rssMcCain Camp Plays Gender Card with Pig Ploy
Tuesday, September 09, 2008 at 8:42 pm
- 25 Comments
LEBANON, Va. — Sen. John McCain played the gender card Tuesday night, seizing on a hackneyed statement by Sen. Barack Obama to claim, rather implausibly, that the Democratic nominee was calling Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin a pig.
To even entertain McCain’s far-fetched attack, one would have to think Obama had a political death wish. Rather than attack Palin, however, Obama has spent the past few days praising her story and personal characteristics at each stop in Virginia, Ohio and Michigan. He has confined all his criticism to policy differences.
I was sitting at a press table in the Virginia gym as Obama rattled through two cliches to argue that the McCain/Palin ticket could not deliver change. First, Obama reached for a farm analogy: “You can put lipstick on a pig,” he said. “It’s still a pig.” Then he said, “you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still gonna stink.”
The pig cliche went from Politico to Drudge before Obama had left the stage.
The McCain camp pounced with an emergency conference call, and the press corps unthinkingly dug into the story.
McCain surrogate Jane Swift accused Obama of talking about Palin and demanded an apology. Swift said she thought Obama was referencing Palin because she is the only candidate who wears lipstick. I guess that means no one can take offense at the fish analogy, since none of the candidates are wrapped in newspaper.
This entire non-event — a candidate uses a common cliche in passing while answering a question about “change” — barely merits any reporting. It definitely isn’t worth the lead of The AP’s traveling report on what Obama did today, for example.
Don’t take my word for it; even the journalist who jump-started this drama said so. Amie Parnes, who I’ve been sitting next to this week on Obama’s plane, added this addendum to her short lipstick post:
The McCain campaign is now saying Obama called Palin a pig, which he didn’t. They also note that “lipstick is a fairly common idiom he often uses,” as in a recent Washington Post interview. McCain has also used the phrase…(emphasis added)
The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder also swiftly debunked McCain’s ploy. But the distraction is already upending the news cycle. And I haven’t even seen a TV yet — since we’re en route to the airport.
This is the kind of blatantly false charge that works even when reported skeptically. Because, frankly, it shouldn’t be reported at all.
Campaign journalists don’t need to cover two sides to every lie — especially an outlandish gender card trick like this one.
For skeptical readers, I’ll note that I filed several policy pieces about Obama today, including one from the Lebanon event. I’m now wading into the pig ploy with the minor goal of providing some context from the road.
Actual sexism still infects American culture and U.S. politics, of course. But McCain and Palin undermine the fight for equality when they falsely and cynically stage fake offenses.
McCain’s decision to put a woman on his ticket was laudable and inspiring, (as I’ve written before), and regardless of the motives, it was good for the country.
McCain’s overall conduct is more significant than that one action, however. His cynical attempt to cloak his ticket in gendered victimhood is an offense to all women and men who value equality — and to any voters who still desire a campaign devoted to a truthful debate of the issues.
25 Comments
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 8:25 pm
I suppose that if somebody calls McCain's tantrum retarded, that will be taken as a slight against Palin's developmentally disabled son…
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 8:31 pm
There is no honor in lying.
John McCain is now a proven liar.
John McCain has no honor.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 8:38 pm
He's got Down syndrome, he's not developmentally disabled. Sheesh.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 8:40 pm
I think with under two months to go, McCain should be coming up with something REMOTELY resembling a plan for if he should be president, not looking this petty garbage.
Oh, wait, this isn't about this issues, huh? I guess he has nothing else…
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
Not only are they trying to insult the intelligence of the American people.. But the intelligence of the media. They are banking on you guys playing along.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
McCain and Palin can both be described with the same word: Liars.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 8:48 pm
Come on, Jane Swift (of the McCain “Truth” Squad) even said Obama called McCain a rotten fish! Does she know something we don't?
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
OBAMA HAS TO BE SO CAREFULL AROUND THE WHITE WOMEN OR THEY MIGHT WHISTLE FOR THE COPS. THIS ELECTION IS ABOUT TO SHOW THE WORLD WHERE WE ARE REALLY AT. MCCAIN IS TURNING OUT TO BE A REAL LOSER.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 9:00 pm
McCain thinks he can score points on Obama, but in fact he has foolishly given Obama the perfect example of what Obama has complained about all along: a trivial politics with candidates more interested in scoring points than in solving the nation's problems.
McCain will soon regret ever stepping into this.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 9:10 pm
Your plea for a “debate of the issues” notwithstanding, more of the above is what you will get from the McCain campaign, each and every day, for the next two months. Will such shameless tactics garner McCain the presidency? Who knows? But if so — especialy in the wake of the disaster that is G.W. Bush — it will prove beyond all doubt that the majority of American voters are unadulterated morons.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 9:14 pm
Hey Palin – You are a fucking pig. There, it's been said. Deal with it.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
For goodness sakes, will the McCain campaign be calling out sexism for ANYTHING. I am Republican and this is getting tiresome.TOUGHEN UP! I might sit out this election, this is getting ridiculous! I'm sick of thios PC bullsh*t
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 10:17 pm
At what point does the press begin to report that in the past two weeks a huge credibility gap has opened up between McCain and Obama?
