Was Obama's "Lipstick On a Pig" Statement Directed at Palin?

No, it's more Rovian disingenuous indignation. Obama was comparing McCain's platform to that of Bush. McCain made a similar remark about Hillary's health care plan in 2007.

CNN: 'Lipstick on a pig': Attack on Palin or common line?

... McCain's campaign said Obama's remarks were offensive and a slap at Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin -- despite the fact that the Arizona senator himself used the phrase last year to describe a policy proposal of Hillary Clinton's.

Obama's campaign responded by saying McCain was running a "dishonorable campaign."

Obama made the remarks at a Virginia campaign stop late Tuesday afternoon.

"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 going to shake things up in Washington,'" he said.

"That's not change. That's just calling something the same thing something different. 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. We've had enough of the same old thing."

... In Iowa last October, McCain drew comparisons between Hillary Clinton's current health care plan and the one she championed in 1993: "I think they put some lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig." He used roughly the same line in May, after effectively claiming the Republican nomination.