TPM reader and film director James Mangold scripts what he wishes Obama had said today:
So. I’m talking about John McCain’s economic policies, and I say: “This is more of the same, you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.” And suddenly they say, “Oh, you must be talking about the governor of Alaska.” And now they’re making this big fuss and, you know — here’s where most Democrats in the past would carefully and earnestly explain how I meant nothing of the kind.
Heck, I was about to do that. Yesterday, I didn’t mean anything but a comment on their policies, one that was obvious to anyone who was there. But today is different. Today I am here to tell you that I am flip flopping. I’ve changed my mind.
Pig in lipstick. I meant it any way they want to take it.
For weeks we’ve all watched their low-ball ads and listened to their lies and twisted innuendo, attacks on my family and our values, community service and patriotism, all of it wrapped in our flag– and last night I thought to myself, Barack, CHANGE isn’t letting someone kick you over and over again. CHANGE doesn’t mean that the only response to blatant lies, extremism and intolerance is thoughtfulness.
Maybe the reason they think they’ll get away with this is they think I’m such a big lofty “celebrity” that I can’t get down on the ground and fight like a man. Well, they are wrong. Lies are lies. Not untruths. Not misstatements. Not “questionable” facts. Lies. And lies dishonor our nation.
A great country, the world’s greatest country, should not waste its time with trivialities — but a wise leader cannot pretend the world is as he wishes it was. If this is the kind of fight they want, then I will give it back to them.
So let me be clear what I meant yesterday.
McCain and Palin, their policies and their demeaning campaign are A PIG IN LIPSTICK.
They are OLD FISH IN A NEW WRAPPER.
They are a threat to our future. Because they are the past, masquerading as the future.
You want to go backward — vote for them.
