McCain Camp Overplaying Their Hand

For the most part the McCain campaign has been pretty flawless since the release of the "Celeb" ad back in July, but I think they've stumbled today in their response to Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment:

The Republican National Committee and John McCain’s campaign are going on offense Wednesday, releasing a Web ad seeking to exploit Barack Obama’s use of an expression about dressing up a pig with lipstick, which the GOP claims was a personal attack on vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

The Web ad, called “Lipstick,” builds on McCain’s mobilization of its “Palin Truth Squad,” which on Tuesday accuse Obama of comparing McCain’s running mate to a pig and called on him to apologize.

The “Truth Squad” — composed of dozens of McCain supporters as a way to counter attacks on the Alaska governor — launched its first objection just a couple hours after Obama drew the pig analogy when describing his opponents before a Lebanon, Va., crowd.

“John McCain says he’s about change, too, and so I guess his whole angle is, ‘Watch out George Bush.’ Except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics … That’s not change. That’s just calling something the same thing, something different,” Obama said.

“But you know … you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You know, you can … wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after eight years.”

The colorful cosmetic has become a political buzzword, thanks to Palin’s joke in her acceptance speech that lipstick is the only thing that separates a hockey mom like her from a pit bull.

McCain’s campaign called Obama’s comments “offensive and disgraceful” and said he owes Palin an apology.

Here's where I think they've gone astray. The conservative media, whether on radio or in the blogs, had already picked up the cry about Obama's comment being an insult to Palin and women everywhere (and I have some question about that). McCain didn't have to do it, and frankly they look small getting into that kind of a fight. Better to take the high road and let their allies have the battle. The message would have gotten through without the help of the McCain campaign.

Whether Obama meant it as a direct insult really isn't important. What's important is the careless way he throws words out without thinking about what might result. Even the most tin-eared politician should have known that the use of the word "lipstick" would automatically connect that story to Palin whether intended or not. It furthers the notion that Obama is either sexist or reckless, and neither helps his campaign.

The problem with these "war room" operations, such as was created first by Bill Clinton and now operated by both campaigns, is they feel they have to respond to every slight whether significant or not. That's a recipe for overplaying the hand, as they did in this case.

Advice to McCain: Leave the petty fights to your supporters. Stick to the big stuff and you'll come off looking much better.