BARACK Obama has dismissed the US presidential campaign of rivals John McCain and Sarah Palin as putting "lipstick on a pig" in his most direct attack on the Republican odd couple aiming to keep him out of the White House.
However the line is being interpreted by some - especially those in the McCain camp - as a personal sledge against Mrs Palin, Senator McCain`s surprise running mate who described herself as a "pit bull with lipstick" when she accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination at the party`s national convention last week.
"We`ve been talking about change when we were up in the polls and when we were down in the polls," Senator Obama told a rally in Virginia as surveys suggested Senator McCain and Mrs Palin have overhauled his lead for the election to be held on November 5 (Australian time).
"The other side, suddenly, they`re saying `we`re for change too`. Now think about it, these are the same folks that have been in charge for the last eight years.
"You can put lipstick on a pig. It`s still a pig. You can wrap up 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," he said to instant applause.
Watch Barack Obama deliver his "lipstick" remark here:
Now vote in our poll (below right): was it a low blow or just a harmless joke?
Last Thursday, Alaska Governor Mrs Palin joked that the only difference between a hockey mum like herself and a pit bull was "lipstick".
The McCain-Palin campaign called the comments "offensive and disgraceful" and demanded an apology. The Obama camp said the remark was not a dig at Mrs Palin and accused the Republicans of a "pathetic attempt to play the gender card".
Asked how anyone could be sure the comment was directed personally at Mrs Palin, a McCain campaign spokeswoman said: "She`s the only one of the four - the presidential and vice presidential candidates - who wears lipstick".
Other reports quote Senator McCain as using the same phrase about Hillary Clinton`s health plan last year.
Embracing the running mate`s tradition attack dog role, Mrs Palin has been savaging Senator Obama daily on the campaign trail as Senator McCain talks up his maverick, reformer credentials.
He told a rally in Ohio that he had shown himself to be able to work with his opponents, something he said Senator Obama often claimed but could not prove. In her speech, Mrs Palin repeated her widely queried claim that she had said "thanks, but no thanks" to a notorious "bridge to nowhere" project in Alaska.
The Obama campaign immediately sent out an email to supporters highlighting the bridge "whopper". It also unveiled a new anti-Palin website called The Next Cheney.
The campaign took another nasty turn in a row sparked by education policy, after Senator Obama had accused Senator McCain of doing nothing in 26 years in Congress to rescue failing schools.
That prompted a television ad from the Republicans that said Senator Obama supported "legislation to teach `comprehensive sex education` to kindergartners".
An Obama spokesman said the candidate had supported a Bill that provided for sex education which encompassed teaching younger children how to avoid falling prey to pedophiles.
"Last week, John McCain ... couldn`t define what honour was. Now we know why," the spokesman said.
Since his shock decision to select the little-known Mrs Palin as his vice-presidential running mate, Senator McCain has come from behind to tie with Senator Obama or pull ahead in some polls. Mrs Palin herself polled well ahead of Senator Obama`s running mate Joe Biden in a hypothetical match-up between the vice-presidential nominees - 53 per cent to 44.
A survey of news media showed the McCain-Palin pairing had generated more coverage than the Obama-Joe Biden campaign for the first time in three months.
Posted by: Las Vegas "Mr. Obama has just insulted over 52% of the worlds population!" - That would be true if 52% of the world's population were pigs. And illiterate ones at that, read the article.
Posted by: Steely Dan of Bris Vegas 3:19pm today
Mr. Obama has just insulted over 52% of the worlds population!
Posted by: Las Vegas 2:46pm today
a common colloquialism that Obama has used for years, and one that even some Republicans have been known to say.
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