WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama yesterday accused Republican John McCain’s campaign of using “lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics” by claiming he used a sexist comment against vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Calling it “the latest made-up controversy by the John McCain campaign,” Obama responded to the Republicans’ charge that he was referring to Palin when he used the phrase “lipstick on a pig” at a campaign stop on Tuesday.

“I don’t care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and swift-boat politics. Enough is enough,” he said. Obama’s reference was to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an outside group that in 2004 made unsubstantiated allegations about Democratic nominee John Kerry’s decorated military record in Vietnam.

Referring to his reference as McCain painting himself as a change agent, Obama said: “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 — we’re really gonna shake things up in Washington.” “You know, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” ... “You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called ‘change,’” Obama continued, “it’s still gonna stink after eight years. We’ve had enough of the same old thing! It’s time to bring about real change to Washington. And that’s the choice you’ve got in this election.” The problem according to the McCain camp is that it was too close to Sarah Palin’s stump speech phrase, “you know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? As a result, the McCain campaign is saying that Obama called Palin a pig. And they are hog-wild in their response to the alleged smear.

A hastily arranged conference call was set up with the leader of the newly formed “Palin Truth Squad,” former Massa-chusetts Gov. Jane Swift. “Ultimately, I think the American people will realize that calling a very prominent female governor of one of our states a pig is not exactly what we want to see when we supposedly are going to have this great debate that is the politics of hope,” Swift said.

Shortly after Obama’s remark, the Republicans rolled out a new Web ad that presents Palin’s “lipstick and pit bull” phrase followed by Barack Obama’s “lipstick and pig” phrase. The Obama team called the reaction “phony.” “Enough is enough,” said Obama campaign official Anita Dunn. “The McCain campaign’s attack tonight is a pathetic attempt to play the gender card about the use of a common analogy — the same analogy that Sen. McCain himself used about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health care plan just last year.” Former presidential contender Republican Mike Huckabee isn’t concerned either. “It’s an old expression, and I’m going to have to cut Obama some slack on that one,” Huckabee told Fox News.

Indeed. Asked about Sen. Clinton’s health care plan last October when Clinton was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, McCain was blunt. McCain said Clinton’s proposal was “eerily” similar to the ill-fated plan she devised in 1993. “I think they put some lipstick on a pig,” he said, “but it’s still a pig.” An old expression, right? McCain surely wasn’t calling Clinton a pig. After all, McCain’s former press secretary, Torie Clarke, wrote a book called “Lipstick on a Pig: Winning in the No-Spin Era.”

Elizabeth Edwards told some health journalists that McCain’s health care plan was like “painting lipstick on a pig.” No matter which side of the fence you stand, Palin has become the most intriguing figure of the election this year. And — as the nation knew nothing about her until McCain announced her as his running mate last week — Palin has come under intense scrutiny, and the McCain campaign has kept her most under wraps and reading scripts and teleprompters. But yesterday that changed when she gave her first solo interview to ABC News anchor Charles Gibson, since being tapped for the Republican ticket.