Political fashions come in forms both low-end and high-end, ridiculous and super-ridiculous, ugly/irritating and irritating/ugly. But none of this really means anything in terms of political commitment. It's easy, unbelievably, gratingly easy, to turn your presidential candidate into a sartorial statement. Anyone can do it. You think spending $60 on a hideous Obama t-shirt designed by Beyoncé conveys your support for Obama? Ha. If you were a real Obama supporter, you'd pay $2495 for a chair and matching ottoman upholstered with his face.
Lucky for you, the chi-chi NYC furniture store ABC Carpet and Home has just such an Obamottoman and chair set for sale RIGHT NOW. (Incidentally, when the Greatest Depression finally hits, ABC Carpet & Home should be the first thing turned into a soup kitchen.)
It's in their special Furniture-Elect 2008 section, complete with constant Wil.i.am loop:
Is there a better way of conveying your choice of candidate than upholstering a chair and ottoman with his face and selling it for $2500? Yes, of course there is. Is there a louder, more irritating way? Short of renting a truck with a loudspeaker, not really. If wearing a designer Obama t-shirt is like yelling, "Hey, everyone! Look at me and my political awareness!" owning the $2500 Obamottoman and chair set is like installing a high-decibel siren in your apartment to screech the same message at all times.
And where's the basic, sturdy, unblinking McCain dinette set, with a table shaped like McCain's head, hmm? (No, seriously, where is it? If it's less than $100, I'd like to purchase it–ironically, of course, cause that's what we all do here.) It's just disgusting when fancy furniture stores make their overpriced wares so partisan.
Well, McCain supporters may not be able to spend an obscene amount of money on furniture upholstered with their candidate's face, but they have a politicized something far more priceless: a helpless human infant. Apparently a man in Tennessee just named his newborn daughter Sarah McCain Palin. Why? Creepy devotion:
"I took one for the cause," he said. "I can't give a lot of financial support for the (McCain/Palin) campaign. I do have a sign up in my yard, but I can do very little."
So he gave the campaign his daughter's dignity. Obamottoman and chair set? $2500. Naming your daughter what could be the 2009 equivalent of Michaela Dukakis Bentsen? Priceless.