Lipstick On A Pig
I have to admit, as much as I despite politics, I absolutely love how it exposes our stupidity and unwillingness to call a spade a spade. If you’re honest with yourself, how much time do you spend on a daily basis thinking about the elected representatives that run this country? How much time do you spend wondering what it is that they’re up to and whether or not it’s actually in your best interest, let alone in the interest of others that are, for example, violently affected by the foreign policies of nations on the other side of the world, the majority of whose citizens could care less what befalls them?
Politicians are, for the most part, little more than used car salesmen. Their primary focus, like that of most people, is remaining employed, not dedicating themselves to the real task of public service. In many cases, public service is simply a stepping stone to lucrative employment in the private sector, which is commonly secured by way of making contacts while serving in government.
If one examines the current race for the White House, the falsehoods being employed are as thick as tar, yet how many Americans will actually bother to check if the information being presented them is factual?
The New York Times’ Paul Krugman examines some of the duplicities being foisted upon the American public this election season…
“Did you hear about how Barack Obama wants to have sex education in kindergarten, and called Sarah Palin a pig? Did you hear about how Ms. Palin told Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks” when it wanted to buy Alaska a Bridge to Nowhere?
These stories have two things in common: they’re all claims recently made by the McCain campaign — and they’re all out-and-out lies.
Dishonesty is nothing new in politics. I spent much of 2000 — my first year at The Times — trying to alert readers to the blatant dishonesty of the Bush campaign’s claims about taxes, spending and Social Security.
But I can’t think of any precedent, at least in America, for the blizzard of lies since the Republican convention. The Bush campaign’s lies in 2000 were artful — you needed some grasp of arithmetic to realize that you were being conned. This year, however, the McCain campaign keeps making assertions that anyone with an Internet connection can disprove in a minute, and repeating these assertions over and over again.
Take the case of the Bridge to Nowhere, which supposedly gives Ms. Palin credentials as a reformer. Well, when campaigning for governor, Ms. Palin didn’t say “no thanks” — she was all for the bridge, even though it had already become a national scandal, insisting that she would “not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative.”
Oh, and when she finally did decide to cancel the project, she didn’t righteously reject a handout from Washington: she accepted the handout, but spent it on something else. You see, long before she decided to cancel the bridge, Congress had told Alaska that it could keep the federal money originally earmarked for that project and use it elsewhere.
So the whole story of Ms. Palin’s alleged heroic stand against wasteful spending is fiction.
Or take the story of Mr. Obama’s alleged advocacy of kindergarten sex-ed. In reality, he supported legislation calling for “age and developmentally appropriate education”; in the case of young children, that would have meant guidance to help them avoid sexual predators.
And then there’s the claim that Mr. Obama’s use of the ordinary metaphor “putting lipstick on a pig” was a sexist smear, and on and on.
Why do the McCain people think they can get away with this stuff? Well, they’re probably counting on the common practice in the news media of being “balanced” at all costs. You know how it goes: If a politician says that black is white, the news report doesn’t say that he’s wrong, it reports that “some Democrats say” that he’s wrong. Or a grotesque lie from one side is paired with a trivial misstatement from the other, conveying the impression that both sides are equally dirty.
They’re probably also counting on the prevalence of horse-race reporting, so that instead of the story being “McCain campaign lies,” it becomes “Obama on defensive in face of attacks.”
Lipstick on a pig. Now there’s something I’d vote for.
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September 13th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I think comparisons to Palin are an insult to pigs. And I’m a Muslim!
September 13th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I never watch it, and really don’t like it, but the Barbara Walter’s chat show, The View had John McCain on the other day and they went at him about both these attack ads. Joy Behar asked him why he approved the ads when he knew they were out and out lies, and Barbara reminded him that he had used the expression “lipstick on a pig” last year in a speech. She also went after the whole “reformer” idea. McCain actually said Palin didn’t take earmarked spending as governor–another lie. The audience applauded the ladies’ feisty questioning while Whoopi smirked and the other two (more right-wing I believe) looked quiet and uncomfortable, along with McCain who looked like he wanted to go back to talking about being a POW.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0OUlTMTirY
September 13th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
The Republicans, with their largely extremist views that don’t represent the mainstream (as far as I can tell) clearly can’t win on merit alone…
So they’ll do what they do best - tell lies designed to scare the American people into sticking with the devil they know.
Granted, Obama is a politician too, but I believe he’s run a much cleaner campaign. I hope with every fiber of my being that he succeeds. I fear to see a world where someone like Palin is actually within reach of the nuclear button, and where in the best case scenario we get more of the same.
