As the campaign for President gets down to the short rows, the rhetoric is heating up with the usual he-said and she-said and they-said comments, but now they’ve brought pigs into the mix.
First of all, what’s a pig got to do with the price of tea in China or Iowa for that matter?

Secondly, what they’re saying about pigs isn’t necessarily being done in a positive manner.

The John McCain camp got mad last week about a remark Barack Obama made that went something like, “you can put lipstick on a pig- it’s still a pig.” McCain’s group said those remarks were directed at the Republican Vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who said during her nomination speech that the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom is … you guessed it, lipstick.

 Obama’s group countered and said the remark was not meant to reflect on Palin but rather McCain’s claim to want to change the status quo in Washington. He wasn’t paying McCain a compliment.
McCain has made the same remark in the past talking about Hillary Clinton’s views on health care reform. He wasn’t paying Clinton a compliment.

So where do they get off using pigs in a negative tone and just what do the pigs have to say about all this? Well everyone knows a pig can’t talk or put lipstick on, but neither can a pit bull, for that matter, but there are a few things the public should know, including those presidential candidates before they seize the opportunity to downgrade swine again.

According to information from the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), hogs are a source of nearly 40 drugs and pharmaceuticals on the market; pork is the world’s most widely eaten meat (nearly 43 percent); pig skin is used to treat massive burns in humans due to its similarity to human skin; the pig is rated the fourth most intelligent animal; there are more than 180 species of pigs, found on every continent except Antarctica; pigs are often thought to be dirty, but actually keep themselves cleaner than most pets. They are seen lying in mud because they do not have sweat glands and constantly need water or mud to cool off; in the old days, sea captains kept pigs on board because they believed, should they be shipwrecked, pigs always swam toward the nearest shore; to stop free-roaming pigs rampaging through their grain fields, Manhattan Island residents built a long wall on the northern edge of what is now Lower Manhattan. The street that came to board the wall was named... Wall Street; and swine research led to the development of the CAT scan, a technology for examining internal organs without surgery.

Now put that in your pipe and smoke it. But that would be another toxic topic now wouldn’t it!

To equate pigs to something bad is like saying apple pie is not American.

And let’s go back to that “pigs are rated the fourth most intelligent animal” thing. Wonder where presidential candidates fall into that category? (No negative reference intended.)

Obviously, those folks meant no harm to the pig population; they were just trying to find an appropriate metaphor to explain their points of view.

But be aware, pigs are certainly smart enough to come up with some of their own rhetoric.

The talk around feedlots and farms all across the nation may be, “You can put lipstick on a politician … and this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home.

Tim Thornberry
Kentucky