"Senator Obama uttered what I can only describe to be disgusting comments, comparing our vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, to a pig," former Massachusetts governor Jane Swift declared in a conference call with reporters.Obama uttered the phrase in the midst of ridiculing the Republican nominee's commitment to change. "John McCain says he's about change, too," Obama said in an appearance here, leading into a string of ways he contends McCain represents more of the same — on economic policy, taxes, education, foreign policy, campaign tactics.
"That's not change. That's just calling something that's the same thing something different. You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig," Obama went on, and the crowd erupted in cheers. "You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper and call it change. It's still going to stink. After eight years, we've had enough of the same old thing."
Washington Post | McCain Camp Sees An Insult in a Saying
Indeed.
But nobody can say that former Massachusetts acting governor Jane Swift does not look the better for wearing it. Lipstick, that is.
That said, and Swift dispensed with, it's sad to see a political system — long ill — cash in its chips. The U.S. elections have moved beyond farce, beyond soap opera, and beyond the twilight zone. The process has passed a tipping point — somewhere along the line it became more bizarre, more fantastic than fiction.
It is certainly not democracy. Where in the world would you find a democracy in which a fascistic nonentity, i.e. unvetted and untested — and yet to deliver an unscripted interview or speech, could contest the vice-presidency?
Only in a state beyond that which we know as reality; one in which the rules of language and logic no longer apply — where brute force, brash imagery, neo-christian jihadists, and dirty money rule.
It looks as though we're stuck with the old fish.
"Ultimately, I think the American people will realize that calling a very prominent female governor of one of our states a pig is not exactly what we want to see when we supposedly are going to have this great debate that is the politics of hope."
Christian Science Monitor | Pigs and lipstick? The campaign gets really weird
Nice lipstick, Ms. Swift. Very natural.
By the end of her term, Swift was extremely unpopular with voters in the state (at one point having the dubious honor of a single-digit approval rating). This unpopularity was due in part to a perceived lack of effectiveness and in part to apparent abuses of her gubernatorial privileges, including: her use of a Massachusetts State Police helicopter to commute cross-state, from Boston to her home in North Adams; and, the use of State House aides to babysit her children.
Wikipedia | Jane Swift
A sign of things to come?
