I was a little flip, I admit, and I apologize for that (plus, I just read that there’s some Dems claiming that when you slam community organizers, you’re racist - Jesus!) And while I don’t think that Obama was trying to call Palin a pig (and a lot of GOPers like Huckabee are saying the same thing - that Obama wasn’t being insulting), the fact is that Obama is either smart enough to know that the connection was there, or that he wasn’t.
Given the fact that he’s become a human gaffe machine in the past week, I tend to think he’s just not smart enough.
Oh, not so hard, really, especially when the speaker explicitly defines the topic of his remarks. Which he did, in just so many words: here’s what I’m talking about. You may remember it, its called the “topic sentence”, which is to say, the sentence which defines the topic.
Of course, if he says he’s talking about “A”, you can insist that he’s really talking about “B”, but then you have to produce your Certificate of Telepathy. Have you such? No? Ah.
Oh, I’m sure he knew what he was saying. Not necessarily that he was directly calling Palin a pig, but the connection was certainly there and he’d be a fool to deny it.
McCain screwed up here, though. The appropriate response would’ve been a snicker and “Are you…actually comparing Sarah Palin to a pig? Heh. Heheh. If you say so.” Impotent rage is a huge turnoff for most people, especially if it’s over something minor. The ability to wave something like that off puts you above the person delivering the insult and makes you look a lot more cool and confident.
I mean, it’s not like Obama was speaking about McCain in the sentences before and after he used that phrase, or that that phrase itself is a common metaphor, or that Obama had already used it long before Palin was picked, or that McCain himself used that exact same phrase when talking about Hillary Clinton!
Not that I or, I don’t think, anybody actually cares what you’re pretending is true, but since you bothered, here’s the line in context:
It’s really, really, really painfully obvious what he’s talking about. Palin had nothing to do with anything. Go ahead and see if you can avoid that impression once you’re actually informed.
Boy, you nailed it! Graduated from some podunk community college out east, we’re supposed to be impressed? And you notice? They put him in the Law Review thingy, because he didn’t get it the first time, had to take remedial.
Sometimes, it’s really hard to figure out whether you’re sincere, or if you just enjoy getting a rise out of people. I’ve always assumed the former, but this comment leaves me wondering.
Can you explain how Obama went “directly” from Palin’s speech a week ago to the “putting lipstick on a pig” analogy?
This is a very similar to all the ‘I’ve always been proud of America!’ remarks at the RNC convention. Every one (me included) knows that it was ripping on Michelle Obama, Sure, most of those speakers had probably said that before, and the remark made sense in context, and nary a direct mention of Michelle. But still…
Same thing here. I’d be outraged if I didn’t think it was funny! Palin totally set herself up for it.
BTW, is there actually any video of it? Delivery is probably everything.
Obama: “you can put lipstick…on a pig.”, PAUSE FOR LAUGHTER, “But <continues on>”
I guess the question is where do we set the bar for outrage. If people found putting Paris Hilton into a McCain commercial to be racist, then no one should be surprised to find people thinking the “lipstick on a pig” comment is sexist.
Personally, I think both cases are examples of oversensitivity.
And the symbol of the democratic party is the donkey, which is the father of… a Mule! I think you’ve stumbled onto some sort of code.
The stupidest thing about this whole stupid non-issue (other than the Camp McCain actually thought it was worth soundbytes and conference calls) is that last time I checked the word pig, when used as a pejorative for women, usually if not always means ugly and or slovenly and or fat and or completely unattractive.
The one thing that even people who detest Sarah Palin (including myself) will grant freely is that she’s an extremely attractive woman, nobody could ever call her fat or slovenly, and thus it doesn’t even make sense to call her a pig, a word that’s even more offensive to Obama since [del]he’s a Musli[/del] he doesn’t eat red meat… for health reasons… like Jesus.
Then the (oh God is he going to bring this old story up again?) Chelsea Clinton- lovechild of Janet Reno:Hillary Clinton issue, a very definite and unwarranted slam, against a civilian no less- (yep, he brought it up again)- how the hell can McCain DARE feign outrage over something absolutely nobody could believe is a deliberate slam against Palin? (He was older by far when he made that crack than Obama is now.)
I wish, I really wish that there was a little Mini-Obama who traveled around with him and said the things Barack will never say. In fairness of bipartisanship, McCain can have one too. I’d love to hear mini Obama say “Well, you know how they are when they get that age… I’m sure Senator McCain has absolutely no recollection of using that phrase himself… hell, he probably doesn’t remember me saying it by now because it’s the short term memory that’s shot to hell the most, he just knows he’s mad at me about something. Or he might, he has his good days and his bad days. Yup yup yup… for Bush it was al-Qaeda and for McCain, al-Zheimers, which one will do the most damage… but you didn’t hear that from me… cause I’m Mini-Obama, not the candidate.”
I have disagreed with most everything Sam has posted about the campaign, but I didn’t want to let this pass without giving props. Well done, sir.
Palin totally set herself up for it.