Character assassinations: Hate messages in election 2008 commercial paraphernalia

Denver University Law Review

Volumn 86, Issue SPEC. ISS., 2009, Pages 585-613

  Caputi, Jane ^a  

^a FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 68149165960     PISSN: 08839409     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (191)

1. See PAUL F. BOLLER, PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS: FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON TO GEORGE W. BUSH (2004).
2. Ken Silverstein also noted this process of infiltration: "This outpouring of amateur bite-a new phenomenon in American politics, thanks to YouTube-has been immensely useful to the Republican machine in attacking Obama. G.O.P. surrogates and operatives can sift through a vast quantity of viral takedowns, forwarding along the ones most likely to energize the party faithful and generate fears about Obama among the broader electorate. The dominant themes are pushed upward by conservative activists, bloggers, websites, and talk radio, percolate further through cable TV and the punditry, and ultimately enter the mainstream conversation and become part of the broader campaign narrative." Ken Silverstein, Useful Amateurs: How the Smearing of Barack Obama Got Crowd-Sourced, HARPER'S MAGAZINE, Nov. 2008, at 51.
3. bell hooks, Keynote Address at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte: Southeast Women's Studies Association 2008 Conference (April 4, 2008);
4. see also Right Wing Mike, Cafe-Press, http://www.cafepress.com/ rightwingmike.197732653 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
5. See MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, BETWEEN GOD AND GANGSTA RAP: BEARING WITNESS TO BLACK CULTURE 30 (1996) ("If this could happen to O.J.-the spotless embodiment of domesticated black masculinity-it could happen to any black man. Translation: no black male can really be trusted?").
6. This exhibit is now available as a traveling one. For information please contact Rod Faulds, Director, University Galleries, wfaulds@fau.edu, or Jane Caputi, jcaputi@fau.edu.
7. I am not suggesting that all commercial paraphernalia reflect hate messages. Many items use humor and caricature but do not rely upon negative stereotypes and prejudices. Some take honorific tropes and figures from Black popular culture (for example, Martin Luther King) and associate them with Obama. Jake Austen, Dreaming XXL, HARPER'S MAGAZINE, Nov. 2008, at 59.
8. Sika Dagbovie, Assistant Professor of English, Florida Atlantic University, contributed to the sections of "Untrustworthy Mulattos" and "Racist Slurs and Stereotypes." I purchased all the items for the Political Circus exhibit from April 6 to September 25, 2008. Materials on Sarah Palin were added after the opening.
9. RightWingStuff, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/rightwingstuff/ 1530835 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
10. See, e.g., Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, 43 STAN. L. REV. 1241,1242-43 (1991).
11. Conservative T-Shirts.com, http://www.conservative-t-shirts.com/ conservative-t-shirts/anti-democrat-t-shirts-freak-show.html (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
12. See generally Stephen Harold Riggins, The Rhetoric of Othering, in THE LANGUAGE AND POLITICS OF EXCLUSION: OTHERS IN DISCOURSE 3-7 (Stephen Harold Riggins ed., 1997).
13. ELICLARE, EXILE AND PRIDE: DISABILITY, QUEERNESS, AND LIBERATION 84 (1999).
14. See STEPHEN JAY GOULD, THE MISMEASURE OF MAN 31-35 (1981).
15. Iris Marion Young, Five Faces of Oppression, in THEORIZING FEMINISMS 12 (Elizabeth Hackett & Sally Haslanger eds., 2006).
16. Id. at 12.
17. See RUTH FRANKENBERG, WHITE WOMEN, RACE MATTERS: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF WHITENESS 1 (1993);
18. WHAT WHITE LOOKS LIKE: AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHILOSOPHERS ON THE WHITENESS QUESTION (George Yancy ed., Routledge 2004).
19. McCain-McWheelchair, CafePress.com, http://buttons.cafepress.com/item/ mcwheel chair-mini-button/268234119 (unavailable as of Feb. 22,2009).
20. Politiclothes, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/politiclothes/s- dicks-chicks?design=26238938 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
21. Political t-shirts, Zazzle.com, http://www.zazzlexom/vote-mac-not-black- button-145360585819513569 (last visited Jan. 22,2009).
22. Everybody Shirts, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/ everybodyshirts/5021726 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
23. Posting of Kate Phillips to The Caucus, http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes. com/2008/12/08/ supreme-court-rejects-appeal-over-obamas-citizenship/ (Dec. 8,2008,11:29 EST).
24. Conservative Gear, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/ conservativegea/5639305 (last visited Jan. 22,2009).
