The phrase is even older than McCain, and in fact he and his cohorts have used it, regularly, in the past. ABC’s Jake Tapper notes that McCain himself said it about Hillary Clinton’s health care plan less than a year ago. Where was the outrage then? His former press secretary even put it on the cover of a book. McCain used a similar pig-related colloquialism (”Never get in a wrestling match with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.” Perhaps that’s advice that Obama should heed in this case) in the GOP primaries when discussing Mitt Romney. None of those spawned outrage or ridiculous accusations that McCain and staff were calling anybody a pig. It’s not like this is the first time Obama has ever uttered the expression either, having declared that President Bush and Gen. Petraeus were trying to put lipstick on a pig with their carefully tailored Iraq War report.

Still, Gov. Jane Swift is now making a fool of herself, on behalf of the McCain campaign (and the “Palin Truth Squad*”) by accusing Obama outright of calling Palin a pig, and demanding an apology. She’s positive that it was a direct reference to Palin because Palin was the only one of the four candidates on both parties’ tickets who wears lipstick. Apparently Swift can’t comprehend that the lipstick, and the pig, of “lipstick on a pig” aren’t to be taken literally. It’s ok, metaphorical speech is lost on some folks. But even if Swift just isn’t intelligent enough to understand how a colloquialism works, she still contradicts herself in the next sentence. Her entire quote below (which of course includes her mistaken reference to Palin as a candidate for President (who knew?):

“She is the only one of the four candidates for president, or the only vice presidential candidate who wears lipstick, I mean, it seemed to me a very gendered comment.
But, Swift added, if “as part of his apology Sen. Obama wants to say, no, he was calling Sen. McCain — who is a true hero in our country — a pig, then I suppose we could wait en masse for an apology to that, as well.”

There you have it folks, she knows it’s a reference to Palin because Palin wears lipsticks, but if Obama says it’s a reference to McCain, who (presumably) does not wear lipstick, then that’s ok too. You get that? She’s willing to completely obliterate her own attempt at logic so long as it still comes off as Obama name-calling. That should be more embarrassing than anything. She KNOWS she makes no sense yet she keeps pushing it anyhow.

Asked about McCain’s comment towards Romney during the primaries, and if he was calling Romney a pig, Swift replied “Of course not.” Because you know, you only take colloquialism’s seriously if it’s the other guy saying it. The Republican ticket is tryng to run on “change” (before Palin joined it was “experience,” who knows what they’ll be for next week), yet their resorting to the same lying, hypocritical, distraction-based tactics of the Bush campaign. Seems to me Obama was right; you can put lipstick on a pig, but it is definitely still a pig.

*As an aside, isn’t it a little eerie that there’s another lying “Truth Squad” out run by somebody who happens to be named “Swift.” I know she can’t help what her last name is so it’s a total coincidence, but if this were a novel, it’d be a pretty obvious literary parallel to the Swift Boat guys from last election.