Rove advances falsehoods about Obama's "lipstick" remark
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SUMMARY: Karl Rove falsely asserted that Sen. Barack Obama's statement that "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig" "was a deliberate slap at Governor [Sarah] Palin." In fact, Obama did not mention or refer to Palin in the comments immediately preceding his "lipstick" comment. Rove also falsely asserted, "The only time this word has intruded in recent months in the campaign was in her [Palin's] you know, self-deprecating remark at the convention"; in fact, McCain himself used the phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" in a public appearance on May 2.
On Fox News Sunday, Fox News contributor and political analyst Karl Rove falsely asserted that Sen. Barack Obama's statement that "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig" "was a deliberate slap at Governor [Sarah] Palin." In fact, Obama did not mention or refer to Palin in the comments immediately preceding his "lipstick" comment. Rove then falsely asserted, "The only time this word has intruded in recent months in the campaign was in her [Palin's] you know, self-deprecating remark at the convention." In fact, McCain himself used the word "lipstick" -- and, indeed the phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" -- in a public appearance on May 2. At a town hall meeting in Denver, McCain said "All I can say is that, yes, in 1993, we rejected the then-Clinton universal health care proposal. It was rejected by the American people. I don't like to use this term, but the latest proposal I see is putting lipstick on a pig, as we used to -- as we used to say."
Asked by host Chris Wallace on the September 14 broadcast of Fox News Sunday after playing a clip of Obama's September 9 comments, "[D]o you have any problem with what McCain is doing -- for instance saying, which a lot of people thought was kind of made up, that Obama was smearing Palin?" Rove responded: "Well, first of all, I do think that the lipstick remark was an inappropriate and maybe it was unconscious, but it was a deliberate slap at Governor Palin. The only time this word has intruded in recent months in the campaign was in her, you know, self-deprecating remark at the convention. For her to use the lipstick remark less than two weeks after she used it struck me as too much of a coincidence not to have been a deliberate attack."
But, as Media Matters for America has noted, Obama was not speaking about Palin when he made the "lipstick remark." Rather, his preceding comments consisted of what he described as a "list" of Sen. John McCain's policies that Obama said were no different from President Bush's. Obama said:
Let's just list this for a second. John McCain says he's about change, too. Except -- and so I guess his whole angle is, "Watch out, George Bush, except for economic policy, health-care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl Rove-style politics. We're really gonna shake things up in Washington." That's not change. That's just calling some -- the same thing, something different. But you know, you can -- you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig.
From the September 14 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:
WALLACE: You say Obama shouldn't attack McCain, but I want to play a clip for you this week of Obama ridiculing McCain's claim that he is the agent of change. Take a look.
OBAMA [video clip]: John McCain says he's about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is watch out, George Bush, except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics, we're really going to shake things up in Washington.
WALLACE: When Obama and his camp talks about Karl Rove-style politics, they mention things like the McCain effort this week to make a big deal about lipstick on a pig and to say that Obama was smearing Palin. They say it's diversionary tactics. First of all, are you complimented or insulted by the reference to "Karl Rove-style politics," and secondly, do you have any problem with what the McCain people are doing?
ROVE: Look, I demand a royalty. Every time they mention my name -- when John Kerry stood up at the Democratic convention, used my name four times -- I ought to get a small royalty. Maybe 25 cents per mention, a buck per mention. Please, it's my name. Stop using it without my permission.
WALLACE: I think you're a public figure. But in any case, do you have any problem with what McCain is doing -- for instance saying, which a lot of people thought was kind of made up, that Obama was smearing Palin?
ROVE: Well, first of all, I do think that the lipstick remark was an inappropriate and maybe it was unconscious, but it was a deliberate slap at Governor Palin. The only time this word has intruded in recent months in the campaign was in her, you know, self-deprecating remark at the convention. For her to use the lipstick remark less than two weeks after she used it struck me as too much of a coincidence not to have been a deliberate attack.
maybe it was unconscious, but it was a deliberate
Which is it Karl? Is your unconscious self outing your deliberate lying self?
All I can say to Karl is don't go white water rafting north Georgia..
