You are the Decider: Sexism, lies, audiotape

The presidential campaign has been going on for, say, 28 months, and only now is it getting good. It's so good that I'm firing up my untrademarked graphic for my occasional political series You are the Decider.


What drives my excitement? Well it has to do with one of my favorite idioms: "Lipstick on a pig."

You might remember that self-avowed hockey mom Sarah Palin joked that the only difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom was lipstick. This week Barack Obama said the Republican promise to bring change to Washington was "lipstick on a pig."

So the McCain-Palin machine (Hereafter, McPalin) mobilized to brand Obama sexist. Forget that Obama's used that phrase so many times it qualifies as a rhetorical crutch. Forget that McCain himself used it to descibe Hillary Clinton's healthcare plan. I'm just so excited we have a campaign issue we can all get behind: linquistics.

I think we would be better off talking about the remark from the South Carolina Democratic Party chairwoman that Palin's "primary qualification seems to be that she hasn't had an abortion," but that's just me.