In her first act as the head of Republican nominee John McCain's "Palin Truth Squad," former Gov. Jane Swift strongly denounced Democratic nominee Barack ObamaTuesday afternoon for his lipstick comments and called on him to apologize.

At a campaign stop in Virginia, Tuesday Obama (Ill.) said McCain and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's promises to reform in Washington don't reflect their record. "You can put lipstick on a pig," Obama said. "It's still a pig."

On a conference call shortly thereafter, Swift (R-North Adams) called the comments disappointing while evoking U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) presidential run earlier this year.

"You would think that having gone through a hard fought fight with Sen. Clinton that the Obama team would have figured out how to respectfully engage in a debate that represents what they say they want to do, which is the politics of hope," Swift said. "This is just the same old low-road, flinging accusations. And as I said, there are a number of us women across the Republican Party, but I also think I'm joined by Independents and Democrats who aren't going to let our discourse fall to this level."

Swift also characterized Obama's comments as "disgraceful" and said that voters of both parties won't stand for that type of politics.

"It's clear to me," Swift said, "Sen. Obama owes Governor Palin an apology," Swift said.