I'm not an Obama fan at all [not a McCain fan either, btw, though I do like Palin so far because I can relate to her - I never entered beauty pageants to pay for college but I did pay for it myself, I have kids and know how to balance a budget, I respect that Todd has stayed home at times while she worked - something no one mentions when asking if she can do the job - he'll be a SAHD essentially if she's VP], but I'm willing to give him a pass on that one. It is a phrase that's common in Washington DC but it was a very stupid thing for him to say. Two weeks ago no one would have thought anything about it, but Palin has 'trademarked' the lipstick thing for the next couple months at least and there was no way that comment was going to be interpreted as anything but a slam on Palin and comparing her to a pig. The full quote *seems* to indicate something else when taken in the historical context of the phrase. McCain has used it a time or two as well.
The quote of the day for today [the lipstick one was yesterday] is coming from the South Carolina Dem Chair Carol Fowler who told Alex Burns that Palin's "primary qualification seems to be that she hasn’t had an abortion." [That's on politico.com - I don't know anything about it but DH said he heard an interview with that in it a little while ago - and it's been picked up a few other places already, too, and it's only an hour and a half old or so.] The critics of Palin harp that she's a FORMER small town mayor [in the interests of full disclosure, her town is only slightly smaller than mine] and forget that she's a sitting governor. And all governorships are not created equal. Vermont's governor, for instance, has very little power [that's Howard Dean's former job, btw, but no one criticized him for that - because it's an east coast Dem state? I don't know. It's a small state land wise so it seems more populous because everyone's closer together than they are in Alaska?]. Massachusett's governor has the most. Alaska's is tied for number two with a couple other states. That has nothing to do with the person holding the office but rather the state constitutional definitions of the office. So yes, Alaska's big in land mass and small in population [but bigger than Vermont and Wyoming] but has a governorship with a lot of power compared to most other states.
Anyway - I'm willing to give Obama a 'foot in mouth' pass on that one, but I think he might want to talk to some other Dems... Whether they agree with her on policy or not, Palin is so popular right now that attacking her on anything BUT policy is likely to backfire against Obama, whether he had any part in it or not. Even many of those who don't like her on policy won't take kindly to many of the other things being talked about. IMO.
Carol [who hits post with great trepidation]
