Leftover Metrocard Change Infuriates Some
UPDATE: City To Remove 14 Blocks Of Bike Lanes On Bedford Ave.
Hamster Rides The 4 Train
Bouncer Beatdown at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club
2nd Avenue Subway Cooling System Will "Blight" UES
If it's the presidential election, it means that we are all going to be beaten down by the outrage, both imagined and real.
Earlier today, Barack Obama belitted John McCain and Sarah Palin's attempt to seize the "change" mantle from him, saying, "You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."
In response, the McCain-Palin camp said, "Barack Obama's comments today are offensive and disgraceful. He owes Gov. Palin an apology," perhaps thinking about Palin's much quoted joke about hockey moms being like pitbulls with lipstick.
The Washington Post reported that in spite of McCain referring to Hillary Clinton's health plan with "I think you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig" just last year, former Massachusetts governor Jane Swift--head of the "Palin Truth Squad"--"took extreme umbrage":
"Calling a very prominent female governor a pig is not what we want," Swift said, describing Obama's comments as "offensive."Is it too far-fetched to think that today's the Wall Street Journal article, which says that Palin's claims she was against the Bridge to Nowhere are contradicted by her record, was written by two women in order to avoid accusations of sexism?Four reporters were allowed to pose questions on the call, and three of them were from women who asked, with obvious incredulity, whether Swift honestly believed that Obama meant to literally compare Palin to a kind of livestock. When one reporter asked Swift why she assumed the remarks were directed at Palin, Swift replied: "It seemed to me a gendered comment. There's only one woman in the race."
"As far as I know, she's the only one of the four -- the presidential and vice presidential candidates -- who wears lipstick," Swift said.
Speaking of offensive, the McCain campaign released an ad claiming that Illinois State Senate legislation Obama voted for teaches "comprehensive sex education" to kindergartners. As McClatchy Newspapers explains, "This is a deliberately misleading accusation... the legislation allowed local school boards to teach 'age-appropriate' sex education, not comprehensive lessons to kindergartners, and it gave schools the ability to warn young children about inappropriate touching and sexual predators."
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, "It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls. a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn’t define what honor was. Now we know why."
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Honestly, Jen, do you TRY to be this careless? I don't think I have ever read an article of yours without blatant mistakes. Is it that hard to proofread a few hundred words?
The original quote is: “"…But you know, you can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig… You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it's still going to stink."
The quote you cited is not only inaccurate, but it’s so blatantly off that I can’t believe you thought it was the case. If Obama really said “[y]ou can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still change”, that would imply that “change” is something stupid. If you had taken a second to think about the quote you should have realized that he was trying to say that NOT everything called change is change.
Thanks for pointing out my mistake. My attempt to work from 7am till midnight each day is clearly very misguided.
And Republicans win with this garbage, too. You don't have to win the argument, you just have to muddy the waters. No normal person can run down every swift boat story. People get disenchanted not with the party, but with the race, and the angry turn out in better numbers than the thinking.
This is not even a big deal.
I have to give credit to the Clinton News Network(CNN), they have their truth squad working OT, and they have debunked a lot of the myths attributed to Gov. Palin.
Now she is a religious wacko, but a lot of the garbage that the dems have been piling on her is unfair, and CNN has been proving it so.
jen - hire and editor already, or take a new title. You are the reason that bloggers can never be taken seriously as journalists. I mean for god's sake, even your comments boxes have spell check!
Re: Obama's quote "You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig."
Now why did the McCain camp jump to the conclusion Obama was referring to Palin? Where did Obama mention Palin or even indirectly refer to her in this quote?
Perhaps Palin should take offense that her fellow Republicans immediately assumed that any sentence containing the words lipstick and pig must be a reference to her.
I was watching Fox News about this one last night and the Republican commentator said he personally did not think the two comments were related, which I agree with.
Yeah Jen, Damm you for working so hard on a great site!
;)
People here really need to chill out...
Back on topic: Yep, I bet the GOP run with this for whatever mileage they can get...
It would be nice to hear the "Straight talking Maverick" focus on an issue instead of BullS__t like this. Guess that's why The Daily Show calls him a "Reformed Maverick"...
Sad, isn't it, when a Comedy show does a better job than the "news"...
