Phony outrage

Barack Obama has correctly said that John McCain is using "lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics” in an attack on Obama for his use of a colourful aphorism.

Obama was speaking about George Bush and John McCain and how their polices are identical, then said, "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig,” a phrase he’s used in the past.

McCain immediately seized on this to accuse Obama of making a sexist remark. Trouble is, McCain himself has used the phrase—including when talking about Hillary Clinton’s health care plans. No one accused McCain of being sexist.

Why the double standard? The McCain campaign is desperately trying to sell Sarah Palin to women voters, especially Hillary Clinton supporters, despite the fact that Palin is against nearly everything they’re for. The Republicans think that creating a controversy will help them convince women to overlook Palin’s appalling positions on women’s issues (well, on pretty much every issue, actually). It’s a sham, a phony outrage.

Not surprisingly, the McCain campaign has been caught distorting the truth again and again in recent attack ads, including some of the worst the Republicans have produced yet. So making up a controversy is just par for the course for them.

Actually, Palin herself has been caught being less than honest about her record. She repeatedly uses her line “I told Washington thanks but no thanks”. Trouble is, it’s not true. As has now been well documented, she supported the “bridge to nowhere” until it became an object of ridicule. Even then, she didn’t return the federal money. In fact, she went on to get more money per capita in federal earmarks than was received by any other state. That’s hardly telling Washington "no thanks". But that’s exactly what American voters can tell her and McSame in November.