Obama defends lipstick joke

Barack Obama has spent the past 24 hours defending himself against charges of sexism after comparing his Republican rival John McCain's promise of change to putting "lipstick on a pig". On Tuesday Obama said his rival was still pursuing the policies of the Bush administration despite presenting himself as an agent of change. "You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig," Obama remarked to his audience, amid loud cheers and laughter. "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."

But the Republican camp said the phrase - commonly used in politics - was a direct reference to McCain's running-mate, Sarah Palin. Palin told the Republican convention that the only difference between a "hockey mom" such as herself and a pitbull terrier was lipstick.

In defence, the Obama camp have cited at least five examples of John McCain using the phrase and described the controversy as a "pathetic effort to play the gender card". However some Democrats have admitted privately that Obama's choice of words were ill-advised in wake of Palin's lipstick quip.