25. Image on file with Denver University Law Review. See also Jim Sanders, From shirts to coins, Obama's picture sells big, SACRAMENTO BEE, Jan. 18, 2009, at 1A, available at http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1552819.html?mi-rss=Our%2520Region.
26. McCain: Older, Wiser, Americaner, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress. com/ americaner (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
27. Service to America: 624787 (Foxhole Productions broadcast Mar. 27, 2008), available at http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2008/ service-to-america-624787.
28. Lyndsey Layton, Palin Apologizes for Real America Comments, WASH. POST, Oct. 22, 2008, at A04; Posting of Mike Murray to First Read, http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/ archive/2008/10/04/1492729.aspx (Oct. 4,2008,16:53 EST).
29. Right Wing Mike, CafePress.com, http://magnets.cafepress.com/item/ michelle-obama-doesnt-belong-rectangle-magnet/277835892 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
30. Xuberalles, Zazzle.com, http://www.zazzle.com/obama-loves-america-print- 228236290816138845 (last visited Jan. 22,2009).
31. Cynthia Burton, GOP Club Accused of Racism for Obama Web Banner, PHILA. INQUIRER, Jul.9,2008,atB01.
32. Politically Exposed, CafePress.com http://bumperstickers.cafepress.com/ item/president-oj-will-also-be-exposed-sticker-bumpe/337651932 (last visited Jan. 29,2009).
33. See generally MARY DALY, BEYOND GOD THE FATHER: TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY OF WOMEN'S LIBERATION (1973).
34. GLORIA ANZALDÚA, BORDERLANDS/LA FRONTERA: THE NEW MESTEA 27-28 (1987);
35. JEFFREY BURTON RUSSELL, THE DEVIL: PERCEPTIONS OF EVIL FROM ANTIQUITY TO PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 126 (1977).
36. See, e.g., Piss Off the Left, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts. cafepress.com/item/ready-for-obamageddon-kids-dark-tshirt/235743290 (last visited Feb. 22, 2009); Piss Off the Left, CafePress, http://joumals.cafepress. com/item/obamageddon-joumal/274841920 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
37. County Fair, http://mediamatters.org/items/200711190004 (Nov. 19,2007,16:07 EST).
38. See generally Amy Sullivan, An Antichrist Obama in McCain Ad?, TIME, Aug. 8, 2008, available at http://www.time.com/ time/politics/article/0,8599,1830590,00.html.
39. Id.
40. Accompanying the visual images are the following words: McCain/Palin in '08: Now That's Just Scary. CafePress.com, http://shop.cafepress.com/design/ 30185520 (last visited Mar. 6, 2009).
41. See generally BELL HOOKS, BLACK LOOKS: RACE AND REPRESENTATION 165, 165-178 (1992) (taken from chapter in book called Representations of Whiteness in the Black Imagination).
42. Limbaugh credited his friend Tom Hazlett, a professor of law and economics at University of California at Davis, with coining the term. RUSH LIMBAUGH, THE WAY THINGS OUGHT TO BE 193 (1992).
43. KATHLEEN HALL JAMESON, BEYOND THE DOUBLE BIND: WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP 41 (1995).
44. The House Divided, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/ thehousedivided.7333 0667 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
45. See, e.g., The Truth Store, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts. cafepress.com/item/great-speakers-light-tshirt/291837035 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
46. "With one association after another that is beyond the pale with Barack Obama, I feel like we are talking to the Germans after Hitler comes to power saying, 'Oh, well, I didn't know. I had no idea he was going to be like this.'" Hannity & Colmes (FOX News television broadcast Oct. 30, 2008) (transcript available at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,445556,00. html).
47. Posting of Anthony Man to Broward Politics, http://weblogs.sun-sentinel. com/news/politics/browardVblog/republicans/ (Oct. 16,2008,21:17 EST).
48. ROBIN TOLMACH LAKOFF, THE LANGUAGE WAR 187 (2000).
49. Hendrik Hertzberg sums up: Sean Hannity [of Fox News] played an audio clip seven times and described the candidate's laughter as 'frightening.' Bill O'Reilly [Fox News, Sept 24,2007] trotted out a Fox News 'body-language expert' to pronounce the laughter 'evil' ⋯. [T]he right-wing blogs bloomed like a staph infection. 'Shrillary's' laugh is 'chilling.' It's 'fakey fake fake fake.' It's a 'hideous hyena mating call.' It's 'a signal to launch her flying monkeys.' Hendrik Hertzberg, Brouhahaha, New YORKER, Oct. 15,2007, at 33.
