Sex, Lies and Video Tape

SEX
The McCain campaign has reached so deep into the bowels of campaign strategy that there really is no suitable way to describe it. Desperate to paint the Democrats and the media as unfairly targeting Sarah Palin for her sex, they are actually accusing Barack Obama of referring to Palin as a pig when he described McCain policy positions mirroring those of the Bush administration.

The McCain campaign is so clamoring to have any repudiation of Palin be about sex that they desperately grab at everything having anything remotely to do with it as evidence. The assertion that Obama’s remarks were in any way directed at Palin is most egregious example of manufactured outrage in recent memory.

The backlash from the public seems to be a collective, “really?! You want us to believe that you’re offended?!” Even as the lazy media failed to cover the McCain outrage to its end, McCain appeared in an interview with Telemundo and asserted that Obama did indeed tie Palin to the comments. The image of McCain making this claim cast him in a sleazy light – literally. The shot and McCain’s demeanor made him look like he was standing outside the back exit of an adult bookstore (see video below).
LIES
The lie of their outrage comes as no fewer than four video taped samples of McCain using the exact same reference – twice in response to Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan. Has anyone at ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX or CNN thought to ask McCain if he was calling Clinton a pig? The mainstream media continues to wilt in the dog days of summer. In their defense, McCain was not available to an English speaking news outlet today, so we’ll have to see if they ask the logical question tomorrow. Actually, the McCain camp took the day off entirely today not discussing a single campaign issue. Of course the sequestering of Sarah Palin from any media at all continues. We are now on day twelve of Palin ducking any questions from anyone at all. She is scheduled to conduct an interview with ABC news tomorrow. Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos are the media’s version of Fred Rogers and Howdy Doody, avoiding convicting questions as if they caused syphilis.

Obama responded sincerely and appropriately in Virginia today. His remarks in their full context were tough and measured. In what felt like a conversation Obama pointed out with force how sleazy the mock outrage is and called for an end to it, asserting that the real losers are the voters. Clearly, the McCain campaign is fine with a continued victimization of the voters so long as it gets him elected. Let’s hope the voters finally stand up and call a true pig a pig.
AND VIDEO TAPE