McPorky Pig

Just who is that pig with lipstick?


John McCain's daughter Meghan is not taking offense to Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" line like the rest of her father's campaign, pointing out Wednesday morning that GOP presidential nominee has been known to use the phrase.

"I've heard my dad say that, the term 'lipstick on a pig,'" McCain said during an appearance on Fox promoting her new children's book about her father. ...

In fact, you can Google it. Exhibit number one comes from Vice President Dick Cheney four years ago - also on the campaign trail.

”As we say in Wyoming, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” quipped Vice President Dick Cheney in a stump speech yesterday, with reference to John Kerry’s claims he would be a credible war president.

Exhibit number two comes special delivery from the Obama campaign pointing out that Senator McCain himself used this phrase almost a year ago describing Hillary Clinton’s health care plan.

“I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” he said of her proposal.

And exhibit number three comes from the always-reliable Marc Ambinder over at The Atlantic. Obama has used this phrase before as well.

‘I think that both General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are capable people who have been given an impossible assignment,’ Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday in a telephone interview. ‘George Bush has given a mission to General Petraeus, and he has done his best to try to figure out how to put lipstick on a pig.

It’s unlikely that “lipstick-pig-gate” will get much traction (although it would be fun to continue to say lipstick-pig-gate), but the battle over who is the true “agent-of-change” will undoubtedly continue.