50. Maureen Dowd, Is She a Trojan Rabbit?, N.Y. TIMES, May 11, 2008, available at http://www.nytimes.eom/2008/05/l 1/opinion/l ldowd.html.
51. Leonard W. Moss & Stephen C. Cappannari, Mai' occhio, Ayin ha ra, Oculus fascinus, Judenblick: The Evil Eye Hovers Above, in THE EVIL EYE 8 (Clarence Maloney ed., 1976).
52. HEINRICH KRAMER & JAMES SPRENGER, THE MALLEUS MALEFICARUM (Montague Summers trans., Dover Publ'ns 1971) (1928).
53. Geni Peev, 'Hillary Clinton's a monster': Obama aide blurts out attack in Scotsman interview, THE SCOTSMAN, Mar. 7, 2008, available at http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/Inside-US-poll- battle-as.3854371.jp.
54. Funny Anti-Obama Gift Shop, CafePress.com, http://buttons.cafepress.com/ item/hillary-medusa-bitch-35-button/182024003 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
55. BARBARA G. WALKER, THE WOMEN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYTHS AND SECRETS 1034 (1983).
56. LizDexic, Zazzle.com, http://www.zazzle.com/godzillary-queen-of-the- monsters-postcard-239911655140277769 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
57. Allan Gurganus, Op-Ed., Carolina, Out of Its Mind, N.Y. TIMES, May 1, 2008, at §A, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/opinion/01gurganus.html.
58. JAMES SNEAD, WHITE SCREENS/ BLACK IMAGES: HOLLYWOOD FROM THE DARK SIDE 7 (Colin MacCabe & Cornel West eds.) (1994).
59. Phillip Atiba Goff et al., Not Yet Human: Implicit Knowledge, Historical Dehumanization, and Contemporary Consequences, 94.2 J. PERSONALITY & SOC. PSYCHOL. 292,304 (2008).
60. Errin Haines, Obama/Curious George T-Shirt Draws Protests, WASH. POST, May 15, 2008, at 8, available at http://tinyurl.com/c8j8jw. I wonder if this shirt was a deliberate reply to a viral anti-George W. Bush e-mail distributed years earlier. It showed a number of different apes making faces juxtaposed to pictures of Bush with a similar expression. In the center was a picture of Curious George's face, also next to a similar seeming mien of then-President Bush. While this "joke" reverses the historic association by placing a privileged White man in the "ape" continuum, it did not really undo the historically unjust stereotype. The underlying "joke" is that George Bush is so incompetent he can even be stereotypically demeaned in ways previously reserved for Black men.
61. As Iris Marion Young details, new left social movements of the 1960s and 1970s shifted the concept of oppression. In its new usage, oppression designates the disadvantage and injustice some people suffer not because a tyrannical power coerces them, but because of the everyday practices of a well-intentioned liberal society⋯. Oppression in this sense is structural, rather than the result of a few people's choices. Its causes are embedded in unquestioned norms, habits, and symbols, in the assumptions underlying institutional rules and the collective consequences of following those rules ⋯. In this extended structural sense oppression refers to the vast and deep injustices some groups suffer as a consequence of often unconscious assumptions and reactions of well-meaning people in ordinary interactions, media and cultural stereotypes, and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies and market mechanisms-in short, the normal processes of everyday life. Young, supra note 14, at 12.
62. Thesock Obama Co, LLC, http://thesockobama.com (last visited Jan. 22, 2009). This product received much criticism.
63. See 'Racist' Obama Sock-Puppet Monkey Yanked: Company Nixes Production, Apologizes for Controversial Toy, WORLDN ETDAILY, June 17, 2008, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index. php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=67324. At first, the makers withdrew the toy and apologized but later recanted, denied any racist intent, and continued to market the toy under a new company name, Sock Politicians.
64. See Sheena McFarland, Creators of The Sock Obama Seek New Company to Produce Doll, SALT LAKE TRIB., June 18, 2008. They, apparently, also added a McCain monkey, which took the form of a white gorilla (although the only white gorillas are albinos). (Although, following the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, the white monkey has been repackaged as a Biden Monkey.)
65. See Sock Politicians.com, http://sockpoliticians.com (last visited Feb. 22, 2009) (McCain screenshot on file with Denver University Law Review). Not only color, but also the copy describing the two toys, distinguishes them. The copy for the Obama monkey snidely reads: He "proudly displays his campaign pin on his suit jacket." SockPoliticians.com, The Original Obama Monkey, http://www.sockpoliticians.com/products/obama-monkey/ (last visited Jan. 22,2009). The copy for the McCain monkey reads: He "displays his love for American on his lapel with an American flag." SockPoliticians.com, The Original McCain Monkey, http://www.sockpoliticians.com/products/mccain-monkey (unavailable as of Mar. 9, 2009) (McCain screenshot on file with Denver University Law Review). These statements repeat the right-wing smearing of Obama as elitist and unpatriotic.
