And to think Serenissima regarded the GOP (a.k.a. Sarah Palin) as being "sarcastic, sneering, dishonest" (comment in a recent posting) ...

Yesterday, Sen. Obama disputed the McCain-Palin ticket's "maverick" claim, at one point noting that "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig". An explosion of laughter from his audience on the word 'lipstick' seemed to indicate that many people recalled the punchline of Gov. Palin's convention joke about the difference between a hockey Mom and a pit bull, and thought he was ridiculing her.

The combination of Sen. Obama’s ability to mesmerize a crowd, and Gov. Palin's endearing personality almost-instantaneously aroused both Obama's crowd--who view him as nothing less than a 21st Century Messiah--and the rest of us who are pretty upset.

His intent notwithstanding, how did we all hear it. That is what counts, and I think you will see the results of how they heard it in the coming week--and possibly through till November. I stand by my earlier posting wherein I suggested that there was a narcissistic streak running through Mr. O.'s entire character.

He will likely never apologize simply because he knows that he couldn't say something--even accidentally--that could upset his steamroller-like jaunt towards the Presidency. Just like his non-selection of Hillary three weeks ago!