10 September, 2008

Lipstick on a Pig? Sheesh.

Seriously, can we get back to real political issues this campaign?

The news all morning has been on Obama's "pig" comment. The false outrage from the GOP machine is ridiculous, when McCain's own adviser Torie Clarke wrote a book called Lipstick on a Pig, Dick Cheney used it to refer to John Kerry, Obama has used the phrase in the past to refer to George Bush's Iraq policy, and John McCain himself used it last year to refer to Hillary Clinton's proposed health plan. It's a popular enough phrase, I remember my grandma using it. It's certainly nothing new when it comes to politics.

Politics this season have me feeling particularly cranky. As an independent contractor I want to hear about health care; as someone who still needs to help sell her mother's other house, I want to hear about the economy and the mortgage crisis; and as a citizen of an ever-more-interconnected world, I want to hear about how we plan to build relationships with other nations. What shocks me is how much airtime these non-issues get on the news, and how the silliness can actually sway voters.

Grrr.

I think I need to get away from the news outlets for a while and do some work on the house; maybe pound nails or break drywall or something...

6 comments:

modernemama said...

sometimes people do the right thing though

Anonymous said...

I completely agree. Let's hear about some real issues...

Karen Anne said...

Yes, I think my head is going to explode.

I am so disappointed in McCain, who I thought was going to take the high road, even though I am an Obama supporter.

The media is disgracing itself also. I miss Peter Jennings...

Karen Anne said...

p.s. Well, the debates are coming up. Maybe the moderators won't spend all their time on flag pins :-(

Marilyn said...

Joanne, I just saw this now but wanted to echo your sentiments: we've all but turned off the TV and stopped reading the interwebs in this house, because our heads were going to explode. It's a travesty.

On the plus side, I do believe (see Modernemama's link to CBS, above) that a wee bit of media backlash is beginning to hit the other way. Here's hoping.

Anonymous said...

See my comment on Evanstonnow.com -about city council members who are part-time employees getting gold plated medical insurance at the taxpayers expense.