[Swipe] Slaughter the Pig


Slaughter the Pig

Team Obama needs to break out the knives and start rolling in the mud, too.

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Sept. 10, 2008–So we wake up this morning to a Web ad from the McCain-Palin campaign accusing Barack Obama of sexism. It is a swift and superb effort and, from what we know about these things and the political climate in which we live, likely to be effective. It is a quick and dirty piece of television remarkable for the jaw-dropping, breath-taking, head-shaking dishonesty on which is it based.

The basic charge is that Obama called Sarah Palin a pig, and that is sexist. Nevermind that it never happened. It is now clear that the Republicans’ strategy for victory is not to discredit Obama’s views or his policy positions but to destroy the man himself.

Based on the current trajectory, what Obama may have coming will make the swift-boating of John Kerry look like a campfire song. And if Democrats are nervous and a little dispirited today it is because they have seen the effectiveness of this approach before. More importantly, they have seen it in combination with the complete inability of their own candidate to effectively respond. Obama’s speech on charter schools and the importance of education in Dayton, Ohio yesterday did nothing to advance his candidacy. Instead, all the energy and resources of his campaign were spent explaining that the phrase “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” is an old English axiom meant to convey that deception has limits. Even McCain has used the phrase on occasion.

With undecided white women moving to McCain, the sexism ad will further monopolize Obama camp resources.

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