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Posted
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 4:11 PM
| By
Rachael Larimore
Just to clarify my post from last night that brought attention to Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment, I was merely pointing out that Obama said something silly and might come to regret it. Which he probably is today, because, as John Dickerson pointed out, he's spending today dealing with it, one more day he's not getting his own message out. I think it's obvious he didn't do it intentionally—if he did, he's not as smart as I've always thought he was—and, to answer your question, Dana, I don't find the phrase even remotely sexist.
He made a gaffe, as all politicians are prone to do, and here's why: Less than a week ago, Sarah Palin stood before the nation and called herself a pit bull in lipstick. It was the signature line in her speech, and it's now part of her identity. So when Obama stood up on that stage and said that McCain and Palin's call for change was "just calling the same thing something different. But you know you can't, you know you can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig"—well, the only thing people heard was "lipstick."
So, like Mike Huckabee, I'm going to give Obama a pass on the grounds that it wasn't intentional. At the same time, I don't blame the McCain camp for taking advantage of it, though I do wish they had toned down the outrage just a wee bit.
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