September 13th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
A huge part of me feels like maybe it’s time to scrap the constitution altogether and put something applicable into place.
Let’s face it; Thomas Jefferson probably never thought there’d be a day when computers would lead pedophiles into a kitchen with Chris Hansen. Further, I’m sure he never really gave a second thought to how he was going to make sure citizens were safe when they were flying from one major city to another. I’m sure he never thought that one day we’d be fearing a rotund and ronery man in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, and I’m absolutely sure he wasn’t being incentivized to make global decisions with big oil’s best interest in mind.
I just don’t want these people writing up a new constitution for us.
September 13th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
That’s what kills me in all this–how many times in the speeches during the Republican National Convention were outright lies said? Things that were just blatantly false and you KNEW (well, providing you weren’t a blind supporter of the GOP) that they were fallacies.
And the best part is, Palin is the one spouting the most bullshit… and when a liberal points out what’s wrong with the thing she’s saying, shes “being attacked by the Democrats because she’s a woman/a maverick/a hockey mom/whatever.” The further things go, the smarter the Palin pick seems. Not because she’s a good candidate, but because she can sit around taking pot-shots at Democrats all day long and can deflect any criticism as discriminatory rhetoric.
September 13th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I’m very sick. I’ve caught a virus that make me sick to my stomach and I can not stop my verbal diarrhea. I have been diagnosed with Palin Derangement Syndrome. And the only prescription for a cured is to find your nearest Republican and repent. After not much thought, I do not want to be cured. Go Obama!
September 13th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Um, for some reason this post reminded me of a song I had on some K-Tel LP I had when I was a kid. I can’t even begin to form an intelligent comment here that’s not going to get me into trouble. Maybe I can be better understood if I post this link with it.
September 13th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I read somewhere, Palin’s new nickname is ‘Caribou Barbie’
September 13th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
i saw a disturbing photo the other day of a seven year old girl at a republican rally. taken from behind, the girl’s shirt read, “when i grow up, i want to be sarah palin”. i want to adopt that poor, brainwashed child.
when i was small, i wanted to grow-up to be chuck berry. times they are a-changin’.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
[quote comment="65002"]I read somewhere, Palin’s new nickname is ‘Caribou Barbie’[/quote]
I already posted this in another thread, but: hey, she’s already got her own action figure!
http://www.herobuilders.com/08.htm
(I prefer the nickname given to her by environmentalists: the “Killa from Wasilla.”)
September 13th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
[quote comment="65029"][quote comment="65002"]I read somewhere, Palin’s new nickname is ‘Caribou Barbie’[/quote]
I already posted this in another thread, but: hey, she’s already got her own action figure!
http://www.herobuilders.com/08.htm
(I prefer the nickname given to her by environmentalists: the “Killa from Wasilla.”)[/quote]
I knew I read it somewhere. I have a photographic memory. Just no film in the camera.
The herobuilders site is way too scary. I did not realize Mccain was ripped like that, or Palin would look that good in a school girl skirt. Just what market are they trying to reach there??
September 13th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
[quote comment="65002"]I read somewhere, Palin’s new nickname is ‘Caribou Barbie’[/quote]
Palin was asked about that nickname in an interview way back while running for Gov. Of Alaska. Her husband, Todd, started calling her “Caribou Barbie” while they were dating and the nickname stuck all these years.
The men on Todd’s side of the family sometimes call her “Barb” as a nickname for that nickname. It probably goes on and on.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:53 am
[quote comment="65047"]
Palin was asked about that nickname in an interview way back while running for Gov. Of Alaska. Her husband, Todd, started calling her “Caribou Barbie” while they were dating and the nickname stuck all these years.
The men on Todd’s side of the family sometimes call her “Barb” as a nickname for that nickname. It probably goes on and on.[/quote]
Her HUSBAND started calling her Barbie? Um… what? And she thought this was swell? Does Barbie have a different connotation in Alaska than it does in the rest of the world? I was called “Barbie” once; let me tell you, it was NOT meant as a compliment.
(…wait, should I have just admitted that?)
September 15th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Caribou Barbie. Hmmmm. I can’t think of a more ironic name or perhaps one more fitting. If she gets her way they’ll open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge which may have a disastrous impact on at least one of the major herds that travel between the Arctic and Yukon Territories.
At first I was laughing about this woman - but she became very “un-funny” very quickly.