When Gov. Sarah Palin used the line, it was effective and resonated with America; when Obama used it, it was awkward, barely made sense and offended people's sensibilities.
I doubt Obama was making a slap at Gov. Sarah Palin because if he were, I'm assuming he would have rehearsed it beyond a burbling.
Obama used the correct phrase, just the way McCain did earlier in the year.
It's good to know that "pit bull with lipstick" has always been a popular concept with sixth-graders, though. That says a lot about the intellectual level of Palin and her fans.
Nice work there.
Um.......Max Pharma.... or whatever your screen name is now.....
I realize that you must enjoy coming in here at MMfA to spout off your drivel and say your little rightwing snipets of stupid as if you believe that you have an intellect worthy of this site.... but I'm curious.....
How much rent do your parents make you pay for living in their basement??
Ok,
Here are my questions for those who laud Sarah Palin and have been decrying this lipstick moment and other criticism as some sort of "sexism"
1) What if Palin was a man? What if the Republicans have nominated an enthusiastic young man who advocated against abortion in cases of rape and incest? What if the Republicans had nominated a man who was in the middle of an ethics investigation in his home state? Would McCain be running ads saying that Obama was "disrepectful?" What if McCain would have nominated a man who was held up as having foreign policy experience because Alaska is close to Russia?
2) Would the same philosophies that Palin has expressed resonate as well coming from a man? Would independents be flocking to a man who claimed he said no to the bridge to nowhere, but kept the money?
Just curious as to your thoughts.....
Max -
Do you have to work hard at being so stupid, or does it just come naturally?
For years, I've been applying F. Scott Fitzgerald's description of an intelligent person as being the one with the ability to hold two conflicting ideas in their head at the same time, to the Republicans.
They've always failed this test, miserably.
Now I find that they're able to unconsciously do deliberate acts.
Boy, now I feel dumb.
Its one of those Zen paradoxes that helps you become wiser.
Or something.
Wow - Thanks for that! Because we were wondering...
And did Tina Fey nail that, or what?
Wait just a doggone minute:
I thought that was Sarah Palin playing Tina Fey...
As you should.
Liberals are great at this lofty rhetoric: " able to unconsciously do deliberate acts. "
What, .. lol.
Impress your foolish peers, but continue to embarrass your party.
Rove:Well, first of all, I do think that the lipstick remark was an inappropriate and maybe it was unconscious, but it was a deliberate slap at Governor Palin.
It was obviously a reference to that. It's smarter to read the article, then comment.
What, .. lol.- Max Dharma
You know, Max, if you wingnuts just stopped there, with the "lol", people wouldn't know that the comment you're "lol"ing at went right over your head.You always screw up by going into more detail, and proving that you didn't get the joke.
Most would probabaly assume you were as confused as ever, but you'd at least have that plausible deniability that you Republican women demand of your husbands.
Bite Me!
1)Palin was not the topic when Obama made the remark
2)Obama used the phrase before Palin was on the scene as well
3)McCain used the phrase in reference to Hillary's policies
4)It's an old saying
Thanks for playing.
"The McCain campaign said Governor Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, but now we know she supported it. They said she didn't seek earmarks, but now we know she hired a lobbyist to get millions in pork for her town and her state. They said she visited Iraq, but today we learned that she only stopped at the border. Americans are starting to wonder, is there anything the McCain campaign isn't lying about?"
Obama should turn that into a commercial...
STOP PICKING ON KARL ROVE!!!
You know his acolytes have only been running McCain's campaign since the end of August!! ;-}
BTW, how sleezy is your campaign getting if KARL ROVE says you've gone too far on Foxnews?!?!?!?!?!?
LIPSTICKGATE:
A sinister Obama HUSSIEN plot to destroy America through vicious sexist attacks. The compliant traiterous liberal media along with Democratic party operatives, working in conjuntion with the Al Quieda of the Midwest - Southside Chicago Branch, have attacked Mrs Palin by accusing her of being a beauty product used to disquise a smelly farm animal.
Fortunately this plot was uncovered and brought to light. Palin, the trooper that she is, has remained stedfast, telling voters that such attacks are nothing to her, living so close to Russia for all these years.
