Lipstick and Swine

Burning up the news outlets today has been the furor over the comments by Barack Obama seen below:



The question is to whether or not Obama was referring to Sarah Palin, and thus, calling his opponent's choice for VP a "pig". It's pretty obvious from watching the clip in its entirety, and more than just the supposed controversial statement, that McCain's campaign jumped on Obama for a rather benign statement, one McCain has used before:



It is interesting to see how McCain's campaign has been quick to point this out, probably realizing that the national media would jump on any controversy that either side could muster, given the discussion had in Monday's class in regards to the McCain campaign's animosity towards the press. When it seems like the media is pushing too hard into the subject of Sarah Palin, they ask for "deference" but when its necessary to use the news outlets to advance their own campaign, they don't seem to have a problem using any source they can. The media, recognizing the possibility of a story, has jumped on the trail, just as the McCain camp could have wanted. In turn, a great deal is being made out of nothing.