Lipstick on a Pig

Lipstick on pigs...the new lows to which our reporting on politics has sunk. it makes me sad to think of the giants that went before, names like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, and look at what our media has sunk to when discussing elections. It seems that news anchors on both cable and network news think that the only way they can get people to watch their shows is to report on the most trivial and inconsequential things they can find. Instead of holding an actual discourse on issue that affect people, things like war, the economy, health care and education, they are more focused on looking for the gaffes either real or conceived, that they can take and run with for days. I guess it's easier to talk about stupid things like that than actually do their job and referee what the candidates are saying, and getting them to talk about things that actually matter to people's lives.

The phrase "You can put lipstick on pig, but it's still a pig" is not a new political phrase. Indeed, it was first used in 2004 in a speech where Dick Cheney was referring to then presidential candidate John Kerry. It was used even more recently by John McCain earlier this year in a speech where he was talking about Hillary Clinton's health care plan. But no one is reporting that facet of the story, because to do so would require people in the news to actually have to sit down and do some reporting for a change. Instead, the comment is just pasted across headlines all over the country, with such awful reporting that no one knows it's a common phrase, they're just led to believe that it was a sexist remark.

Even then, I'm still really confused as to how it can be sexist. Did Barack Obama even refer to Sarah Palin at all in the speech he was giving? Had he said her name even once while he was talking? No. But once again, you won't find that on CNN, MSNBC or FOX (if you choose to watch that crap). Last time I checked, his whole speech had been about John McCain, and how his proposed policies are the same as President Bush's. No where did the name Sarah Palin come up. And, journalists, if you still really really want to call Obama sexist because of it, at least be fair and call out McCain too; after all, he did say it about Hillary...and he said it first.

Remember that time when journalists were supposed to report on the issues and tell you how your life would be different if so and so got elected? I sure do, because that time is now. Remember that time when they actually did such a thing? No? I didn't think so.