What’s the difference between the presidential campaign before and after the national political conventions? Lipstick.
The colorful cosmetic has become a political buzzword, thanks to Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s joke in her acceptance speech that lipstick is the only thing that separates a hockey mom like her from a pit bull.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama told an audience in Lebanon, Va., on Tuesday that GOP presidential nominee John McCain says he’ll change Washington, but he’s just like President Bush.
“You can put lipstick on a pig,” he said to an outbreak of laughter, raucous applause and an ovation from his audience, clearly
drawing a connection to Palin’s joke. “It’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still going to
stink after eight years.”
McCain’s campaign immediately organized a telephone conference call in response and called on Obama to apologize for calling Palin a pig. Obama’s campaign said he wasn’t referring to Palin; he had been talking about McCain immediately before the lipstick comment.
Obama followed up by saying Palin is an interesting story, drawing boos at the mention of her name that he tried to cut off.
“Look, she’s new, she hasn’t been on the scene, she’s got five kids. And my hat goes off to anybody who’s looking after five. I’ve got two and they tire Michelle and me out,” he said.
A questioner rose and asked Obama to join Republicans and agree that candidates’ families and religion are off limits. Palin’s pregnant teenage daughter and the teachings of her church, the nondenominational Wasilla Bible Church, have been the subject of scrutiny since McCain picked her as his running mate.
Obama responded that he already has said families are off limits and he’s very protective of his daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha. He said he doesn’t want their inevitable future mistakes to become newspaper fodder if he gets to the White House.
Obama also is no stranger to attacks on his religion. He’s been the subject of a false rumor campaign saying he’s a Muslim, and the racially tinged sermons of his longtime former preacher caused problems for his campaign earlier this year.
He stressed that he’s a Christian and “so the fact that Gov. Palin is deeply religious, that’s a good thing.” He said poking around
in her religion or saying it’s wrong is “offensive” and he wants to have a debate about the issues.
“But don’t give people some sort of religious litmus test because I don’t want somebody to question my faith and I’m certainly
not going to question somebody else’s,” he said.
The author has been a writer/ photographer for over 20 years, specializing in nature,landscapes and studying native cultures.Besides visiting most of the United States, he has traveled to such places as Egypt,the Canary Islands,much of the Caribbean. He has studied the Mayan Cultures in Central America, and the Australian Aboriginal way of life.Photography has given him the opportunity to observe life in many different parts of the world!
He has published several books about the various cultures he has observed.
For more information and a link to his hard cover and Ebooks,and contact information: please check his website, http://www.journeysthrulife.com.
Your comments appreciated
A narrative about what life in The United States was in our golden era, and how it became what it is, and offering solutions to enable us to once again travel the path to freedom and self-reliance.
Common Sense 