It led on the Today Show this morning. Matt Lauer talked as if it was his primary duty to put this whole silly controversy to bed. They cut to a clip of McCain using the lipstick on a pig line last year and Lauer, in effect, said “the question is whether that should put this whole thing to rest” (I’m quoting from memory). He sort of ridiculed the idea that Palin should have any kind of ownership of the word lipstick.
Here’s the problem, if you watch Obama’s comments in full, I think Obama probably was referring to McCain/Palin with the fish/pig comment. The audience clearly thought so. I think even if Obama didn’t mean it, a more confident and less rattled politician wouldn’t have gone near the word “lipstick” precisely out of fear he’d be misunderstood. But as I write here, Obama is rattled, badly, by Palin.
Do I think the election should hinge on this? No, of course not. But I also think this is fair game and voters get to decide what’s important. There’s no doubt in my mind that Democrats would do far worse if the situation was reversed. And it wouldn’t be Matt Lauer’s self-appointed duty to put the fire out.
But, on a personal level, I can’t exactly muster outrage about the substance of the “controversy”, nor do I like the complaining about sexism.