Comment on Ben Smith's commentary on the "lipstick on a pig" commenting on the motives of Obama's surrogates joking that Palin's record
can't be concealed with lipstick, and the motives of the Republican charge that Obama compared
Palin to a pig.
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Amie Parnes reports from Lebanon, VA:
Obama poked fun of McCain and Palin's new "change" mantra.
"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."
The crowd apparently took the "lipstick" line as a reference to Palin, who described the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull in a single word: "lipstick."
UPDATE: The McCain campaign is now saying Obama called Palin a pig, which he didn't. The Obama campaign notes that "lipstick on a pig" is a fairly common idiom Obama often uses, as in a recent Washington Post interview. McCain has also used the phrase.
Though on a day when Obama's surrogates were joking that Palin's record can't be concealed with lipstick, it was hard for those following the campaign not to hear the echo.
UPDATE: Obama aide Anita Dunn responds to the McCain campaign's claim that Obama compared Palin to a pig:
Enough is enough. The McCain campaign’s attack tonight is a pathetic attempt to play the gender card about the use of a common analogy – the same analogy that Senator McCain himself used about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health care plan just last year. This phony lecture on gender sensitivity is the height of cynicism and lays bare the increasingly dishonorable campaign John McCain has chosen to run.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/10/campaign.lipstick/
the people dicided to honor the dead by
could you give me a summary of it?
Based on the provided information, it seems that Ben Smith is commenting on the controversy surrounding the use of the phrase "lipstick on a pig" by both Obama and McCain during the 2008 presidential campaign.
In the context of Obama's speech, he used the phrase "You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig" to criticize McCain and Palin's "change" mantra. This line was likely interpreted by some as a reference to Palin, who had famously used the phrase "lipstick" in describing herself as a hockey mom during her vice-presidential nomination acceptance speech.
The McCain campaign then accused Obama of calling Palin a pig, which the Obama campaign denied. They argued that "lipstick on a pig" is a common idiom that Obama often used and that McCain had used the phrase himself.
Ben Smith's commentary involves analyzing the motives behind both Obama's use of the phrase and the Republican charge that Obama compared Palin to a pig. The motives of Obama's surrogates joking about Palin's record being unable to be concealed with lipstick are also questioned.
Overall, the commentary seems to be exploring the strategic use of language and the interpretations placed upon it during a heated political campaign.