Lipstick on a Pig

[fabrisse]

County and state fairs have all sorts of contests and judging. Most of them are for the quality of an item (Best okra pickles) or for the largest or smallest of an item (fattest pig, smallest acorn carving). There are races like sack races and three legged races for humans, or person against animal contests like catching a greased shoat.

All of it is meant to be fun. One fairly common one is the dressed pig contest. I have a feeling it was originally what I thought it was and an animal was slaughtered and dressed for serving -- much like a sheep to shawl contest with blood and guts. However, at some point it metamorphosed into a drag contest for sows. The animals are dressed in human clothing and accessories and paraded. Very often, the accessories include lipstick.

When I was a kid, my maternal grandfather would occasionally use the phrase "like putting lipstick on a pig" to indicate changes were merely cosmetic. I'm reasonably certain I heard it from my paternal grandfather, too, but I didn't know him as well so can't be 100% sure. It's even a phrase I've heard very occasionally from both my parents (both of whom were 4-H kids growing up).

I say this because, without all the media coverage, it would never have occurred to me that anyone could take Mr. Obama's remark about Republican policies as a slur against Sarah Palin.

Seriously. This is an old, old saying. There are fingers to point at Mr. Obama for using it. He may be a Midwestern Senator, but he's not naturally "folksy." It's not a slur to say that, none of the candidates in the primaries this year were particularly folksy. I've never thought it was a sufficient or necessary qualification for the Presidency anyway.

(In the same vein, I tried to find an old Doonesbury that I love about Al Gore. It referred to him as bilingual and showed him in the last panel in Tennessee saying "Y'all want hear my coon dog call?")

Now part of me is rolling my eyes that Mr. Obama tried to be folksy and didn't think it through, but by far the larger part is pointing and laughing at the Republicans for trying to make this remark into a direct insult when it isn't.

*sigh*

Is it November yet?

Comments

Pssst. Pass it on.

[siderea]

McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health care proposals that require too much government regulation. While he said he had not studied Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's health-care plan, he said it was "eerily reminiscent" of the failed plan she offered as first lady in the early 1990s.

"I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," he said of her proposal.

Oct. 11, 2007

Re: Pssst. Pass it on.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, and he did it referring to the female candidate's plan to boot.

I guess we're lucky he didn't charge Mr. Obama with plagiarism.

[skripka.livejournal.com]

(I have that Doonesbury strip--it's from the 1988 Democratic primary season--each of the candidates got a full week. Sadly, my scanner isn't working, so all I've got is the text...)

1: Alone among the Democratic contenders, Tennesee's Prince Albert had been prepared for power from birth.
     Gore: Enough preparation! I'm ready!
2: He certainly seemed ready. Depending on his audience, the Harvard-trained prince was, by turns, well-versed...
     Gore: Keats put it best.
3. ...well-prepared...
     Gore: My position on booster-phase battle management technologies has evolved.
4. ...and bilingual.
     Gore: Y'all wanna hear mah coon dog call?

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

That's it. Thank you.

I loved the whole "Prince Albert" series, but that one made me laugh like a madwoman. Since I was living in Belgium at the time, I had to explain the strip to a lot of people.

[thorbol.livejournal.com]

I think it's just a game: pretend to take great offense, and hope like hell you can get others to do it for real. I don't think it's particularly Republican or Democratic: it's what people much too often do when they'd rather win than be real and honest.

I thought Obama's camp made too much of Hillary Clinton's comment about Martin Luther King and Lyndon Johnson, alleging disrespect or racial insensitivity or the like where almost certainly none existed. (Of course, big bad Bill didn't help with his pointer at Jesse Jackson after the South Carolina primary.)

Of course, there are lots of other games, but this is the one that makes me want some bacon--no lipstick, please.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

You're right that it's all an elaborate game. My frustration is so high at them moment that I'm not sure I can last through November.