So far Obama has denied the charges, claiming that the pig was Mccain's attempt to make his record as a reformer look good. This is obviously a lie since Obama is really a Muslim terrorist who must avoid pork at all cost.
Sarcanol off
EB
CAN YOU READ?
As long as we're talking about clubs here, it's a little known fact that Sarah Fey...I'm sorry, I mean Tina Palin shot a third round 63 in the Greater Seward Invitational, even after breaking her 9-iron on a hibernating arctic mamba* hidden by the snow. She finished second to "Snow Leopard" Woods.
*(the deadly snake, upon being awakened by the blow, was quickly killed, skinned and eaten after cooking it over the warm engine of her golf-doo).
Talk about bitter, redstate sure is making hay about the comment. To hear them tell it, they know exactly what liberals think. They also claim democrats never apologize for anything. That's some projection on their part! Now to ruin y'all's day and post their article, amazingly titled Piggish Dem crowds now the party leaders [updated re vile 911 Dem pigs] ...
I don’t presume to know if Barack Obama was referring to Sarah Palin with his “lipstick on a pig” remark. But only a fool would deny that the wildly cheering crowd of Democrats to whom he was speaking didn’t presume that he was so referring to Sarah’s “pit bull” joke in her speech to the RNC last week.
This is especially so given the behavior of past Democrat gatherings:
1) The wildly cheering congregation of Democrats at the Wellstone Memorial Service that was turned into a raucous political rally in which Republican Senators attending to pay respects to their fallen colleague were booed by the crowd.
“If one ceases to believe in God, one doesn’t believe in nothing. One believes in anything.” – Chesterton
They will make politics their religion in which anything goes for the cause. See Marx.
2) Yet, many of those Democrats that do portend to believe in God are not immune to vile behavior sold on CD’s. Witness the behavior of the Congregation at Rev. Wright’s church, the one of the 20-year Obama parked butt. Obama can deny he ever heard any offending words from Wright’s lips about hated Whitey America all he wants, but such denials can’t drown out the din of his pew-parked butt nor the cheers of his beloved church family.
3) And finally, do you all remember the reaction of the crowd of Democrats hearing Hillary say that she was qualified to be President because she had experience in dealing with “bad men”? Hillary may not have been consciously referring to her husband, but the crowd presumed so.
After 18 years in the morally and intellectually bankrupt organization known as the Democrat Party, I knew my die was cast to eventually leave the party (which I did in 2000) one day when I saw myself and Bill Clinton as frontmen for the kooks in 1998. I stayed in the party for years due to the good people still in the party and the hope that I could help steer it back to JFK liberalism and away from its increasing hostility to people of faith.
I finally could not abide being associated with that vile creature any longer. I look back now and see my early years as a useful idiot for a party that serves the interests of no American citizen.
Given the behavior of recent Democrat Party crowds, I have to conclude that the number of people with any shame is decreasing exponentially.
Who knows what The Stammering One meant? He only puts two coherent sentences together when reading a script. But the Democrats in the crowds have memorized their vile script over many years. And if they forget them the DailyKos kids will remind them of General Betrayus.
No missing what they think.
[update re Biden/Dem crowd piggish on 911]
This line from an AP story in the Charlotte Observer on 9/11/08:
The liberal "we", ain't the same as We the People. I have warned never to mistake Democratic primary (and especially caucus) voters for insights into the American electorate. Same goes for an "we" that thinks Biden's vile joke is funny. Within hours these types thought 911 eligible for the butt of vile jokes.
Have I mentioned recently how vile the Democrat Party is? And not just their leaders and activists, but also those that laugh at vileness and those that remain silent and don't denounce it.
Much like all but Joe Lieberman and the silence in the face of the vile lie that Bush lied or mislead us into war. I said all along they would answer for that and it looks like they will answer with an Obama landslide loss and the return of an unapologetic, unabashed Reaganite to a seat of Power:
This time its a woman.
VP Palin and the shattering, not of glass ceilings, but rather of the cracked floor upon which those that tried to lynch Clarence Thomas and are now trying again in vain to lynch Palin.
This time the maddening pigs will fall so low that ants will urinate on them.
