[steve-b]

Oh, puh-leeze. This one is a loser; everybody knows that “putting lipstick on a pig” is a common expression for a lame attempt to disguise crappy substance behind appealing trappings.

[Blowtorch]

Oh, puh-leeze. This one is a loser; everybody knows that “putting lipstick on a pig” is a common expression for a lame attempt to disguise crappy substance behind appealing trappings.

I don't think the argument is that it's not commonly used by politicians, rather that in this particular case it certainly was to smear Palin. He knew he could then claim he didn't mean it like that. But if you look closely at the crowd when he say's "you can put lipstick...." (loud cheers).."you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig." It seems obvious that Obama knew what he was doing - the crowd certainly did. Otherwise they wouldn't have started shouting as soon as "lipstick" left his mouth.