By Greg Sargent - September 10, 2008, 10:04AM
As you know, the McCain campaign is pretending to be outraged by Barack Obama's use of the common phrase "lipstick on a pig," with McCain surrogates pretending that they believe that Obama was tacitly referring to Sarah Palin as a porker.
The McCain campaign even has a new Web ad (see video below) hitting Obama over the "pig" line.
As it turns out, however, McCain himself has used the same phrase not once, not twice, but at least three times.
The first one is the one that's gotten all the attention: McCain using the phrase last October to describe Hillary's health plan. But there are two more examples.
At a press conference on Iraq war strategy on February 1, 2007, McCain said (via Nexis):
"It gets down to whether you support what's being done in this new strategy or you don't. You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig in my view."
And according to National Public Radio, McCain said the phrase again that same day in a similar context (via Nexis):
"It's all about withdrawal or not withdrawal, okay? I mean that's what it's all about. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/mccain_has_said_lipstick_on_a.php