'Lipstick pig' row hits Obama

Barack Obama has accused his Republican rivals of stirring "phoney outrage" after claims that he had likened John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, to a pig with lipstick.

The controversy erupted after Senator Obama went on the offensive, attempting to draw attention away from Mrs Palin who has hogged the media limelight since her nomination speech in St Paul last week.

At an event in Norfolk, Virginia, on Tuesday night, the Democrat used a colloquial expression about putting "lipstick on a pig" which he insisted was a reference to Senator McCain's repackaged policies and not a derogatory remark aimed at Governor Palin. But Mr Obama's mocking tone echoed some of his ham-fisted attacks on Hillary Clinton during their bitter primary campaign and may well backfire on him.

Related articles

• The Lipstick on a Pig Tapes
• Protests after Brown gives his support to Obama
• On The Campaign Trail
• Search the news archive for more stories

"Enough!" Senator Obama said yesterday, interrupting a speech he was giving on education. "I don't care what they say about me but I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phoney outrage and Swift Boat politics. Enough is enough."

The controversy had begun when Mr Obama engaged in a lively attack on the Republicans' newly-minted mantra of bringing "change" to Washington politics. He likened it to trying to put lipstick on a pig. "It's still a pig," he said to loud applause from members of the audience who may have assumed he was referring to Governor Palin.

Last week Mrs Palin electrified the Republican convention by improvising a joke about being a hockey mom: "What's the difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom? Lipstick."

Directed by the McCain campaign's lead adviser Steve Schmidt, an internet ad was quickly released stating that Mr Obama had made a degrading remark aimed at Governor Palin and that he should apologise.

The McCain campaign is using the internet as a rapid reaction tool and it is increasingly dominating the media agenda. Attempting to respond to Mrs Palin's popularity, without falling into the trap of appearing to be a bully, Mr Obama decided to tackle the controversy head on yesterday.

"What their campaign has done this morning is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country. They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw out an outrageous ad because they know it's catnip for the news media," he said.

"I'm talking about John McCain's economic policies and I said here's more of the same, 'You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig'. Suddenly, they say, 'Oh you must be talking about the Governor of Alaska.'"

With the audience applauding, he added: "See it would be funny, it would be funny except, of course, the news media decided that was the lead story yesterday. The McCain campaign would much rather have the story about phoney and foolish diversions than about the future.

"Spare me the phoney outrage. Spare me the phoney talk about change." Mr Obama continued: "We have real problems in this country right now and the American people are looking to us for answers, not distractions, no diversions, not manipulations."

A McCain-Palin campaign spokesman took Mr Obama to task for blaming the media for even reporting the lipstick remark, instead of accepting responsibility himself.

"Barack Obama can't campaign with schoolyard insults and then try to claim outrage at the tone of the campaign," he said. "His talk of new politics is as empty as his campaigntrail promises."