This is just typical - they're AGAIN distracting from real issues by creating a scandal over absolutely nothing. The fact that McCain himself used the same statement in reference to Clinton's health plan makes it all the more infuriating. All these cries of sexism are setting women back years.. how can a woman in politics expect to be taken seriously after all this bullshit?
The most infuriating thing about all of this, is that it works.
For example, when McCain chose Palin, everyone said, 'oh that'll never work, people will see right through him pandering to women, how pathetic!', and then it worked, and a huge percentage of hillary supporters switched over because hey, so long as someone on the ticket has a vagina, we should be all set, no matter what she stands for or against, so long as she has a vag.
What i wouldnt give to find out what kind of pig she really was, in high school.
The Republicans are going to react this way every time Obama tries to score a point. Never mind that their Swift Boat Campaign laid John Kerry low. They are conscienceless bullies and hopefully their time is over.
Chicago Tribune, 10/12/07: McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health-care proposals that require too much government regulation. While he said he had not studied Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's plan, he said it was "eerily reminiscent" of the failed plan she offered as first lady in the 1990s.
"I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," he said of her proposal.
The difference? Hillary don't hunt.
John McCain is such a whiner and an incredible overall disappointment. Talk about bait-and-switch. I want my $50 back.
P.S. - Has anyone had trouble donating to Obama? The last half dozen times or so I've tried donating the server has completely stalled. I hate to think how many millions of dollars they're missing out on because of their sub-par servers.
I can't believe the McCain campaign is being so douchey about this. It's like in the first season of The Apprentice when Ereka said "the pot calling the kettle black" to Omarosa and Omarosa accused her of being racist. Come on, now -- the intent is pretty clear when you hear it.
but I told Congress, thanks, but no thanks.
we'll build it ourselves. (eff it! then we'll do it live!)
I thought mcccain hated whiners?
What's the Difference Between George W. Bush and Sarah Palin? Lipstick.
I don't think Hillary supporters are switching. I think republican women are just comin out of the woodwork.
god forbid that anybody in the US should actually stop and think about anything for one second ever. It would be chaos.
McCain used the same expression in October about Clinton's health care proposal: "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."
so maybe he isn't calling her a pig. you can argue about that if you want and never know the truth.
another issue, however, is that obama blatantly ripped off a qoute given by his opponent. plagiarism? an orator as strong as obama needs to rip off quotes from his less savvy opponent? biden did that too in his presidential attempt in the 80s. ripped off a speech straight from a gentleman running for prime minister of england. can't these people come up with their own speeches?
nice one, #17.
Ma bell, I got the ill communication.
It's a pretty common expression actually, at least it is back home (the south, for me) where people speak colloquially and things is different.
yeah i know. nonissue here. not to mention, if he were calling her a pig we would certainly have to question his judgement even more, because she may be a lot of things the left doesn't like, but she certainly is not a pig.
She's really more of a shrew.
Would it be rude to call Sarah Palin a porker because she accepts pork-barrel spending in AK?
A reporter said it on msnbc yesterday.
As a resident of Mass. I'm glad to see Jane Swift back in politics. I felt Romney muscled Swift out of the MA gubernatorial race in '02 and for all her flaws, she seemed to be a decent person. He was only interested in being Gov. as a stepping stone to run for pres.
If McCain wins, I hope she gets a good gig. I hope he loses, tho.
ma bell, you need to chill. McCain was certainly not the first person to use this quote, and it's pretty common for politicians to "rip off" each others' lines.
McCain and Palin are running a dirty campaign. They don't seem to even care about lying and twisting words.
I agree Jen S, although I do wish the Democrats could copyright the word "change" so that McCain couldn't pretend that Republicans haven't been running the country for 20 of the last 28 years...
They'd probably just use a different term for change anyway... Alterations! Differentiation! "Stuff not same as stuff before!"
Hopefully the McCain camp will keep harping on this and everyone will equate Palin with being a pig.
OH THAT ma bell! You make me love BabyHitler.
great contribution robingee. thanks for participating.
and if you read, i said he is not the first to use that statement. but for someone bringing "change" he certainly seems to be bringing more of the same. chill...oh i'm chill. seems youre getting a little uppity though.
wait edward. the democrats run the country right now being they are in charge of the house and the senate. the idiot in office is helpless.
"and if you read, i said he is not the first to use that statement"
Well duh, if Obama were the first to say it you would not have used the word "plagiarism."
