I'm Officially Shutting Down This 'Lipstick On A Pig' Discussion

What a trying day. What an insufferable news cycle. This is why Mission of Burma wrote the song "That's When I Reach For My Revolver." And this is why I am thankful that I have the good sense not to own one.

Chris Matthews teased the top of Hardball by saying, "By now, you may have heard of this 'lipstick on a pig' controversy." And, naturally, hot blood shot to both my temples. "Well YES, Chris. 'By now' I have, in fact, seen at least sixty seconds of your network's dayside coverage." But I restrained myself, because I know that occasionally Tweety will rise to the occasion, and shut some nonsense down, declaratively. One would imagine, that with the network pivoting to tonight's extra-Special Comment about...oh, what was it again? Wasn't it something that people think of as important? OH YES 9-11! Like I said...ONE WOULD IMAGINE that Matthews might be shrewd enough to not send his viewers into the media twaddle version of the Hadron Supercollider, where "lipstick on a pig" is shot at 9-11, leading to a black hole that would suck everything in the world that is not already sucking -- just as hard as it can -- into the sweet release of nonexistence.

But, no. Matthews proceeded to explain that tonight, "We'll talk to some Democratic and Republican strategists about it."

And I'm like: "TWEETY, PLEASE. Nobody needs to hear any more nonsense from strategists. This is a matter of linguistics and colloquial expressions. The phrase "lipstick on a pig" is commonplace, well understood, not freighted with sexist connotation, and it's not some sort of inside-the-beltway neologism."

Is it a swipe at Sarah Palin? Can anyone say definitively that it is? Of course not! And, really, how could they? When Palin is not gamely reciting her greatest hits on the stump, the McCain camp has got her locked up in Rapunzel's Tower -- updo in full effect -- away from anyone who would dare pose a question in her direction. For all anyone knows, Palin is a pig in lipstick, a silk purse sewn from a sow's ear, a turd in need of polish, OR NONE OF THOSE THINGS, but, heck -- I'm willing to reserve judgment until such time as she's mustered up the courage and the wherewithal to actually face the public she professes to serve and prove otherwise.

But the larger concern should not be with Palin, who, to me anyway, comes across as a perfectly capable brawler, deft with zingers of her own. Here's the major concern: The whole wide world went to bed last night, safe in the thought that tomorrow, we would all wake up and be able to say "lipstick on a pig" the same way we have done every bloody day of our lives. And I'll be good and goddamned if I'm going to let strategists, pundits, and news anchors take that away. NO NO. It is time for someone to say that we are not this stupid, that we are not this pliable, that we are not going to be led by the nose, and that, going forward, every single person on the television and in print who has the nerve to suggest that the use of the phrase "lipstick on a pig" is a deep matter that faux-experts need to dissect and decipher needs to be immediately trepanned with a railroad spike and thrown into a ditch.

I'm officially reclaiming "lipstick on a pig" for humanity. Further discussion is a non-starter. I warn you: THAT DOG WON'T HUNT. NOT EVEN AERIALLY.

UPDATE: Many have pointed out that Matthews made gamely efforts to shut this nonsense down as the show went on. Saints be praised.

Comments

[Chavez08]

STOCKHOLM SYNDROME-YAAYYYYY!!!!

[BabsfromKansas]

Obama was great on Lettterman about this

[castlerider]

Yeah. She's the lipstick. His policies are the pig.

[heal57]

He sure was, especially his answer as to what he would have done if he was prez on 9/11. Instead of 'shop' which 'W' told Americans to do, 'O' would have brought the country together to start getting off all foreign oil and go and complete our mission in Afghanistan.

[LCRover001]

Unless you guys have not been paying attention Plain can continue to lie and get away with it because she has already landed the killing preemptive blow during her acceptance speech against the media.

She has already put the seed that they are all out to get me so don't believe anything they say in the minds of all of the right wingers and any others who like her.

She knew the truth about her would eventually surface and so she labeled the media as the liberal lynch mob out to get her. Not only has Palin done so but so have the rest of the republican party. They say of don't listen to that noise and static it is just the liberal media trying to destroy this good Christian woman.

They point out her experience and say it is far better than Obama's and she has done this and she has done that but don't listen to those who refute what she has said they are trying to destroy her. She is not running for president McCain is. She has become what she was meant to be a distraction from the issues.

They will not talk about issues they will continue to smear, lie, and play the victim because that is all they got the only change they are going to bring to D.C. is new names on the P.O. Boxes.

[milo h minderbinder]

I think there's a big upside to this that nobody has mentioned.

Palin has been using her annoying "lipstick" joke at every appearance and it always gets a big reaction.

After this whole nonsense, now every time she mentions "lipstick" everyone is going to think "pig". She might keep using it, but it won't get the same mental association - people won't think of a tough hockey mom, they'll think of a victim whining about sexism where it doesn't exist, they'll think thin skinned and overreacting.

I'm good with that.

[booker52]

I saw this yesterday on Hardball and with the exception of the airhead Rep from Oaklahoma I thought Chris did a pretty good job of shutting this pig story down.

[wtfcharlie]

Here is McCaine talking about Hillary's health care plan (lipstick):
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=kS6KLSyNWes
please send this around.