66. Dan Amira, Makers of Racist Obama Monkey Would Like to Transcend Racial Bias, NEW YORK MAGAZINE, http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008A)6/the-makers-of-a-racist-obama-t.html (last visited Mar. 6,2009).
67. Brian Stelter, Time Cover Sure Looks a Lot Like a Campaign Image, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 22, 2008, at B4.
68. See also BarackObama.com: Artists for Obama, http://store. barackobama.com/ Artists-for-Obama-s/1018.htm (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
69. RightLeaning, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/rightleaning/ 5560388 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
70. CAROL J. ADAMS, THE PORNOGRAPHY OF MEAT (2003);
71. CAROL J. ADAMS, THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF MEAT: A FEMINIST-VEGETARIAN CRITICAL THEORY (2d ed. 2000).
72. Funny Anti-Obama Gift Shop, CafePress.com, http://bumperstickers. cafepress.com/ item/antihillary-stop-mad-cow-08-sticker-bumper/l 11992554 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
73. RightWingStuff, CafePress.com, http://bumperstickers.cafepress.com/item/ hillary-meal-deal-sticker-oval/128519660 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
74. Young, supra note 14, at 13.
75. BigFatGear, CafePress.com, http://homedecor.cafepress.com/item/obama-is- my-slave-tile-coaster/285821249 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
76. PATRICIA EVANS, THE VERBALLY ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP (1996).
77. OBAMA-NEVER, www.cafepress.com (unavailable as of Mar. 9,2009).
78. MEGA-CELEBRATIONS, www.cafepress.com (unavailable as of Mar. 9,2009).
79. Posting of Ali Frick to Think Progress, http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/ 17/gop-convention-button-asks-if-obama-is-presidentwill-we-still-call-it-the- white-house/ (June 17, 2008, 12:56 EST).
80. Id.
81. Davis said, "I'm going to tell you something. That boy's finger does not need to be on the button." Posting of Kate Phillips to The Caucus, http://tinyurl.com/cl6vo4 (Apr. 14, 2008, 17:19 EST) (The Caucus is "The Politics and Government Blog" at the N.Y. Times website).
82. One, for example, showed Obama's face and read: "It's like asking the paperboy to manage the newspaper." CafePress.com, http:// bumperstickers.cafepress.com/item/obama-lacks-experience-bumper-sticker/ 211721474 (last visited Mar. 6,2009).
83. Tim Russert & Christopher Hutchins, The Tim Russert Show (MSNBC television broadcast Apr. 5, 2008), available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUXiHw6R67E&feature e=related (material located at 7 minutes 22 seconds into the video clip).
84. For further discussion, see Jane Caputi, Cuntspeak: Words from the Heart of Darkness, in NOT FOR SALE: FEMINISTS RESISTING PROSTITUTION AND PORNOGRAPHY 362-85 (Christine Stark & Rebecca Whisnant eds., 2004).
85. Jason Linkins, MSNBC Hosts Founder of Anti-Hillary Group 'C.U.N.T.', THE HUFFINGTON POST, Feb. 19, 2008, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/19/msnbc-hosts-founder-of-an-n-87356.html.
86. Hillary-, www.cafe-press.com (unavailable as of Mar. 6,2009).
87. "As a cold political calculation, I could not be more pleased. She has excited and energized our base. She is a direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America." John McCain, FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (FOX News television broadcast Oct. 19, 2008) (transcript available at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,440632,00.html).
88. Just Palin Stupid, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/ justpalinstupid (last visited Jan. 22, 2009); Politiclothes.com, CafePress.com, http://politiclothes.com (search "Palin Bimbo") (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
89. Bill O'Reilly & Carl Cameron, The O'Reilly Factor (FOX News television broadcast Nov. 5,2008), available at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7Whj-bu4YhE.
90. Joanna Kadi, Stupidity Deconstructed, in THEORIZING FEMINISMS, supra note 14, at 40-50.
91. Jason Linkins, Sacramento GOP Removes "Waterboard Obama" Graphic From Website, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Oct. 15,2008, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/15/sacramento-gop-removes-wa-n-l 34841.html?page=4.
