If Hillary or Michelle Obama had done this, it would knock "Bitter bitter bitter" right off the airwaves

In this most petty of election years, when the coverage of election seems to be about Hillary Clinton knocking back a few with the boys, or that girlyman Barack Obama not drinking strong black coffee like a man and instead quaffing that wussyass orange juice, it's really time for some equal pettyplay on the Republican side. I realize that the media don't want to touch their darling Big Strong Daddy McCain, but since he's been known to turn on his wife in public and call her far worse things, let's smack Cindy McCain around as a plagiarist, shall we?

It seems that Cindy McCain, John McCain's perfect, blonde beer-baroness wife is about to find herself painted as the latest example of plagiarism on the campaign trail.

This past Sunday, Lauren Handel, an eagle-eyed attorney from New York, was searching for a specific recipe from Giada DeLaurentis, a chef on the Food Network. Yet whenever she Googled the different ingredients in the recipe, the oddest thing happened: not only did the Food Network's site come up, as expected, but so did John McCain's campaign site.

On a section of McCain's site called "Cindy's Recipes," you can find seven recipes attributed to Cindy McCain, each with the heading "McCain Family Recipe." Ms. Handel quickly realized that some of the "McCain Family Recipes," were in fact, word-for-word copies of recipes on the Food Network site.

At least three of the "McCain Family Recipes" appear to be lifted directly from the Food Network, while at least one is a Rachael Ray recipe with minor changes.

See for yourself... and Bon Appetit...

You can check out the recipes side by side here.

Now I'm willing to cut Cindy McCain a fair amount of slack for her past drug addiction and theft of drugs from her relief organization. After all, if you were married to a guy who flew into a rage at you in public and called you a c--t, wouldn't YOU turn to mind-altering substances? I know I would. But stealing from Emeril and Rachael Ray and Giada DeLaurentiis? THAT, my friends, is beyond the pale.

Besides, what does it say about a manly macho military manly manly man like John McCain that he's sitting down at the family table eating "Ahi tuna with napa cabbage slaw" and "passion fruit mousse"? Shouldn't a real man, a man's man, a Chris Matthews kinda man, sit down to something like wild boar with whole roasted potatoes and eat them with his hands while quaffing tankards of ale?

I mean, seriously. Turkey sausage? Napa cabbage slaw? Ground up pig and fat and rodent parts stuffed into an intestine and good old fashioned patriotic American coleslaw; that slop drenched in mayonnaise and salt that comes in 3-lb. tubs for four bucks at the Shop-Rite, aren't good enough for this guy?

I don't know, these recipes sound kinda French to me.

(a big tip o'the hat to skippy)