Everything from “Alaska is next to Russia, so she has foreign policy experience” to the whole “thanks but no thanks” tall tale to the latest fake ad in which McCain recycles an ALAN KEYES lie to all but accuse Obama of teaching kindergartners how to have sex? It's despicable.
McCain is recycling ALAN KEYES attacks.
He's become a joke. He simply isn't credible anymore. The voters deserve to know so.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 10:28 pm
Got get 'em, Obama. That's a perfect description of the McCain-Palin campaign
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 10:31 pm
Lipstick on a pig is a personal attack, are you kidding me? (and the “truth squad” phony outrage person did go on to accuse Obama of calling McCain a fish!) Can this insanity and hypocrisy please end, I can't take it any more. McCain and Palin, can you please stop with the lies, the nasty attack ads and the phony “outrage” and hissy fits over nothing. Can we please, for the love of our country, talk about the real issues? Enough!
And thank you for pointing out that “journalists don't need to cover two sides to every lie.” Yes! If only the media would listen.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 11:17 pm
“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.”
Does anyone actually believe this wasn't planned in advanced? Obama's passive aggressiveness is nauseating…
Comment posted September 10, 2008 @ 12:22 am
Yes voters deserve to know but honestly, I talk to voters every day and some of them don't want to know even if you give them something by way of video, writing and pictures. There are some people who just have closed minds. They can have college degrees, good jobs, and money and the truth makes no difference to them. Some of them send me the most debunked viral emails and really think they are real. I do not understand what has happened to these people but some of them have a lot power so maybe it has something to do with that.
Comment posted September 10, 2008 @ 12:27 am
Excellent point, I was thinking along those lines myself today..They wasted no time in taking it the wrong way and pinning their own candidates with the tags Palin is a pig and McCain a rotten fish. Is that what they were really thinking about their own candidates themselves, how did they get into such twisted thinking so easily.
Comment posted September 10, 2008 @ 12:36 am
Down Syndrome is a developmental disability. There are three different types. One can be an inherited tendency caused by one of the parents having a broken 23rd chromosome which is the same chromosome that indicates a predisposition for getting Alzheimers. I work with the developmentally disabled and I my first child had Down Syndrome. Their upper respiratory systems are very fragile as well as their immune systems, which is why I was surprised by the way Palin has been taking him out in such big crowds while he is so little. And yes most of them are severely retarded.
Comment posted September 10, 2008 @ 5:59 am
So what do you call it when McCain used the same phrase when talking about Hillary Clinton? McCain used the phase. That was ok? Obama used the phrase. That wasn't ok?
Comment posted September 10, 2008 @ 9:15 am
McCain and Palin loose on the issues… they can't talk about the issues because they can't answer any real questions. Senator McCain, how do you plan to change policy in Washington that you've been a part of for a quarter of a century? How do you propose to change the course of our country when your record shows you've supported President Bush in bringing us to this point? How are you going to lower taxes for working middle class Americans? How are you going to provide healthcare? Gov. Palin, how does your experience in running increasing the debt of a town with a budget of $20 million from 0 to $14 million for a hockey rink prepare you for solving the economic crisis in the housing and lending markets? Why did you build that recreation building before building an essential water treatment and sewage plant? How do you justify giving an oil company windfall tax surplus to residents of Alaska while taking out bonds to pay for roads?
These are all questions the GOP can't answer. They have to bounce this election into a talk about how good these people are, not how smart, not how well planned, not how they sit on the issues… simply a popularity contest.
All of us “crazy liberals” don't fit into their plan, because we actual care about the issues. We want someone smarter, better experienced, better planned. We want someone who considers every side of an issue. Someone who thinks before he or she acts. Someone who can relate not only to us, but more importantly to the world leaders who we will need to work with to keep our country, and theirs, safe from terrorism and war.
We don't need a maverick. We need a President.
Comment posted September 11, 2008 @ 2:56 pm
WHAT IS IT WITH MCCAIN AND BEAUTY QUEENS??
LOOK AT THIS PERVERT ON YOUTUBE LOOKING AT PALIN ARSE AND SMILING!!
MCCAIN IS THE BIGGEST PERVERT ALIVE!!
McCain's first wife was a 1.Beauty Queen, no substance. He cheated on her and his children with many women while his wife was crippled and trying to recover from a bad crash.
Mccain lies abouts his age to meet another 2.Beauty Queen while cheating on his wife, files for a marriage license while married and still living with his wife and kid's.
Now McCain pick's another 3. Beauty Queen who is turning out to be the biggest bust in the World of VP choices.
WHAT IS IT WITH MCCAIN AND BEAUTY QUEENS??
LOOK AT THIS PERVERT ON YOUTUBE LOOKING AT PALIN ARSE AND SMILING!!
Such a pervert he is!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qUVQDmLf7s
Comment posted November 30, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
There is so much weird news about Palin. Here is an article about Palin Betrays McCain for Payday Loans! .
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