92. Pillory Hillary Clinton Online Shirts Buttons More, CafePress.com, http://buttons.cafepress.com/item/pillory-hillary-2008-button/19409836 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
93. Funny Anti-Obama Gift Shop, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/ hillaryscaresme/ s-throw-rocks?design=15878719 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
94. Countdown with Keith Olbermann (MSNBC television broadcast April 23, 2008), quoted in Rachel Sklar, Keith Olbermann's Idea for Beating Hillary: Literally Beating Hillary, THE HUFFINGTON POST, April 25, 2008, http://www.huffingtonpost.coni/2008/04/25/keith- olbennanns-idea-for-n-98557.html.
95. Posting of One Citizen to Daily Kos, http://dailykos.com (May 19, 2008, 11:04:25 PDT), available at Little Green Footballs, http:// littlegreenfootballs.com/article/30012-Daily-Kos-The-New-Improved-Southem- Strategy (May 19,2008,11:25:14 PDT).
96. The Radio Factor (Westwood One radio broadcast Feb. 19, 2008), available at County Fair, http://mediamatters.org/items/200802200001 (Feb. 20,2009,12:20 EDT).
97. See SUSAN GRIFFIN, pornography and silence: culture's revenge against Nature 161-63 (1981).
98. Jamieson, supra note 40, at 53.
99. SwagDog.com, Vajority Choice T-Shirt, http://www.swagdog.com/store/pc/ viewPrd.asp? idcategory=0&idproduct=78117 (last visited Feb. 22, 2009). The copy at the site selling this reads: "Vajority Choice T-Shirt Get it? Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. And we're pretty sure Hillary is a girl." Id.
100. Tucker (MSNBC television broadcast Oct. 15, 2008), available at County Fair, http://mediamatters.org/items/200710160010 (Oct. 26,2007,18:22 EDT).
101. Young, supra note 14, at 12.
102. All Right Gear, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/bo- stinks-dark-tshirt/136087783 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
103. Tshirtalerts, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/frobama/ 323032566 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
104. See generally CALVIN C. HERNTON, SEX AND RACISM IN AMERICA (1988).
105. Tshirtsobama, Zazzle.com, http://www.zazzle.com/vote-for-the-candidate- shirt-235546495586162373 (last visited Jan. 22,2009).
106. Anti-Obama Light T-Shirt, Elkslayer, www.CafePress.com (t-shirt no longer available, purchased by author on July 6,2008).
107. BigDogma Online Store, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/ donkey-love-white-tshirt/63915659 (last visited Feb. 22, 2009); That's Rich!, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/political-screwing-womens- long-sleeve-tshirt/173117115 (last visited Feb. 22,2009).
108. Obama Hillary Bitch Fitted T-Shirt, CafePress.com (t-shirt no longer available, purchased by author on June 16,2008).
109. MacKinnon's ideas on pornography appear in many of her writings. See CATHARINE A. MACKINNON, ARE WOMEN HUMAN? AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUES 112-20 (2006);
110. CATHARINE A. MACKINNON, FEMINISM UNMODIFIED: DISCOURSES ON LIFE AND LAW 127-206 (1987);
111. CATHARINE A. MACKINNON, TOWARD A FEMINIST THEORY OF THE STATE 195-215 (1989).
112. See JOHN STOLTENBERG, REFUSING TO BE A MAN: ESSAYS ON SEX AND JUSTICE 113-24 (rev. ed., Routledge 2000).
113. See JANE CAPUTI, GODDESSES AND MONSTERS: WOMEN, MYTH, POWER AND POPULAR CULTURE 74-118 (2004); DVD: The Pornography of Everyday Life (Berkeley Media 2007) (on file with author).
114. Aaron's Case, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/aaronscase/424512 (last visited Feb. 23,2009).
115. Obama T-shirts, McCain T-shirts, Palin T-shirts, CafePress.com, http://buttons.cafepress.com/item/sarah-pah'n-milf-225-button-10-pack/314607971 (last visited Feb. 23,2009).
116. Sardonic's Shirt Shack, CafePress.com, http://bumperstickers.cafepress. com/item/vpilf-sarah-palin-sticker-bumper/302375630 (last visited Feb. 23, 2009).
117. Bound By Fate, CafePress.com, http://magnets.cafepress.com/item/so-thats- how-she-won-the-nomination/303146893 (last visited Feb. 23, 2009).
118. Rchmcurry, Zazzle.com, http://www.zazzle.com/sarah-palin-for-vice- president-shirt-235897366992908218 (last visited Feb. 23,2009).
