This Democratic donkey wine holder hails from the political gifts section of Metal Imagination, which also offers wine holders shaped like the Republican elephant. For the nonpartisan patriotic crowd, there are wine holders in the shape of an American soldier and the Statue of Liberty.

It would be nice if politicians could put aside their differences over a nice bottle of wine and actually solve the country’s problems, but I have a feeling that’s unlikely to happen.

Posted on December 4th, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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Just in time for the the chilly winter gift season, these Bush & Hillary political “firestarters” are sure to incite all sorts of interesting arguments during family gatherings…unfortunately it appears they were only manufactured around the 2008 elections. There goes my holiday gift master plan for some politically-obsessed friends…

Custom “firestarters” are fun gifts to let off steam during any political campaigns–not just the presidential race. If one party had a batch manufactured to look like the opposing candidate, sparks would start flying in no time–and better for the candidates to keep the nastiness in their own fireplaces than in onslaughts of immature “attack ads.” Hey, even if your party loses, there’s some great satisfaction in making the “other guy” keep you warm…

Posted on December 1st, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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Complete this sentence: “You can tell your Presidential approval rating is in the doghouse when…”

I’m not sure if this political pet toy was available during George W’s presidency, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was–making fun of our “lame-duck” president was a global pastime, and a massive moneymaking opportunity from a marketing standpoint! I haven’t seen any W rubber duckies yet, but I’m sure they’re out there.

Posted on November 24th, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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A CNN reporter was detained in China the other day after a “scuffle” with security guards as she was holding up a t-shirt customized with a picture of Barack Obama dressed as former Communist dictator Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. The ObaMao logo shirts had recently been banned by the Chinese government in anticipation of the American president’s visit, as they claimed the design might offend him. The television reporter, Emily Chang, managed to hold on to the shirt despite being held with her colleagues for two hours for questioning by security and police. She claims that upon her return to the United States, jealous White House officials and CNN colleagues tried to bribe her for the shirt, but that she held on to it. American t-shirt manufacturers are no doubt running their own screen-printers full-time in order to make more of these for the domestic audience…

The power of political apparel is much greater than one might think, apparently. This ObaMao design was also featured on bags and patches, judging from other photos of the market I have seen…I wonder if she would have gotten in trouble for holding up a flimsy little bumper sticker or pen?

Posted on November 20th, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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This clever ceramic coffee mug is printed with the Bill of Rights in heat sensitive ink. When you pour in coffee, tea, or any other hot beverage, those letters disappear–just like Americans’ civil rights! For those who have a different definition of “patriotic” than the politicians currently in power, this mug is a great gift. It’s also certain to cause a stir at any government function. Present it to anyone trying to run a successful political campaign and watch them squirm their way around its legal ramifications!

[via Future Memories]

Posted on November 17th, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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We’ve seen political mints and other kinds of partisan candy–these joke-imprinted products are practically a staple of political campaign promotions. But Obama sushi? This patriotic food-for-thought is sort of disturbing in its detail and intricacy, though it must have taken some considerable culinary talent to construct.

During the campaign, several restaurants offered both McCain- and Obama-themed hamburgers, but these didn’t actually look like the candidates; likewise, a few sushi bars renamed some of their classic rolls after the candidates without replicating their faces. Somehow, though, I can’t imagine that McCain winning the election would have resulted in a sushi portrait. Maybe a fish’s head on a personalized award plaque.

Posted on November 13th, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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Political campaigns are not a clean business by any means, and these presidential toilet paper rolls are proof. The Bush roll alternates squares featuring different timeless quotes from the former President, such as “They misunderestimated me,” while the Obama roll simply utters, “Oh crap!” No high-minded patriotic speeches are destined for the plumbing here, just light-hearted partisan humor…

Not surprisingly, they’re from two different websites, BaronBob and LiquidShirts. It doesn’t take much imagination to guess who these webmasters picked in the last election!

Posted on November 10th, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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Last year’s election season inspired some off-the-wall promotional products. These Obama and McCain gargoyles, hailing from Design Toscano, are accompanied by a statement from the manufacturer decrying “tired bumper stickers, buttons and sashes” as political campaign tools. As much as I like these gargoyles, I don’t think every politician would be comfortable being represented by one–and Design Toscano would be exhausted trying to manufacture enough gargoyles to depict every presidential hopeful in the election.

How about a diplomatic compromise–deck these gargoyles out in political apparel, patriotic sashes, and promotional pins, and call it “moderate.”

Posted on November 6th, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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How better than to advertise the candidacy of a giant mythical squid than through a cute little stuffed promotional teddy bear? The Cthulhu 2008 campaign humorously takes early twentieth century horror writer H.P. Lovecraft’s classic deep-sea monster and puts him on the ballot. Evil Genius Tees is still selling all kinds of Elect Cthulhu schwag, including the usual array of tees, sweatshirts, and tank tops. Of course, Cthulhu, being an “elder god” who lives forever in Lovecraft’s short stories, will be coming back to campaign for a looooong time, so there are even promotional baby onesies for the young ones.

Given his taste for devouring human beings (and basically anything else put in front of him), the Cthulhu promotional BBQ apron is probably the funniest promo merchandise on the site. Why settle for the lesser of two evils, anyway?

Posted on November 3rd, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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While checking out the political merch on RetroCampaigns, which features t-shirts bearing political campaign slogans from decades past, I found this “Wings for America” shirt.

Wendell Willkie ran for President against Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 and lost. His campaign is notable because he switched parties in order to do it (from Democrat to Republican) and then became one of Roosevelt’s supporters again after the election. Such civility in the federal government is almost impossible to imagine these days! The airplane on the shirt refers to Willkie’s support for the aviation industry, and the slogan adds a patriotic touch to the image. Willkie famously championed the cause of racial equality and the value of public opinion in several widely broadcast radio addresses–television wasn’t so hot back then–and published a bestselling book about his political experiences called One World.

I have to wonder what happened to the clever slogans that used to appear on electoral campaign buttons and stickers up through the 80s. These days candidates just stick their name on a bunch of promotional products and consider the job done.

Posted on October 30th, 2009 by PoliticalSchwagCollector
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