McCain Would Rather Call His Running Mate A Pig Than Discuss His Economic Policy

To me, it was perfectly clear: Barack Obama was talking about the McCain-Bush economic policies when he said, "You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig."

We all know what happened then. The McCain campaign suggested it was an insult directed at Sarah Palin ("What's the difference between a bulldog and a hockey mom? Lipstick"). The campaign put up a web ad and demanded an apology.

Obama responded this morning. My favorite parts came near the beginning and near the end:

The McCain campaign would much rather have a story about phony and foolish diversions than about the future. This happens every election cycle. Every four years, this is what we do. We've got an energy crisis. We have an education system that is not working for too many of our children, and making us less competetive. We have a economy that is creating hardship for families all across America. We've got two wars going on, veterans coming home not being cared for, and this is what they want to talk about. This is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about.

Spare me the phony outrage. Spare me the phony talk about change. We have real problems in this country right now, and the American people are looking to us for answers. Not distrations, not diversions. Not manipulations. They want real answers to the real problems that we are facing.

I'd like to add, for my part, that the media could choose not to cover this nonsense.