119. Hustler.com, Who's Nailin' Paylin?, http://hustler.com/ (follow I AGREE, ENTER SARAH PALIN PARODY) (last visited Feb. 23,2009).
120. Pierre Saint-Armond, Terrorizing Marie Antoinette, 20 CRITICAL INQUIRY 379, 379 (Jennifer Curtis Gage trans.) (1994), quoted in ROBIN TOLMACH LAKOFF, THE LANGUAGE WAR 192 (2000).
121. Right Wing Mike, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/rightwingmike/ 4512193 (last visited Feb. 23,2009).
122. Jest Designs, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/jestdesigns. 96839451 (last visited Feb. 23,2009).
123. Brian Weeks, Zazzle.com, http://www.zazzle.com/hillary-theanti-porn- shirt-235881006213169400 (last visited Feb. 23,2009).
124. The phrase "female power" was featured under a picture of the candidate on the table of contents on page three in the March 17,2008 edition of Newsweek magazine.
125. RightWingStuff, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/gimme- yo-change-fitted-tshirt/243578526 (last visited Feb. 23,2009).
126. PATRICIA HILL COLLINS, BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT: KNOWLEDGE, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND THE POLITICS OF EMPOWERMENT 69 (Routledge 2000) (1990).
127. Young, supra note 14, at 12.
128. See generally JAN NEDERVEEN PIETERSE, WHITE ON BLACK: IMAGES OF AFRICA AND BLACKS IN WESTERN POPULAR CULTURE (Yale U. Press 1992) (1990).
129. Michelle DeArmond reports that the October 2008 newsletter by the Chaffey Community Republican Women Federated said that if Obama were elected his image would appear on food stamps instead of dollar bills like other presidents. The statement is followed by an illustration of "Obama Bucks"-a phony $10 bill featuring Obama's face on a donkey's body, labeled "United States Food Stamps," and surrounded by a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken. The group's president, Diane Fedele, said she simply wanted to deride a comment Obama made over the summer about how as an African-American he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills." Fedele said she got the illustration in a number of chain e-mails and decided to reprint it for her members. Michelle DeArmond, Inland GOP mailing depicts Obama's face on food stamp, THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE, Oct. 16, 2008, available at http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/ stories/PE-News-Local-S-buckl6.3d67d4a.html.
130. Veer to the Right, CafePress.com, http://magnets.cafepress.com/item/ barack-obama-is-a-snob-magnet/253808830 (last visited Feb. 23, 2008).
131. See David Pilgrim, The Coon Caricature, JIM CROW MUSEUM OF RACIST MEMORABILIA, Oct., 2000, www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/coon. One sticker reads "Empty Suit," and shows Obama as a ridiculous and diminutive figure trying to occupy a man's suit. Emptysuit-tees, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress. com/item/white-tshirt/314082010 (last visited Feb. 23, 2008).
132. TITILLATING TEES, CafePress.com, http://art.cafepress.com/item/ quotbarack-obama-race-cardquot-poster/289456070 (last visited Feb. 23, 2008).
133. One greeting card shows Obama gloating: "White Chicks Dig Me." OBAMA CHICKS, CafePress.com, http://cards.cafepress.com/item/white-chicks- greeting-card/290365314 (last visited Feb. 23,2008).
134. Mychal Massie, Michelle Obama: Angry black harridan, WORLDNETDAILY, Feb. 26, 2008, http://www. worldnetdaily.com/index.php7pagefe57312.
135. Megyn Kelly & Michelle Malkin, America's Election HQ (FOX News television broadcast June 11,2008), available at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=TvZEZL2LmA8.
136. RightLeaning, Cafepress.com, http://buttons.cafepress.com/item/ psychobama-35-button/242291758 (last visited Feb. 23, 2008).
137. Thanks to Sika Dagbovie for her contribution to this section to the exhibit and also for providing these references. See generally JOHN G. MENCKE, MULATTOES AND RACE MIXTURE: AMERICAN ATTITUDES AND IMAGES 1865-1918 (1979);
138. JOEL WILLIAMSON, NEW PEOPLE: MISCEGENATION AND MULATTOES IN THE UNITED STATES (1995).
139. COLLINS, supra note 116, at 70-72.
140. Consider the binary thinking in Geraldine Ferraro's letter to the Boston Globe: Since March, when I was accused of being racist for a statement I made about the influence of blacks on Obama's historic campaign, people have been stopping me to express a common sentiment: If you're white you can't open your mouth without being accused of being racist. They see Obama's playing the race card throughout the campaign and no one calling him for it as frightening. They're not upset with Obama because he's black; they're upset because they don't expect to be treated fairly because they're white. It's not racism that is driving them, it's racial resentment. And that is enforced because they don't believe he understands them and their problems. That when he said in South Carolina after his victory "Our Time Has Come" they believe he is telling them that their time has passed.
