Posted on 09/12/2008 5:36:52 AM PDT by shortstop
There is a rich irony in this lipstick-on-the-pig controversy. At long last Barack Obama is getting a taste of his own medicine.
He has thrown the stones of political correctness for years, and now some of them are being thrown back at him.
Maybe he'll learn something from it.
Here's the background. In her masterful speech at the Republican National Convention, Sarah Palin famously recycled an old Alaska joke – What's the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom?
Answering her own question, she pointed at her mouth and said, “Lipstick.”
It was a great moment, and the word “lipstick” immediately became a happy trademark of the Palin candidacy.
A candidacy which, by the way, may be the death knell of Barack Obama's presidential ambitions.
Earlier this week, in a clearly purposeful swipe at the lipstick trademark, Barack Obama said that John McCain's proposed Washington reforms were like putting lipstick on a pig. His pauses as he said it, and the crowd's laughing response, clearly indicated that he was jabbing Sarah Palin.
Interestingly, about an hour later, a former Massachusetts governor – who is also a woman – came out publicly saying she was offended by Barack Obama's remarks and that she considered them sexist. She accused him of bigotry, saying that his words insulted all women.
This same chorus was taken up by bloggers and McCain campaign surrogates all across the country. The campaign itself came out forcefully saying that the remarks were a deep and sexist insult to Sarah Palin.
The accusations were, of course, nonsense.
Barack Obama was certainly taking a shot at Sarah Palin, but it was not a sexist shot. Just as the Republicans at their convention had damaged his brand -- “community organizer” -- he wanted to damage her brand -- “lipstick.”
It was nothing more than the back and forth hooking and jabbing that is part of any major campaign. The accusation of sexism was illogical and unfounded.
But it was an exact parallel of illogical and unfounded accusations of bigotry which Barack Obama's campaign and surrogates have themselves repeatedly – and recently – used.
What happened in the lipstick-on-the-pig controversy is that the hypersensitivity of race communications was applied for the first time to gender communications. The chip-on-the-shoulder standard of race sensitivity was applied to a new area and worked against Barack Obama, instead of for him.
In race communications, in these politically correct times, it doesn't matter what you mean, it matters what someone else says you mean. The intent of the speaker is meaningless, the reaction of the hearer is everything. It doesn't matter whether or not you intended to offend, it only matters whether or not the other person chooses to be offended.
If someone says a word or thought is racially insensitive, there is no defense. The accusation is also the proof. And the accusations of racial insensitivity are thrown like hand grenades.
Here are some examples from the Obama campaign.
Early in the Democratic primary campaign, Sen. Joe Biden – in response to a question about Barack Obama – described him as “articulate.”
Immediately, Obama surrogates called the comment racist. They said that it was a racist code, that it made reference to a white stereotype that black people speak poorly. Essays were written about it, commentators went on at length, and Joe Biden's presidential aspirations were dead.
Joe Biden meant his comments as a compliment, that he considered Barack Obama a good speaker. But the hypersensitivity of race communications allowed him to be crucified for his words. It didn't matter what he intended, it only mattered what others thought to accuse him of.
By accusing racism, Obama supporters were able to damage an Obama rival.
Similarly, just this week the governor of New York – David Patterson – said that when Republicans at their convention said the words “community organizer” they were racist code for “black.”
Patterson – himself an African-American – said that the comments were meant to inflame and exploit white racism against Barack Obama.
The accusation, of course, is preposterous. But, again, under the rules of contemporary political correctness, the indictment is the conviction. If someone says it is racist, it is, regardless of the intent or thinking of the person doing the speaking.
Now Barack Obama is getting a dose of that medicine.
Defenders of Sarah Palin have decided to use the tactic of race activists. They have decided to throw the accusation of sexism the way some people throw the accusation of racism.
Interestingly, Barack Obama recoiled from and lashed out against this treatment.
Hopefully he learned something from it.
Hopefully he, in a quiet moment, was able to see the injustice of the accusation of sexism against him, and the fact that it is an exact parallel of the injustice of the accusation of racism that is made against so many people.
Barack Obama's comment about the pig with the lipstick was not sexist. Joe Biden's comment about Barack Obama being “articulate” was not racist. Republican use of the phrase “community organizer” is not racist.
These accusations are all equally absurd and irresponsible. They are not legitimate reactions to what was said, they are all calculated acts of character assassination and political sabotage.
And now that Barack Obama knows what it feels like to have it done to him, maybe he'll stop doing it to others.
ROTFLMAO
Don’t you love it when someone’s main weapon is used back against them?
Especially leftists, as we know what PC is all about - denying your opponent the ability to refute your absurd assertions.
Initially, I thought the McCain campaign should have ignored the comment, precisely because it seemed to me that they were taking something dumb and finding offense where it didn’t really exist, just the way blacks do. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was actually an appropriate technique and might make Barry stop implying that anything negative said about him was a product of racism.
In any case, Obama is a nasty, bitter man. Furthermore, he has a tin ear and seems to be really prone to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. I think the whole “pig” remark just called attention to this.
Personally, I'm glad the McCain people dropped it after one day. The damage had been done.
That’s terrific!
No he won't, you may count on it.
“Hopefully he learned something from it”.
...I don’t care if that disgusting excuse for a human being learns something or not! The concern isn’t “did he learn a lesson”, it’s when does he publicly and literally implode so we can get on with drilling, keeping the tax cuts and gaining winners in the House and Senate.
It wasn’t the McCain people running with it, it was the media.
Perfect!
Just ask George Allen.
every time I get into an argument with a liberal I just use their political correctness against them
they go mad and storm off all the time
Now I call Obama a racist and a sexist
I swear a couple of people have said he is not racist he is black
course we know he is not just black but also just as much white and more Arab, but do these people think blacks are not racist or something
Since coming to this country the most vile racist stuff I have heard has come from blacks, it is white this and white that.
They are actually open about their hatred of whites and yet many whites think they do not do it
It's about time that Republicans stopped fighting by Marquis of Queensbury Rules against the chair-swinging bar brawlers of the far left.
It sounds like someone in McCain's campaign finally got their hands on a copy of "The Art of Political War" - "In political wars, the aggressor usually prevails."
Or Clarence Thomas.
I think the issue that this whole lipstick on a pig brouhaha highlights, is that Barrack Hussein Obama is indeed, an extraordinarily small man. It brings to mind far too many examples of how Sen. Obama clearly chooses to make very careful, but knowingly snide comments to his followers, rather than to face his opponents. Last night’s Presidential Forum, once again, did not allow for that kind of face to face give and take. And once again, John quite helpfully pointed this out :)
It is hard to say which Barack is more afraid of, John, or, the American people finding out what he already knows about himself...
Tatt
Leftists in general, and not just 0bama, fear that their true selves will be exposed, because the majority of people of good conscience will find what they see to be repugnant.
This is another reason for the hatred and dirt-digging on Palin. What you see is what she is. And they can’t stand that.
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