Because he used a common saying he is bringing "more of the same" to the Presidency? You are so good at twisting words around! I guess everyone has a talent.
Why not take the whole quote and complain about calling McCain an "old fish"? Because he really is?
Wasn't it Obama who said "Words matter"?
I'm actually becoming more and more disillusioned with Bam --- I wanna like him --- but the more he talks the more he seems like every other politician.
wait...what? i said that mccain wasn't the first to use the phrase and that it wasn't a big deal. he is supposed to be a brilliant orator. he shouldn't have to borrow punch lines that have been used by those that have been in power. do tell, where did i twist my words? and yes, biden is a plagiarist.
you have nothing to say so you go for the oldest trick in the book. and yes, he is more of the same. change wrapped in a veil of the same. "words? just words?" just the same words that have been used for a long time.
now is where you usually stop responding...which i commend. i mean, why let facts get in the way of your good rant?
According to my girlfriend, men are pigs, so I'm offended that a man would be wearing lipstick and be referred to as a woman when he is really a crossdressing pig, right? What?
I want this to backfire against the GOP so bad as 'see it's the same old shtick as the last 8 years'.
Right, ma bell. A good orator never uses idioms that have been in common usage for god knows how long. Give me a fucking break.
I'm not even going to touch the Biden plagiarism issue. That's been so thoroughly hashed out in other places that just seeing it referenced gives me hives.
It's very revealing that McCain and his little piggies would be making an issue out of a non-issue. It means the man literally has nothing to say or offer to anyone. Cue the Willy Horton tape...
ma bell, I don't think anyone is twisting your words. In your rhetoric, your strategy is what is called the "moving target," wherein you attack, re-position and then attack again, leaving your 'opponent' on the constant defense and unable to intelligently debate you as you keep deserting your previous position.
In a linear discussion, this is easily matched:
"so maybe he isn't calling her a pig. you can argue about that if you want and never know the truth."
If this is the case, why did the Republicans mention it? As #9 points out, because it's "distracting."
"obama blatantly ripped off a qoute given by his opponent"
First, quote in any spelling is a verb, not a noun. Secondly, an idiom is a common expression. By definition you cannot plagiarize something that is common.
"she may be a lot of things the left doesn't like, but she certainly is not a pig."
Well, that's the best response from the right I've heard all day. Now that we know she is certainly not a pig, we can move on. But as #33 points out, can we spend all of tomorrow ascertaining if either Republican candidate is a fish?
"the democrats run the country right now being they are in charge of the house and the senate."
If running the country means being in 'charge of the house and the senate,' why doesn't McCain just stay where he's needed? And Palin can run for Senator of Alaska.
first of all, never call me "the right" again. i have some conservative views and some liberal views and would never call myself anything. unlike you knuckleheads, i will make my own decisions.
and while you call it a "moving target" i would prefer to call it "making multiple points at the same time." i know its difficult for some of the demosheep on this site to process.
1. yes the republicans are distracting and they are a bunch of whiny scum.
2. your second point is just stupid. and you're not the party of the elitists...ha.
3. and yes the house and the senate both have democratic majorities and have done absolutely crap since this has been. much like barack obama, who has done absolutely NOTHING with his time in office.
Even if Obama WERE talking about Palin, she would be the lipstick and not the pig.
"i said that mccain wasn't the first to use the phrase and that it wasn't a big deal."
Oh, where did you write that?
And... I stop responding when I lose interest, snookypants. If you like to take that and do the "I WON!" dance, then put yer tap shoes on, Ethel.
nice and then you just ripped off what obama said! is anybody original anymore? i mean tell me, can you think for yourself or do you just say what the dems tell you to say.
read ,son, read. my whole line said that i didn't think it was a big deal. don't just respond, please see what i say and then respond.
so maybe he isn't calling her a pig. you can argue about that if you want and never know the truth"
Huh? If you listen to what he said he is not talking about Palin at all. Even Fox News agrees with that.
This example alone is proof that you hear what you want to hear, believe what you want to believe and if you read the posts here, most folks think you're kind of a jerk. Just sayin.
And don't call me "son" - I'm not your son and who even said I am male? Assume much?
most folks think i'm a jerk here cause i like to bust chops of whiny liberals which is all this site is full of. i'm cool with that. trying to change the world one whiny crybaby liberal at a time. can't win so you wanna take some from those who beat you. xoxo love daddy