141. Geraldine A. Ferraro, Op-Ed., Healing the Wounds of Democrats' Sexism, BOSTON GLOBE, May 30, 2008,at A15.
142. Barack Hussein Obama - No White Guilt, CafePiess.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/white-ladies-go-to-the-back-o-yellow-tshirt/ 281277438 (last visited Feb. 23,2008).
143. Everybody Shirts, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/mens- clothing/design/25954657 (last visited Feb. 23,2008).
144. NANCY TUANA, THE LESS NOBLE SEX: SCIENTIFIC, RELIGIOUS, AND P HILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTIONS OF WOMAN'S NATURE 18-19 (1993).
145. Hillary Bitch Dark T-Shirt, NoHillary, CafePress.com, purchased April 18, 2008.
146. Fuck Election 08!, www.CafePress.com, http://shop.cafepress.com/design/ 30539666 (last visited Feb. 30,2009).
147. HellaryNo.com, Angry Woman with Nuclear Weapons, http://www.hellaryno. com/t-shirts/black-t-shirts/angry-woman-with-nuclear-weapons-black/prod-17.html (last visited Feb. 23, 2008).
148. Cafferty File, http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/26/best-debate- strategy-for-clinton/ (Feb. 26,2008 5:58 P.M. EST).
149. See JAMIESON, supra note 40, at 38;
150. LAKOFF, supra note 45, at 169.
151. Shut Up Hillary!, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/shutuphillary/ (last visited Feb. 23, 2008).
152. Audacity of Hype, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/Iay- off-kids-light-tshirt/266638863 (last visited Feb. 23, 2008).
153. Poppys Political Tshirts, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/ item/fitted-tshirt/26766884 (last visited Feb. 23, 2008).
154. RightWingStuff, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/iron- my-shirt-hillary-dark-tshirt/215009133 (last visited Feb. 23,2008).
155. Katha Pollitt, Sayonara Sarah, THE NATION, Nov. 24, 2008, available at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081124/pollitt.
156. The Official Site of America's Fun Couple Hillary Nutcracker and Corkscrew Bill, http://www.hillarynutcracker.com (last visited Jan. 23,2008).
157. For example, Chris Matthews fumed: "[A]ren't you appalled at the willingness of these people [prominent men who support Hillary Clinton] to become castrates in the chorus ⋯ ?" Hardball with Chris Matthews (MSNBC television broadcast Dec. 17, 2007) (transcript available at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22311746/).
158. Funny Anti-Obama Gift Shop, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/ hillaryscaresme/1204910 (last visited Feb. 24, 2008).
159. Governor Sarah Palin, Speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention (Sept. 3, 2008) (transcript available at http://tinyurl.com/6crrac).
160. BIGNUMPTEES, CafePress.com, http://shop.cafepress.com/design/ 30240281 (last visited Feb. 24, 2009).
161. Sarah Palin Bikini, CafePress.com, http://shop.cafepress.com/design/ 30212642 (last visited F. 24, 2009).
162. Barry Blitt, The Politics of Fear, NEW YORKER, July 21, 2008. For a political critique of the racialized imagery of Angela Davis's hair see a video by Coco Fusco, a.k.a. Mrs. George Gilbert (2004).
163. Paul Vitello, How to Erase that Smear⋯, N.Y. TIMES, Aug. 16, 2008, at WK3, available at http://www.nytimes. com/2008/08/17/weekinreview/17vitello.html.
164. In 2004, Arnold Schwarzeneggar and others branded Democrats "girlie men." Harold Meyerson, Going Over to the Girlie Men, WASH. POST, Sept. 6, 2006, at A15. In 2008, Don Imus smeared both candidates: "But they're both sissy boys or sissy girls, or whatever ⋯ And [Barack Obama's] almost a bigger pussy than [Hillary Clinton] is." Imus: Obama "Almost A Bigger Pussy" Than Hillary, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Apr. 17, 2008, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 2008/04/17/imus-obama-amiost-a-bigge-n-97308.html.
165. Arnold's Ideas 16, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/arnoldsideasl6 (last visited Feb. 24,2009).
166. RightWingStuff, CafePress.com, http://clothing.cafepress.com/item/shes- not-what-she-seems-hooded-sweatshirt/83023807 (last visited Feb. 24,2009).
