Earlier today at the Search Engine Strategies 2008 Toronto conference, a speaker said “[Canadians] as a culture like to watch what people are doing, and we’re right next door to the biggest zoo in the world.”
Moments later, as if in response to this satement, someone instant-messaged me a link to a picture of this button, which was being sold at this past weekend’s Texas State Republican Convention:
Also seen at the convention was merch with these slogans:
Charming. It’s almost as if they’re trying to prove the adage “Liberals by and large are fools, and conservatives by and large are villains.”
On the bright side, Republicans Michael Williams and Mike Huckabee were also there praising the advance of Barack Obama and what it means towards a colorblind society. So maybe there’s still hope.
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I wonder what they mean by "At the convention." Like, on the street, near the convention? Or some sort of authorized vendor booth? The button is grotesque but I would suppose it's more of an attempt to make money than a legitimate political statement by a party.
Now if anyone buys that button and wears it, that's a different story.
My big peeve during election times is that stuff like this will be spun as "look at the republicans, they are saying this" rather than "look at what some sleazebag is trying to sell to the republicans."
@Joel: Consider these two t-shirt designs:
or
Which would you sell at a Texas Republican convention if you wanted to make money, or at least not have your ass shot? When you're selling "affiliation paraphernalia", especially when it's edgy, you generally have a good idea of the likes and biases of your target market. Trust me, that button dealer went in there believing that at a sizable portion of attendees would find the sentiment on those buttons agreeable.
Neither of us have ever been to a Texas Republican Convention, or a Republican Convention, but it seems your opinion of them is informed by what someone reportedly tried to sell them. I just don't understand that. I understand that someone thought it was a clever button and hoped to sell some. Neither of us know how successful that was, so it would be prejudicial, perhaps bigoted, to assume that it resonated and sold well among the Texas republican elite.
@Joel: I've been to a California Republican meetup, and I still get invited to Conservative blogger gatherings here in Toronto, and I'm actually still welcomed get get accordion requests. Does that count?
(The moral of the story: accordion rock and roll trumps ideology.)
As for the button: I'm not saying it sold well, I'm saying I wouldn't try to sell a button if I didn't think it would sell well.
Too bad they couldn't get a picture of someone wearing the button, right? In the meantime, Muslims barred from picture at Obama event; of course, we can't draw any conclusions from that, can we?
@David Janes: That's wrong too, and I think there are some fair ratiocinations that can be drawn from that move. I was busy writing this king-size entry when I heard about it, but I'm going to point to that story.
where can i buy this tee shirt?