitch Harrison while trashing Martin Van Buren as an aristocrat who drank expensive French wines and lived in luxury in the White House.
Of course Harrison won, but Van Buren was additionally saddled with an economy that, as we later learned to say during the Civil War, had "gone South."
McCain must have sensed that he had awakened the sleeping dogs of political war for his comments to the press in response to Obama were amazingly chastened and he spoke in a monotone noticed by morning TV news commentators.
As we have said before in this column, the American people really deserve much more, like a reasonable, rational discussion of the issues that are putting the republic in dire peril.
The desperate attempt by some political manipulators to turn the campaign into a referendum over pigs and cosmetic products does the greatest disservice to this nation that ever could have been imagined.
Mr. Obama came to Michigan the other day and articulated a plan to try to save the automotive industry, and I don't think five percent of the electorate paid any attention.
The Big Three is asking Congress to approve up to $50 billion in loans that some commentators liken to a bailout.
Well, it worked for Chrysler. And Lord knows most of the foreign auto companies are subsidized by their governments. Plus they are protected from competition by the U.S. by unreasonable trade barriers. In our humble opinion, any bailout here should be accompanied by tit-for-tat trade rules. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, and all that.
The Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout, already underway, is the largest of its kind in American history.
Neither did most people notice Lehman Brothers, a staid financial firm, wobble under the pressure of bad mortgages and also seek a government bailout.
Why? Because they were distracted by lipstick/pig nonsense, that if it continues will in the end prove extremely costly to Michigan.
Meanwhile, gasoline at the pump remained at near $4 per gallon even though the price per barrel of oil dropped to recent record lows of just over $100. And, the Saudis and OPEC turned the screws by cutting production without any explanation. Is there really any question that we, the United States, are caught in a vicious dilemma orchestrated by the Arab nations?
And we, the American electorate, are caught in a vice of politics, the media, crafty propaganda operatives, pollsters and lobbyists who play us like a fiddle.
Sadly, in his own defense, Mr. Obama is beginning to be forced to play the same game. And, with a financial advantage, the Dems will be formidable as we head into the final seven weeks of the campaign.
Lipstick on a pig, indeed!
I always thought the saying was perfume on a pig.##
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"The BUZZ" - Read Feedback From Readers! |
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dmaillette Says:
On September 15, 2008
at 05:17 AM
You are great!
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j.kavanagh Says:
On September 18, 2008
at 05:37 PM
Yeah, Dave...
Good words from you as usual. I agree. Regards to all "back home". |
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Dave Rogers |
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