Yes indeed, the Repubs are now playing the victim role -- poor sad creatures they are. Are we to believe that they believe that sexism really exists? I thought that was something only liberals whined about. I thought liberals were the ones that wallowed in their victimhood as poor wounded miserable excuse factories.
Are we also to believe that they now see personal negative political strategies as morally indefensible? I recall that president Clinton killed his friend and covered it up, then threatened our nation to the core with his Monica activities. I recall that Al Gore was accused of saying he invented the internet, I remember John Kerry's "fake" purple hearts. Will they now take all that back because they see the light. With this lipstick business they seem just devistated. They can't seem to believe that Obama could be so vicious.
Meanwhile Mccain's camp is blaming Obama for any negative campagning on their part. The reason: Obama has refused a series of joint town hall meatings. Oh no!!!!! he has been victimized by Obama again. Only this time he is not taking it laying down. Mccain is going to get tough, er... negative. Its difficult though with Obama and all that lipstick talk.
SNOOPY
I've read a lot of your posts, and agreed with most of your views, but didn't realize you were that down on the demo. party. That's your choice, but are you saying Bush didn't lie or mislead us into war?
I appreciate you doing the dirty work. Like the work being done on this website, I think its important to know what these people are saying. I have been holding my nose to the Rush Hannities and Wiener crowd for years. It is frustrating to see these guys get so much air time without being challanged. So much of what they say is competely and easily proven false, yet they get to frame and disseminate completely distorted and false memes continually and its amazing how many people are hooked into it.
After the last 8 years and beyond (considering congress), we have witnessed destructive leadership. It seems impossible to think that the ruling party would even have a chance. However, when you observe how a large part of our electorate is conditioned, it starts to make sense in a very sad way.
Our current example is Palin. I am sorry but there is nothing to admire beyond perhaps her personal life (which is not exactly unique). Yet somehow we see a recharged Mccain campaign. It is almost like some kind of bizaar mass halucination. However once you consider how prepared so many of our citizens are for such a thing after years of being hannitised and dittoed, its not so suprising, just increadably pathetic.
I saw this on You Tube:
McCain/Palin = Unstable/Unable
I'm still fond of Mac & Cheescake.
(although considering how ageist and sexist "gramps and cramps" is, I can't help but like that one too, especially knowing that it will turn up on all the rightie blogs as an example of how ageist and sexist us libs are. Hey, it might even get on O'Really...)
Sock Puppet/Hulk.
This just in. Lint as a dietary fibre and of course,"HULK SMASH!"
The earths fate entered into the balance when Ms. Sarah was just going out to chop up a few biology texts when somehow her nieghboors Gamma Powered Salmon Smoker's (Pat Pending) door openned.
Will a cuticle remain unchewed? Will humanity survive? Will the earth remain intact? Will the hyperbole be played this year?
The only reason Rove is admitting McCain is a liar is because he sees the writing on the wall. He is using the occasion to try to make Obama’s ads look just as bad, but it won’t work. McCain has run nothing but Attack ads for months. Obama has exaggerated a couple of times, but his basic premises are true.
-As far as Obama’s ‘100 years’ ad, McCain did later reposition himself and say that the troops would not be on the front line. However, if McCain thinks we can stay in Iraq for 100 years without casualties, he doesn’t understand the difference between Japan, Korea, and the Middle East. Obama is right- a presence in Iraq for 100 years could only be a fighting presence. I have worked in the Middle East and I know the mentality we are dealing with there. There is no way Americans can continue to have a presence (as we have in in Korea and Germany and elsewhere) and not be attacked continually.
-As far as the ‘email’ ad, it has nothing to do with war injuries. McCain himself joked that he does not understand computers or the internet. True, he can’t raise his arms above his head: I don’t know about you, but my computer is not above my head when I’m working on it. The ad makes the valid point that McCain does not understand new communicative technology and doesn’t care to. You can agree or disagree about whether it will affect the presidency, but the ad itself is truthful.
McCain’s ads on the other hand, are out and out lies. What’s the matter Carl, getting worried?
ps, 'maybe it was unconscious, but it was deliberate'?? You're losing it, Carl.