The Politics of Pigs in Lipstick

Much media attention has been given today to Barack Obama's recent poor choice of words. Too bad he didn't read his fortune cookie yesterday: "Put lipstick on pig, put foot in mouth." Seems that the McCain camp is having a bit of fun and probable folly in responding to this gaffe by posting a strategically edited and misleading "attack" ad which suggests that the Democratic Presidential Candidate was referring to Republican darling Sarah Palin when he said, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." Now, seriously, I believe - and Obama has made clear - that he was absolutely NOT referring to Governor Palin...that he was merely using a common expression in his criticism of McCain's economic policies. (One has only to google the phrase to see that it's been around a long time. ) For this reason, and most likely this is one of the few times you'll hear me say this, I have to side with the Obama camp on this one. I do think, however, that Senator Obama should have seen this coming. I mean, how many hundreds of times in the past week have we heard Saracuda's quote from her VP candidate acceptance speech - you know the one about the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull being lipstick? You'd think Barack would have thought twice before even using the "L" word. If he had, he might have realized he was risking the wrath of the Maverick, the Barracuda and millions of their supporters who jumped to silly conclusions as soon as the headlines hit.

Now, I'm pretty sure that McCain and Palin themselves knew darn well that their political nemesis wasn't making reference to the Governor and that their campaign managers saw this as an opportunity to widen the lead that they are currently enjoying. At any rate, I do agree with Barack Obama saying "Enough!" in response to this madness. Senator Obama was also correct in labeling this a "phony controversy". The American people deserve to hear straight forward talk about the critical issues that our country is facing. The candidates need to devote their time to clearly communicating their proposed solutions to REAL problems and not waste time on diversionary fiction.

To be honest, I'm baffled and embarassed that the McCain campaign allowed this to happen. I thought we were bigger and better than this. I guess they, too, should have read their fortune cookie which said "He who hears comment about makeup best not make up lies". Consequently, my next writing project of the day will be directed to my Presidential hopeful...for what it's worth - coming from me, that is - I will share with him not only my disappointment, but also my hope that he will take this piece of fiction off of his website and issue an apology for allowing it to get there in the first place.

The Sarah Surprise

Wow - who knew? One thing we can say about John McCain and his staff...they are good at keeping things under wraps. While all the recent veep buzz centered around Tim Pawlenty (yawn...) and Mr. Slick Mitt Romney (yuck...), all the while it was about to be Sarah Barracuda to the rescue!

I must admit that I knew nothing about this woman who may very well be the first female Vice President of the United States...but in the last two hours I've gazed at and googled her...and well, I'm pretty impressed!

This is "girl power" at its finest...Sarah Palin - the Governor of the Alaska, is a mother of five children. Her oldest son is serving in the U.S. Army - her youngest only born about four months ago. There are three young girls in the midst of them and I love their names - Bristol, Willow and Piper. Sarah married her high school sweetheart 20 years ago today. In fact, she said she had promised her husband a surprise anniversary gift...little did he know it would be the announcement of her being chosen as John McCain's running mate - the very FIRST woman ever put on a GOP ticket! Sarah has only been Governor for about 2 years and she says it all began with the PTA, which led to the city council, which led to Mayor, and it all snowballed from there. She has tremendous approval ratings in her home state and is known to be a reformer, not unlike McCain. Her high school nickname of "Barracuda" was earned as a result of her intensity on the basketball court. She not only hunts and fishes, but is also a former beauty queen and, in fact, posed for Vogue magazine late last year.

There will be those that say that she does not have enough experience to be put in such a position...one that could land her as the first woman President if something should happen to McCain. Something tells me not to worry. Anyway, the way I look at it, both the Democratic tickets and the Republican tickets now have one young and relatively green person on them...it's Barack vs. the Barracuda. (McCain and Biden add the elements of maturity, experience and crustiness.)

Palin said today in her speech that Hillary Clinton had left 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling hovering over our heads. Sarah Palin might just be the one who shatters it!

Hallelujah! It's Huckabee!

Caucusing Iowans sent a crystal clear message last night: They want to see CHANGE. They have tired of "politics as usual" where money matters more than message...they have tired of the nasty negative ads...they have tired of the candidates who blow the same old hot air and flip flop according to the direction the winds are blowing. They, like me, are ready for a new kind of leader. Iowans sent this message by awarding both Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama with resounding victories.

WOW - my man Mike is one step closer to setting up residence on Pennsylvania Avenue!!! Now, with Super Tuesday just around the corner, is the time for all of us who Heart Huckabee to become busy bees...and I can't think of a better way to spend the coming weeks!

Looks like it could be a HAPPY HUCKABEE NEW YEAR after all! GO MIKE!