Jim Hightower

Maybe you’re concerned about the collapse of America’s housing market, the disappearance of middle-class wages, the bloody mess in Iraq, or any number of other big issues. If so, you’ll be excited to learn that John McCain has finally taken a bold stand on something that all of America cares about: Lipstick.

In its ongoing effort to make this an election about nonsense rather than issues, the McCainites have lashed out at Barack Obama with a Karl-Rovian attack ad that blasts Obama for using this folksy phrase: “You can put lipstick on a pig [but] it’s still a pig.” He’s talking about Sarah Palin, shrieked McCain’s ditzy hatchetmen, as they put out an ad asserting that every female voter should be outraged at such an offnsive, sexist comment directed at the VP candidate. And, right on cue, the right-wing media machine dutifully cranked out echoes of McCain’s outrage: “He’s talking about Sarah Palin,” cried sleazemeister Sean Hannity!

Aside from the fact that such lip-flapping over lipstick is goofy and not worthy of someone supposedly running for president, a couple of other facts put the goof in their goofyness. One, Obama was not talking about Palin at all – he was referring to John McCain, noting that the man's economic policies are just re-packaged Bush policies. Second, McCain himself has used this very phrase, including having applied it to Hillary Clinton’s health care proposal.

What we have here is a perfect example of how the McCain campaign, now run by Karl Rove protégés, is insulting voters and disgracing our nation’s democratic process with screaming irrelevancies and intentional lies. McCain’s campaign manager has said, “This election is not about issues." It’s about character, he insists. But for most Americans, issues are very important – especially now that McCain has shown us his character.