167. Bill-for-First-Lady, CafePress.com, http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/ bring-bill-back-jr-jersey-tshirt/29748384 (last visited Feb. 24,2009).
168. Ismyhomegirl, Zazzle.com, http://www.zazzle.com/barack-obama-is-my- homegirl-print-228170046979074046 (last visited Feb. 24, 2009).
169. RADAR, NOV. 2008, available at http://www.radaronline.com/from-the-magazine/2007/ 10/2008-campaign-hillary- clinton-rudy-giuliani-barack-obama-mit.php.
170. Beverly Wildung Harrison, Misogyny and Homophobia: The Unexplored Connections, in MAKING THE CONNECTIONS: ESSAYS IN FEMINIST SOCIAL ETHICS 135-51 (Carol S. Robb ed., 1985).
171. JAMES GILLIGAN, PREVENTING VIOLENCE 56-57 (2001).
172. The slogan reads: "Hillary's a Bitch, McCain's Insane, Obama's a Punk." billystshirts.com and www.cafepress.com. The slang word punk is defined in these ways: "A petty hoodlum; one who thinks he wants to be a hoodlum but lacks real toughness and experience⋯. [derog.] A catamite; the young male companion of a sodomite. Prison, maritime and tramp use." DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN SLANG 411 (Harold Wentworth & Stuart Berg Flexner eds., 1967).
173. Li an online dictionary, punk is defined as follows: "Originally, jail lingo for a subservient, cuckolded inmate indebted to another for protection and in return obliged to perform favors both of a sexual nature and otherwise. ⋯ [A] tramp's young homosexual companion. In other words, a rent boy with no ethics." joeneckbone & Dr Pinch, UrbanDictionary.com, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?page=2&term=punk (last visited Jan. 24, 2009).
174. Extremely Smart, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/extremelysmart/ 4995678 (last visited Feb. 24, 2009).
175. Sumbitch Tees, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress.com/sumbitch/5073418 (last visited Feb. 24, 2009).
176. Source no longer available on Internet.
177. Farhad Manjoo, Rumor's Reasons, N.Y. TIMES, March 16,2008, at MM.
178. See, e.g., RV Threads, CafePress.com, http://shop.cafepress.com/ design/29377409 (last visited Feb. 24, 2009).
179. This exchange took place on May 25, 2008 on FOX News: Liz Trotta: "And now we have [a statement from Hillary Clinton about Robert Kennedy being assassinated in the month of June] what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Os - Osama - um, uh - Obama. Well, both, if we could." Eric Shawn: "Talk about how you really feel." Quoted in Patrick Martin, The politics of provocation: Clinton, Obama and the American media, GLOBAL RESEARCH, May 28,2008, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9106.
180. The Chairman of the Republican Party in Virginia, Jeffrey M. Frederick, addressed volunteers at a campaign rally by linking Senator Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon. That is scary." When criticized, Mr. Frederick said he was just quoting Rush Limbaugh. Julie Bosman, REMARKS; A Rally Cry Echoes Online, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 14, 2008, available at http://tinyurl.com/deav3r.
181. Also, the Sacramento Republican Party's web site posted numerous anti-Obama stickers, including ones reading "Waterboard Barack Obama"
182. See Sen. Kevin Bryant: blog from the backbench, http://kevinbryant.com/2008/07/22/sen-barack-obama/ (Jul. 22, 2008).
183. This letter was read on MSNBC by David Schuster, who reported this story, July 21, 2009.
184. Lee Siegel, We're Not Laughing at You, or With You, N.Y. TIMES, July 20,2008, at WK.
185. HOOKS, supra note 38, at 7.
186. WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY UNABRIDGED 1250 (Philip Bab-cock Gove et al. eds., 1993).
187. Bill Moyers Journal (PBS television broadcast Dec. 7, 2007), available at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12072007/profile.html.
188. Michelle Obama Hates America Gear, CafePress.com, http://www.cafepress. com/michellehatesus.278583501 (last visited Feb. 22, 2009).
189. Ken Silverstein, Useful Amateurs: How the Smearing of Barack Obama Got Crowd-Sourced, HARPER'S MAGAZINE, Nov. 2008, at 50.
190. Many hate incidents have already been directly traced to the election. Jesse Washington, Presidential Election Spurs Hundreds of Race Threats, Crimes, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Nov. 15, 2008, http://www.huffingtonpost.eom/2008/11/15/presidential-election-spu-n-144095. html.
191. Vitello, supra note 150, at WK3. The Obama campaign officially took this approach with an official website, www.fightthesmears.com.