Lipstick on a Republican

Sara Palin made a joke during the Republican National Convention. (And who knew Republicans had a sense of humor?) She said the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull was lipstick. There are many variations on this theme. As a former liturgist, our variation was that the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist is that you can negotiate with a terrorist. Whatever. (And if you have no idea what a liturgist does in the Roman Catholic Church, don't bother trying to figure it out, because it will give you a headache.)

Again, I did a superficial search of the phrase "lipstick on a pig". Barak Obama is being castigated for his use of this phrase...apparently because Palin used the word "lipstick", and now has copyrighted all its uses in the English language. Guess what? Between October 13 and November 1, 2004, Vice President and MRS. Dick Cheney used the phrase at least 4 times in various speeches from Hawaii to Michigan to Ohio to Pennsylvania, referring to John Kerry. And less than a year ago, John McCain used the phrase when referring to Hillary Clinton's health care proposals.

Now, Class...let's be clear about this:
#1. I deliberately termed my search "superficial", because that should indicate to you that I found only the most obvious uses, and a more in-depth search would likely reveal more. Actually, I never even got past page one of a google search for the instances cited.
#2. Republican spin masters are endeavoring to label this is a sexist attack of Obama on Palin, ignoring the fact that a Republican woman - Mrs. Cheney - used the phrase about John Kerry, as well as the Republican Presidential candidate - John McCain - using it about Hillary Clinton. And the last time I looked, despite her pant suits, she is still a woman.
#3. This type of obfuscation should be recognized as the Republican tactic used in the last campaign, named "swift-boating", for deflecting attention away from real issues and onto fluff.

I have to admit being barely able to type at this point. In 2004, John Kerry ran an almost successful campaign for president. Kerry, a man who served this country in combat conditions in the same war that earned John McCain "hero" status, lost the election - at least in part - because a man who couldn't even prove he showed up for all his National Guard sessions convinced his lackeys that Kerry's service was not medal-worthy. Huh?????

Now, because the tactic was so successful, Republicans are trying it again. Forget that Obama was talking about failed Republican programs being recycled by McCain. Nope. The word "lipstick" was used, so they're going to run with it, as a sexist blast of Palin. And the worst part is that there are millions of mindless people out there who will believe this outright lie.

And while we're on the subject of Palin and lies.....

In the same hockey mom/pit bull speech, Palin commented on the 18 million cracks that Hillary Clinton had put in the glass ceiling, and how she (Palin) was going to shatter it. This one in particular, is for you Hillary Haters. For 19 months Hillary campaigned and took all the sexist garbage that was aimed at her. And there was a great deal of it, and you said if she wanted to be President she had to learn how to deal with it. Now any implication of negativity about Palin is viewed as heresy? Gimme a break! What's fit for the goose is...fit for the goose.

Or would that be...pig?