Here Comes the Smear Du Jour

As shown above, Drudge’s latest headline shouts, “OBAMA: ‘LIPSTICK ON A PIG, STILL A PIG’” beneath a photo of Sarah Palin, and links to a Politico.com story in which Obama is quoted telling a crowd of supporters, “You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”

Obama was actually referring to the McCain campaign’s recent embrace of the “change” theme. But it doesn’t take Kreskin to see what’s coming: In the next several hours, an army of conservative bloggers and/or commentators will seize upon this, take it out of context, and attempt to paint Barack Obama a sexist.

To preemptively put Obama’s words back into context, here’s what Obama really said today in Lebanon, VA:

“John McCain says he’s about change too and so I guess his whole angle is ‘watch out George Bush  – except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education, policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics – we’re really gonna shake things up in Washington.’ That’s not change. That’s just calling something the same thing, something different. But you know you can’t – you know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called ‘change,’ it’s still going to stink after 8 years. We’ve had enough of the same old thing. It’s time to bring about real change to Washington.”

By: Joel