Is it difficult to put lipstick on a pig, and why would someone want to do it?

Heard the term used in connection with politics today, and am just wondering about it. Not quite where it goes..whether in make-up, pets, or politics, so compromised on here.Is it difficult to put lipstick on a pig, and why would someone want to do it?
I don't know if it's difficult, I never tried, but I suspect the pig is apt to be less than enthused. The point of the idiom is not the difficulty of the task but the (sex-)appeal of the result. i.e. Putting lipstick on a woman makes her beautiful (I know that's a bit sexist, but bear with me); putting lipstick on a pig does not make it beautiful, all you have is a pig wearing lipstick. Or, put another way, the woman becomes something other than what she was, the pig is still just a pig.Is it difficult to put lipstick on a pig, and why would someone want to do it?
Word play was a good place to put it.It means you can dress politicians up but they don't really face the issues, they paint around them.
SOUNDS LIKE A DOPE HEAD DOINGS TO ME THEY WERE HIGH WHEN THAT WAS DONE''
DOG,ARE U SURE YOUR MOM%26amp;POP AIN'T BROTHER %26amp;SISTER,WHERE DO U COME UP W/ THESE QUESTIONS,WHO IN THERE RIGHT MIND WOULD WANT TO NO THAT
It is not difficult. The point is that a pig is ugly so putting lipstick on a pig would be a waste of time - no matter how you try to dress it up or present it a pig is still a pig.
This expression is new to me, but it is similar to the old saying that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Do pigs even have lips? Memory tells me that their mouths are just a gash.
The first time I heard this saying was in a political setting as well. I was a member of a city council and the mayor was proposing a costly curb, gutter, sidewalk, and street lighting improvement project for a impoverished, run down neighborhood. Several homeowners came to complain about being able to afford the property tax increase they would have to pay if the project went ahead. One person pointed out he would have to defer replacing his furnace and roof if the project was approved. Another person suggested opposed the beautification project because it was like ';putting lipstick on a pig.'; I understood the comment to mean the project was BIG WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. Putting lipstick on a pig would be difficult and even if you could, it would still look like a pig. You cannot put enough lipstick on a pig to make the pig look beautiful.