Lipstick vs. Uppity

Lefties would have been all up in arms over it if a female Democrat candidate had used the lipstick and bulldog joke followed by a media storm referring to the joke and then, shortly after, while discussing her campaign, her Republican opponent used the lipstick on a pig metaphor. Please show some intellectual honesty and admit what I am saying is true.

you pretend that "uppity n*gger" never existed as a phrase

DontTreadOnMe wrote:

political correctness; it ain't just for liberals anymore.

Yup. Nail, head.

[T]here may have been good ways to take shots at Obama over the "lipstick on a pig" comment. But the Republicans are coming across as whiny grievance-mongers. Don't they realize that this harping on ambiguous slights is what people hate about political correctness? [..] Now Republicans are trashing her brand. They're undermining the basis of her appeal as a different, tougher kind of female politician. Today has been worse than wasted.

TPM reader and film director James Mangold scripts what he wishes Obama had said today:

So. I'm talking about John McCain's economic policies, and I say: "This is more of the same, you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig." And suddenly they say, "Oh, you must be talking about the governor of Alaska." And now they're making this big fuss and, you know -- here's where most Democrats in the past would carefully and earnestly explain how I meant nothing of the kind.
Heck, I was about to do that. Yesterday, I didn't mean anything but a comment on their policies, one that was obvious to anyone who was there. But today is different. Today I am here to tell you that I am flip flopping. I've changed my mind.

Pig in lipstick. I meant it any way they want to take it.

For weeks we've all watched their low-ball ads and listened to their lies and twisted innuendo, attacks on my family and our values, community service and patriotism, all of it wrapped in our flag-- and last night I thought to myself, Barack, CHANGE isn't letting someone kick you over and over again. CHANGE doesn't mean that the only response to blatant lies, extremism and intolerance is thoughtfulness.

Maybe the reason they think they'll get away with this is they think I'm such a big lofty "celebrity" that I can't get down on the ground and fight like a man. Well, they are wrong. Lies are lies. Not untruths. Not misstatements. Not "questionable" facts. Lies. And lies dishonor our nation.

A great country, the world's greatest country, should not waste its time with trivialities -- but a wise leader cannot pretend the world is as he wishes it was. If this is the kind of fight they want, then I will give it back to them.

So let me be clear what I meant yesterday.

McCain and Palin, their policies and their demeaning campaign are A PIG IN LIPSTICK.

They are OLD FISH IN A NEW WRAPPER.

They are a threat to our future. Because they are the past, masquerading as the future.

You want to go backward -- vote for them.

Gosh, though, wouldn't it be nice in this country if people weren't so sensitive, if everyone wasn't so quick to claim victim status? If one could have a free exchange of ideas without having to worry that they might inadvertently offend someone with a remark, even if they meant no harm? Especially when they do it for a political advantage?

Gee, I wonder how we got that way, libs/progressives...?

Barack Obama the other day equated John McCain's claim to represent change with putting lipstick on a pig - or wrapping old fish in a piece of paper and relabeling it.

Obama's statement was utterly conventional.

But in an audacious bid for victim status, the McCain campaign put lipstick on Obama's statement and dressed it up to resemble some outrageous slap at Sarah Palin.

The purported connection: Palin had said lipstick was the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull.

Sorry, but this makes the McCain camp sound whiny, politically correct, even knee-jerk-liberal. You know, feeling out the pea of sexism under many mattresses. You know, like the party that practices gender politics.

A slack jawed audience comes to life, hooting and laughing, all because of the convoluted reasons you state?

Gosh, though, wouldn't it be nice in this country if people weren't so sensitive, if everyone wasn't so quick to claim victim status?

You give your audience waaay too much credit. Watch the tape. Deny they were reveling in Obama's wit about lipstick.

Gosh, though, wouldn't it be nice in this country if people weren't so sensitive, if everyone wasn't so quick to claim victim status? If one could have a free exchange of ideas without having to worry that they might inadvertently offend someone with a remark, even if they meant no harm? Especially when they do it for a political advantage?

Gee, I wonder how we got that way, libs/progressives...?

But keep the reasoning coming. It's been pretty enjoyable, seeing what you guys will come up with next...

there was no missing how his audience squealed

The Republican apologized for any misconception that could offend with 'uppity'. Obama has not apologized.

Obama has not apologized.