Let the Silly Season Begin: Obama Says 'Lipstick' Controversy Overblown

NORFOLK, Va., Sept. 10, 2008— -- Barack Obama assailed John McCain's campaign today for claiming that he had insulted Sarah Palin by using the expression "lipstick on a pig" to describe McCain's portrayal of himself as an agent of change.

Speaking at a high school in Norfolk, Va., this morning, Obama slammed the McCain camp for cynically making up a controversy and accusing him of saying something he simply never said.

"Spare me the phony outrage, spare me the phony talk about change, we have real problems in this country right now," the Democratic presidential nominee from Illinois said. "The American people are looking to us for answers. Not distractions, not diversions."

What Obama called "phony outrage" inundated the airwaves today, even making its way to the House floor.

"Sen. Obama might find such jokes funny, but women will only find them insulting," said Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich. "American women also understand that if this is the kind of change that Sen. Obama is offering to America, it is really no change at all. Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin and the women of America an apology."

The dispute began Tuesday night in Lebanon, Va., where Obama said that the Republican presidential nominee cannot offer change because he agrees so often with President Bush.

"Guess his whole angle is 'Watch out, George Bush' -- except for economic policy, health-care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics. 'We're really going to shake things up in Washington.' That's not change," Obama said. "You know, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

Obama had been talking for more than 25 minutes and had not once mentioned Palin. But some in the crowd thought Obama was alluding to the joke that the Alaska governor had made in her convention speech last week in which she said, "The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick."

Sensing an opportunity, the McCain campaign immediately produced a Web video that flatly -- and falsely -- accused Obama of calling Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee, a pig. The ad shows video of Obama making "lipstick on a pig" remarks with the text on the screen that read "Barack Obama on Sarah Palin."It also included footage of CBS News anchor Katie Couric saying that "one of the great lessons of that campaign is the continued and accepted role of sexism in American life." The ad was later pulled for copyright reasons.