Barack Obama takes heat for 'lipstick on a pig' remark about McCain
BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Updated Tuesday, September 9th 2008, 7:55 PM
Now it's getting really dirty.
The road to the White House turned into a mud pit Tuesday as a John McCain ad claimed Barack Obama wanted to teach sex education to 5-year-olds, while Obama accused McCain and Sarah Palin of trying to "put lipstick on a pig."
At a campaign event in Virginia, Obama mocked McCain and his running mate for their effort to co-opt his campaign's "change" mantra."
"You can put lipstick on a pig," Obama 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."
Though Obama prefaced the "lipstick" jab by referring to the GOP ticket's political positions, Republicans charged it was a thinly disguised slam on Palin, who famously described herself as a hard-charging hockey mom during her GOP convention speech last week.
"The difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull?" she joked. "Lipstick!"
McCain-Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said, "Barack Obama's comments today are offensive and disgraceful. He owes Gov. Palin an apology."
The Obama camp maintained it was no personal insult at Palin - just the use of a common expression to suggest the McCain-Palin ticket was trying to dress up bad policy. They circulated quotes in which McCain used the "lipstick on a pig" line to attack a Hillary Clinton health care plan.
Meanwhile, Team McCain slimed Obama in a new 30-second ad.
The spot portrays Obama as a lightweight on education reform, saying his one accomplishment is legislation to teach "comprehensive sex education" to kindergartners.
"Learning about sex before learning to read?" the ad intones. "Barack Obama. Wrong on education. Wrong for your family."
But as the McCain camp's documentation noted, Obama said he backed the legislation as a state senator for "age-appropriate" instruction to teach young children how to protect themselves from pedophiles.
Obama, addressing the issue in his 2004 U.S. Senate race, said, "I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age."
Tuesday night, 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.
"Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why."
The nastiest exchanges of the campaign came as both candidates prepare for a solemn joint appearance at Ground Zero tommorrow to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
msaul@nydailynews.com
BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Updated Tuesday, September 9th 2008, 7:55 PM
Now it's getting really dirty.
The road to the White House turned into a mud pit Tuesday as a John McCain ad claimed Barack Obama wanted to teach sex education to 5-year-olds, while Obama accused McCain and Sarah Palin of trying to "put lipstick on a pig."
At a campaign event in Virginia, Obama mocked McCain and his running mate for their effort to co-opt his campaign's "change" mantra."
"You can put lipstick on a pig," Obama 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."
Though Obama prefaced the "lipstick" jab by referring to the GOP ticket's political positions, Republicans charged it was a thinly disguised slam on Palin, who famously described herself as a hard-charging hockey mom during her GOP convention speech last week.
"The difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull?" she joked. "Lipstick!"
McCain-Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said, "Barack Obama's comments today are offensive and disgraceful. He owes Gov. Palin an apology."
The Obama camp maintained it was no personal insult at Palin - just the use of a common expression to suggest the McCain-Palin ticket was trying to dress up bad policy. They circulated quotes in which McCain used the "lipstick on a pig" line to attack a Hillary Clinton health care plan.
Meanwhile, Team McCain slimed Obama in a new 30-second ad.
The spot portrays Obama as a lightweight on education reform, saying his one accomplishment is legislation to teach "comprehensive sex education" to kindergartners.
"Learning about sex before learning to read?" the ad intones. "Barack Obama. Wrong on education. Wrong for your family."
But as the McCain camp's documentation noted, Obama said he backed the legislation as a state senator for "age-appropriate" instruction to teach young children how to protect themselves from pedophiles.
Obama, addressing the issue in his 2004 U.S. Senate race, said, "I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age."
Tuesday night, 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.
"Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why."
The nastiest exchanges of the campaign came as both candidates prepare for a solemn joint appearance at Ground Zero tommorrow to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
msaul@nydailynews.com
i'm trying to figure out how to afford an apartment in Montreal next summer.