President Obama cashing in on gay marriage stance, selling LGBT merchandise on BarackObama.com
President Obama is banking on his endorsement of gay marriage to fill his campaign coffers.
His team is selling a slew of LGBT merchandise on BarackObama.com, just days after his historic backing of same-sex couples tying the knot.
The items include “I'm out for Obama" T-shirts, beer koozies that read "LGBT for Obama" and even baby onesies with messages like "My two moms support Obama.” The items cost anywhere from $10 to $40.
It's not clear how much the president has raised since making the announcement on Wednesday, but his re-election team brought in a cool $1 million in the first 90 minutes after Obama revealed his new stance.
His campaign staffers also have been sending out emails asking for donations and touting Obama's "direct answer" to the question of same-sex marriage.
His campaign raked in $15 million at a star-studded fundraiser at actor George Clooney's Los Angeles mansion on Thursday, where Obama brought up gay marriage.
Presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has said he believes "marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman" and that he will continue to hold that view.
Romney, however, has largely steered clear of the issue and has argued Obama is merely trying to distract voters.
source
This entire post is really just an effort to post images of a few of my very favorite things from the Obama store (I am NOT advertising or suggesting you purchase these items, FYI. 99% aren't even related to the LGBT campaign; they're just kind of awesome and the Biden stuff - oh, the Biden stuff! - I felt obligated to share.) Check out the store if you want to see the actual campaign merchandise.
So here is the requisite LGBT merchandise image:
1)
(But ... if it's so simple, then why did it take him so long to announce it?)
And here are my favorite things:
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I love this so very much. It's so ... Biden. And I love this as well:
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(back by popular demand, they note!)
4)
This is really interesting, since "Obamacare" has become such a negative catchphrase. What's more interesting is how the campaign has creatively spun the term ... I hadn't heard this before but it could actually make an interesting catchphrase when it's time for the Presidential debates:
"It’s called Obamacare because the President cares. Show that you do too with our new Obamacare Tee."
5)
Wait ... what?!?! Is this a youth-vote target thing? Because when I showed my mother and my grandmother, they had no idea that "BFD = big fucking deal."
Nor do they explain on the website, merely writing: "Stand with President Obama by reminding your friends and family that health care reform is still a BFD."
6)
This has a picture of his birth certificate on the back. I don't know if I've ever seen merchandise quite like this before. ("Swift Boat Veterans for Kerry"? No?)
The website says: "There's really no way to make the conspiracy about President Obama's birth certificate completely go away, so we might as well laugh at it -- and make sure as many people as possible are in on the joke."
Pretty clever.
7)
This is part of some "runway"/fashion collection of merchandise. I just wanted to point out the fact that they're not necessarily using typical body-type models and appreciate it for a moment.
Just for comparison's sake, I checked out the Republican stores. Romney's is beyond boring; I remember when Hillary and Obama were fighting it out, they had all kinds of interesting merchandise and different items for different "groups" of supporters. Romney just has a couple of shirts and stickers with his last name looking like the "branding identity" for some kind of huge corporation. [Tell me I'm wrong.]
Ditto on Santorum and Newt. Ron Paul's store, though ... Well. I don't really know what to say.
First, there are a bunch of 100-pack "issue cards" you should look at, just for the "huh?!?!".
1)
Here's one of them. The way he spins his position on Israel is really interesting. And unfortunate, IMHO, since he was one of the only candidates who actually considered Palestine from a humanitarian perspective rather than from an "electable" perspective. Also, what's the deal with enforcing DOMA if you're against big government?
2)
It's not the "End the Fed" wristband that kills me ... it's the diamond ring the hand model is wearing along with it! Intentional? Mistake? Who knows?!?!
3)
Ron Paul, father of the Tea Party ... wait, what? First, this is what the page says about it: "On December 16th, 2007, on the anniversary of the Boston tea Party, grassroots supporters of presidential candidate Ron Paul effectively launched the American Tea Party movement with a hugely successful fundraising “money bomb” for Congressman Paul’s campaign. Now we commemorate Ron Paul’s instrumental role in launching the Tea Party with this attractive new “Ron Paul - Father of the Tea Party” T-shirt. This black shirt with red and white lettering displays for all to see Ron Paul’s leadership in the American pro-taxpayer movement. Order your shirt today!!!"
First, I didn't think that the whole Tea Party involvement thing was something people were still proud of. Secondly, his editors should have capitalized the "T" in "Tea Party" and this, plus the barrage of exclamation points, is bothering me to an unreasonable degree for some reason. Thirdly, wasn't the Tea Party "movement" formed after Obama was elected? In 2009-ish? But instead of celebrating the actual "grassroots" origin (or so they claim) where they were protesting with Fox News, they're celebrating "money-bombing" Ron Paul's campaign? WHAT?!?!
I wonder if Romney's merchandise will ever get interesting.
The Washington Post had a hilarious editorial about Obama's store vs. Romney's, prior to the sudden inclusion of LGBT material.