Remember, in 1992, when James Carville discovered that a number of Bush-Quayle campaign materials were being made in Brazil? There was a fun scene about it in the documentary, “The War Room.”
As luck would have it, history is repeating itself, and this time, it’s worse. Not only are some Bush-Cheney materials made overseas, but the campaign is buying the items from a country whose goods have been banned — by Bush — from the United States. (via Atrios)
The official merchandise Web site for President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign has sold clothing made in Burma, whose goods were banned by Bush from the U.S. last year to punish its military dictatorship.
The merchandise sold on www.georgewbushstore.com includes a $49.95 fleece pullover, embroidered with the Bush-Cheney ’04 logo and bearing a label stating it was made in Burma, now Myanmar. The jacket was sent to Newsday as part of an order that included a shirt made in Mexico and a hat not bearing a country-of-origin label.
The Bush merchandise is handled by Spalding Group, a 20-year-old supplier of campaign products and services in Louisville, Ky., that says it worked for the last five Republican presidential nominees.
Ted Jackson, Spalding’s president, said, “We have found only one other in our inventory that was made in Burma. The others were made in the U.S.A.” He said the company had about 60 of thefleece pullovers in its warehouse, and that a supplier included the Burma product by mistake.
Bush campaign officials did not return calls seeking comment. The imports are potentially an issue because outsourcing has become a hot political topic in the election.
Bush last July signed into law the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, saying “The United States will not waver from its commitment to the cause of democracy and human rights in Burma.”
And I almost forgot:
Violators of the import ban are subject to fines and jail, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Time to see if we can get Ken Mehlman frog-marched out the campaign HQ in handcuffs!
I’m kidding, of course, but this is definitely a legitimate area for campaign criticism. We all know that if this were the other way around, and Kerry campaign stuff was coming from Burma despite the importation ban, the GOP would go apoplectic. It’d be a staple of talk radio and Fox News today and every day for a year. Every interview would be marked by how well Kerry was handling the “Burma situation.”
Kerry’s campaign should be all over this. Right after they check very carefully to make sure none of their stuff is coming from countries with import bans…