US presidential candidate Barack Obama's latest comment against his opponent John McCain's vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin has kicked up a furore. Obama used the phrase 'lipstick on a pig' to explain his opponents' mantra of change, which has caused them to retort with accusations of sexism and dishonesty.

The McCain camp has labeled the comments of Barack Obama's as 'disgusting' and sexist and apparently targeted at Sarah Palin. The Obama camp too jumped into a rescue mode and called their rival's accusations of dishonesty a 'phony lecture on gender sensitivity'. They underscore that McCain himself had used the same phrase for describing Hillary Clinton's proposal on healthcare the previous year.  

The furore kicked up after Barack Obama, when addressing a rally, said, 'The other side, suddenly, they're saying 'we're for change too.' Now think about it, these are the same folks that have been in charge for the last eight years. You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. You can wrap up an old fish in a piece of paper and call it change. It's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough.'

It was while accepting McCain's proposal for a running mate that Sarah Palin, Alaska governor, had said in a jocular manner previous week that the only difference between a hockey mom like herself and a pitbull was 'lipstick.' The McCain camp has termed Obama's 'lipstick on a pig' comment as the newest in a series of offensive comments thrown at Sarah Palin.