Lipstick on a pig

If you're wondering why I'm already sick to death of the election cycle, this whole "lipstick on a pig" brouhaha is a perfect example. Let me share a few thoughts on the subject.

1. I don't for one moment believe McCain, Palin, or any of their partisans actually believe that Obama called Palin a pig, or meant to. Cut the crap. If this is a comment that merits an apology, then let's also demand to hear one from McCain, Cheney, Petraeus, and everyone else who has used this expression also.

2. As long as I'm questioning the sincerity of the Republicans' indignation, I would note that Palin compared herself to a dog with the original joke. "Pig" is not much better or worse than "dog." "Bitch" and "dog" are insults themselves. At this point, I would wonder if the whole point of that stupid joke was to create a lipstick reference so that if Obama used the cliche, they could cry foul over nothing.

3. Being fair to both sides, if Obama is as great a rhetorician as his partisans claim he is, why on earth is he using such a hackneyed old cliche?

4. Getting back to McCain and Palin, if they're really this mad over such a trivial perceived insult, then you certainly shouldn't want either in the oval office. It would be extraordinarily dangerous to the human race to have such a sensitive temper in control of the nuclear trigger. If these two get elected, you can count on four years of Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, etc., using the word pig to excess.

5. Am I the only person who has noticed that there is very little discussion of agricultural policy in all this discussion of pigs? Or any real issue, for that matter?