MintGate: TN State Rep. Armstrong Hard at Work, Succeeds in Removing from University Bookstore Satirical Breath Mints Poking Fun at Obama
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on August 4, 2011
I’m glad that Tennessee is doing so well these days that Democrat state Rep. Joe Armstrong has plenty of spare time on his hands to make sure offensive mint tins are removed from the University of Tennessee bookstore.
Yep, he personally investigated MintGate:
Disappoint Mints: These humorous Obama breath mints were pulled from the University of Tennessee bookstore after local legislator Joe Armstrong told store officials he was offended by the mints
Your tax dollars hard at work, Tennessee. Are ya’ll paying attention, voters?
And they say Democrats have no sense of humor… of course, they do. Just don’t ever make the mistake of daring to poke a bit of fun at Barack “Mr. Thin Skin” Obama and they’ll be peachy keen. If Sarah Palin or George W. Bush is the punchline, even better. Satire and parody are fine — as long as it’s not ever directed at any of them.
From Standard-Examiner, Mints poking fun at Obama pulled from university bookstore:
Knoxville , Tenn. — Breath mints are usually refreshing, but a Knoxville legislator believes a University of Tennessee bookstore’s selling of novelty candies mocking President Barack Obama stinks.
UT officials pulled the mints poking fun at Obama from store shelves after state Rep. Joe Armstrong, a Democrat, visited the bookstore and told the director he found the satirical mints offensive.
“When you operate on state and federal dollars, you ought to be sensitive to those type of politically specific products,” Armstrong said. “If it was a private entity or corporation or store, (that’s different), but this is a state university. We certainly don’t want in any way to put the university in a bad light by having those political (products), particularly aimed at defaming the president.”
The tin can of mints has a blue and red image of the president with the words: “This is change? Disappointmints.”
Armstrong said he got a call from a student who was bothered by the depiction of the president, and the legislator followed up Tuesday with a visit to the bookstore in the basement of the University Center. There, he purchased a box of the $2.99 mints and had a conversation with director David Kent, who ultimately removed product from the shelves.
Kent said the store previously carried satirical mints aimed at former President George W. Bush when he was in office.
[...]
Armstrong also said that since the mints were not educational material, there was no breech of the First Amendment.
“With a book or something of that nature, then fine, but that (the mints) is sort of a discretionary product they have,” Armstrong said. “It wasn’t viewpoint neutral. Very specifically insulting to the president.”
Margie Nichols, vice chancellor for communication at UT, agreed that there was no violation of free speech and said the bookstore is run as a business with discretion over what products to sell.
Others disagree, however, pointing to Armstrong’s involvement as a form of censorship.
“Let me make very clear, there is no candy exception to the First Amendment,” said Glenn Reynolds, who teaches constitutional law at UT. “Free speech is free speech. If you make fun of the president in a mint, it is just as much free speech as it is if you make fun of the president in a political cartoon.”
While citizens have the right to express disapproval of a message on a tin can of breath mints, that opinion has more heft when it’s coming from a government official, Reynolds said, calling it “a species of censorship.”
“I just think it’s really quite odd to hear of a state legislator to take it upon himself to have something removed from a bookstore. It’s the kind of thing people make fun of Mississippi for,” Reynolds added.
Democrat Logic: The breath mints teasing Pres. Obama are BAD AND DISRESPECTFUL of the president. The breath mints teasing Pres. Bush are NOT bad nor disrespectful.
The mints of Bush were also carried by the university bookstore, but Rep. Armstrong must have been too busy during Bush’s eight years in office to ever investigate them — Armstrong is serving his 12th term in the state congress, by the way:
Obama Mints vs. Bush Mints: Don't ever poke fun at a president... unless it's a Republican president, of course (click image to enlarge)
From FOX News, Satirical Mints Poking Fun at President Obama Yanked From Tennessee Bookstore:
The University of Tennessee bookstore in Knoxville has decided to stop selling packages of breath mints poking fun at President Obama after a Democratic lawmaker complained.
The product is called, “Disappoint-mints” and features a blue and red picture of the president on the label.
State Rep. Joe Armstrong told The Knoxville News Sentinel he found the breath mints offensive.
He said a student had notified him of the mints so he decided to go to the bookstore to investigate.
He said the breath freshener was “very specifically insulting to the president” and said the university should be sensitive to what he called “politically specific products.”
But others find the outrage over “Disappoint-mints” to be curiously strong – suggesting that removing the products is a form of censorship.
[...]
Tennessee Republicans were quick to pounce on the Democrats for what they called hypocrisy.
“It’s certainly a disappointment and an embarrassment that Democrats would choose to try and limit free speech on a college campus,” said Chris Devaney, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party.
“They can’t take criticism of their president. The bottom line is that Democrats were out of line.”
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UPDATE: Demand for these “Disappoint Mints” at The Unemployed Philosophers Guild have gone through the roof. Orders are now backed up ’til the end of the month. There’s a discount on the tins for every 4 ordered. Great stocking stuffers for all those patriots on your Christmas list!
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