[schatsie]

You know NOBODY is talking about how ELITIST it is to SHOOT WOLVES from frigging HELICOPTERS....Is that really dumb or what, kind of like shooting fish in a barrel....

Do you think that the money she SAVED by not paying for rape kits went to fund that kind of hunting???
Next she will ban the rape kits entirely... After all didn't the women ask for it...

I am tired of the Repugs going down the slippery scope, but then when we do a parallel saying we are out of touch or whatever... Remember we need to take this country back from ROVE and LIMPAUGH

[Whinger]

Has anyone bothered to ask Ms Piggy for her views?

How sexist is that!

[darlingdem]

Pundits like Chris Matthews are a BIG part of the problem. He is one of the media’s worst offenders when it comes to latching on to whatever the faux scandal of the day happens to be. So it’s ironic that he was so full of righteous indignation today over this manufactured lipstick controversy.

The only reason that Matthews called out the McCain camp today is because he and his producers read the blogs and sensed that many of us have reached a threshold in this campaign…and aren’t going to tolerate this garbage anymore. But I would point out that Hardball STILL SPENT THE ENTIRE HOUR ON THIS NONSENSE. He even threw in a little monologue about how, twenty years from now, we’ll all look back at this election and the critical issues that we were facing…and all we could talk about was lipstick. (And I'm a sucker because I keep watching,..thinking someday he's going to get serious about covering this election.)

Well, Chris…if your outrage isn’t phony…and you’re really sincere about spending quality time on your show discussing things that matter, then it’s time for you to WALK THE WALK…AND NOT JUST TALK THE TALK.

That goes for Anderson Cooper and others, too. The media has a vital role to play in this election by COVERING THE ISSUES IN A MEANINGFUL WAY…AND HOLDING OUR CANDIDATES AND ELECTED OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE!

[alkamm]

The media are craven self-promoters who know what they are doing when they refuse to perform their function of keeping politicians' feet to the fire of tough questions that challenge the trivial emphases.
The MSM is a pale specter compared to the giants of the past who refused to fall in line with corrupt campaigns by treating them with calculated deference. They manage to turn up facts that would disgrace politicians of the past, but their studied objectivity prevents them from pushing their own scoops.
Perhaps the worst offenders are those who are so over the top and full of themselves that their criticisms seem as invalid as their trumped up stature in todays feeble journalistic cadre.

[idyl]

I thought Matthews did a masterful job illuminating the manufactured quality of the debate. He pressed McCain spokespeople on their talking points, and kept driving home the association "Palin" and "Pig" in beautiful and delicious Rovian irony. The whole debate references a book by McCain communications director, Torie Clarke ("Lipstick on a pig"), and is inside baseball. It got Palin off the front page (temporarily), and allowed Obama to rise above the fray: "Enough." The McCain campaign took the bait, and the ad (with Couric) has been removed from YouTube (and is not being used) by the campaign. Could we stop with the false outrage that Democrats aren't doing their job!! This was a curveball, and Matthews was right there with the punches. I watched the other news … everyone's talking about "silly season" and wondering what's being said about the economy. This is a score in the plus column for Democrats.

[sassafra]

jason, it doesn't matter what you "officially" do with the gop lipstick meme at this point, you see you've already fallen into their trap.
you could have used your soapbox as a huffpost blogger this news cycle to attack mccain on any number of valid issues on which he is vulnerable. instead you wrote about lipstick, which is exactly what they wanted you to do.

[alkamm]

She is a pig. She does wear lipstick. Obama's subtext is accurate and timely. A pity he can't embrace the accuracy of his remark and point out the many ways and means such creepy swine are what they are.
Oh wait, he is doing this, systematically and with grace and power. She and her party are bathing themselves in all manner of self-righteousness and unfair scorn, but you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
Perhaps a greater Republican than those afoot today said it best about fooling some of the people all of the time. With any luck, those that are fooled marginally less may tip the balance against these gutter politicians who want the country to wallow with them at the trough of greed and hate. If not, we all get what we deserve.

[Aaror]

Obama should push this one, keep it in the news, talk about it!
Obama, "Well, according to the McCain campaign, if you use the phrase 'lipstick on a pig,' you are sexist. This may be a surprise to the American Heartland. But I guess McCain has been in Washington so long he doesn't know the phrases we use out here in farm country."
Come on, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade, but when life hands you eggs, flour, suger, chocolate, and baking soda, you may as well make a chocolate cake!

[mdj20000]

I didn't realize how jealous the repubs were of Obama until they got puppet palin. Now its like look see! we can be excited and have hope to! Too bad the only hope and change palin brings is bush with lipstick.

[GBartrem]

LoL! Jason, I used to own the EP.....and that is a good tune ......"That's When I Reach For My Revolver."

[milo9]

Lipstick anyone?

[wadda]

I think Barack Obama is very-very smart. He's also very classy.

...unlike the crude crass McCain/Palin team. (See, I'm not even in Obama's league.)

He didn't call Sarah a pig; or John an old fish.

....but he did...with 100% deniability.

But we all know there is a pig and an old fish in the race....no, really, we do. This is the reason we are outraged by the lies and half-truths and the failure to address the pressing issues...the economy; the war; the future of our life on the planet.

I suggest the old fish and the pig suck it up and deal with real problems and not their bruised egos...that is if they want to get my vote. I just don't think they can.