MANCHESTER, Vt., Jan. 20, 2008
One More Year To Sell "01.20.09"
A Vermonter's Cottage Industry, Like The President, Is In Its Final Year
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Elliott Nachwalter stands with a cut-out of President George W. Bush. For three years, the Manchester, Vt., business owner has made Bush-bashing a cottage industry with his "01-20-09" bumper stickers, clocks, and other novelties, all pointing to the last day of Mr. Bush's presidency, now winding down to its last year. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)
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Interactive Bush Presidency The president's agenda, plus facts, figures, major events and key personalities.
On Jan. 20, 2009 - one year from today - Elliot Nachwalter and his company, "Bush's Last Day," will have to find new inspiration.
That's the day President George W. Bush leaves the White House.
"I have a couple little products lined up. Both of them have nothing to do with politics," Nachwalter said. "I'd like to think this time we won't have to do another end-of-term button."
First doodled on a dining room table, then slapped onto lapel buttons, "01.20.09" has become wildly popular.
"It was like a bulb, a light went off," said Nachwalter, who drew it up in a fit of pique prompted by Mr. Bush's refusal to sign a piece of environmental legislation. "I started giving them out to my friends and anybody who thought it was interesting and I couldn't have enough of them. I said, 'Maybe I should think about selling them."'
Now, more than 600 businesses across the country sell the T-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers and other products that proclaim "01.20.09," some with the subtext "Bush's Last Day" and "Earth, Water, Air." The Internet has spread the message - and the products - globally.
"The Web site became like a cult thing. Everybody would send it to their mailing list and things started to grow pretty rapidly," said Nachwalter.
"01.20.09" has appeared in movies, on late night television shows - even on a Humvee in Iraq. Meanwhile, "Bush's Last Day" countdown key chains tick off the days, hours, minutes and seconds until Bush's era ends at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
After the first buttons, Nachwalter started out in a closet. But he kept outgrowing his space. Now, he and six employees work 16-hour days filling orders out of a Manchester industrial park.
The product line has grown as well. There are refrigerator magnets, coffee mugs, golf balls, greeting cards, even "Fire Bush Hot Sauce" and dog treats called "Bush Biskits."
Donna Tsitsikaos, a spokeswoman for America, a gift store chain with 17 retail outlets in the Washington, D.C., area and New Jersey, said five of its best-selling products with political themes came from Bush's Last Day.
America first started selling the Bush's Last Day key chains. Now, they sell 12 Bush's Last Day items.
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"We've been thrilled. It'll continue to be in our lineup through the rest of 2008," Tsitsikaos said. "We're hoping the company will come up with something creative after this product goes out of style."I'd like to think this time we won't have to do another end-of-term button.
Elliot NachwalterRenee Carl, a left-wing political activist from Washington, said she sees a lot of the "01.20.09" bumper stickers in her Washington neighborhood. She has one on her refrigerator. She has sent them as presents in birthday cards.
"We think everyone doing work thinking toward a new progressive administration is doing great work," said Carl.
As for Bush sympathizers?
Blair Latoff, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, took a question about the president's last day in stride. "On January 20, 2009 the next Republican President will continue to keep our nation safe and work to let Americans keep more of their hard-earned tax dollars," she said.
It seems only fitting that the venting of the frustration some feel at the Bush presidency should come from Vermont, the land of the impeachment movement, Ben & Jerry's, and a socialist senator. It's the only state in the nation Bush hasn't visited as president.
Nachwalter, 57, is cut from the same cloth as Ben Cohen, Jerry Greenfield and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, transplanted New Yorkers all who moved to Vermont in the hippie era and then made their marks on the state and the world.
For a time, Nachwalter even had a pipe shop across the street in Burlington from the converted gas station where Ben and Jerry first sold the ice cream that made them famous.
Until Nachwalter started handing out his buttons three years ago, he wouldn't have been mentioned alongside Vermont's more famous New York immigrants. But that was before frustration with the president's environmental policies prompted him to start drawing.
The company is now selling peace symbols and images of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Nachwalter said he thinks the two should run on the same ticket next year.
And he realizes that a year from Monday, the reason for his original anger will be gone, but he's hoping the boost Bush's Last Day has given his business will carry him into the future.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 27 Comments1-20-09 Will Be a New Holiday!!!!
America''s second Independence Day.
I was raised in Illinois!The Women''''''''s Liberation Caucus had more votes to choose the Democratic Candidate at the convention in 1979 than did many of our States,..
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Children are '' reared'' crops are ''raised'',..
A Typical GOP sect member,..He`s afraid of the power of women,...I guess he liked being spanked,..Because This Election,The GOP Will Be DISMEMBERED !! Branch by Branch,..The EVIL Roots of this sect WILL BURN,...The Voters are showing up in record numbers to Make Sure Our Country Is Never Taken Over By The EVIL CORPORATE GREED & LIES that represent the GOP sect ! Remember" Friends NEVER let friends vote republicon"!
Left our American Embassy personel to rot in Tehran, because the Ayatollah''''s held him in such contempt that our hostages were released with in minutes of him leaving office.
He ran for President in 1980 on the plank that the only cure for our high inflation was to increase unemployment. The list goes on and on. I was raised in Illinois, in a Democrat state, and a Democrat family, and Jimmy Carter cured me of that forever.
The Women''''s Liberation Caucus had more votes to choose the Democratic Candidate at the convention in 1979 than did many of our States.
One fourth of all the votes in the Democratic convention this year will be cast by lifetime party members, who can over ride the votes of the people in the state primaries.
Posted by kesac4650 at 05:03 PM : Jan 20, 2008
Actually, history is going to look at Carter quite favorably. The Iranian Hostage Crisis (if you did your history) was set in motion clear back in the Eisenhower Admin with the CIA''s first covert activity in Operation Ajax. We overthrew a democratic government (reason: OIL) and put in the Shah of Iran, quite a cruel jerk. Plus Carter wasn''t AWOL or a 5 deferment !
I`ve Never wished bad things on people like I do on '' The King'',...NEVER,Have I been So Disgusted with a ''Slimy image of a living being '' as I am With "The leader of the Most Corrupt Club in the World'' ,..Oily,Greedy,Greasy,Slimy ,Stinking are just a few of the things that come to my mind when thinking of this hideous creature that 28% of you adore.When I think of these people,I`m reminded that flies thrive while eating feces all their lives.
Character is far more important than intellect in making a man a good citizen Theodore Roosevelt
In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. Theodore Roosevelt
Avoid the base hypocrisy of condemning in one man what you pass over in silence when committed by another. - Cambridge, Massachusetts March 11, 1890 Theodore Roosevelt
The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight. Theodore Roosevelt
If an American is to amount to anything he must rely upon himself, and not upon the State; he must take pride in his own work, instead of sitting idle to envy the luck of others. He must face life with resolute courage, win victory if he can, and accept defeat if he must, without seeking to place on his fellow man a responsibility which is not theirs. - Review of Reviews January 1897 Theodore
It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things. Theodore Roosevelt
Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big. Theodore Roosevelt
Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind. Theodore Roosevelt
The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything. Theodore Roosevelt
The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal warmonger. Theodore Roosevelt
The reactionary is always willing to take a progressive attitude on any issue that is dead. Theodore Roosevelt
Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself sharing the stress and the danger. (1894) Theodore Roosevelt
To sit home, read one''s favorite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon the good men''s doing. - The Outlook December 21, 1895 Theodore Roosevelt
1-20-2009!!!
It can''t come fast enough.
Impeach Bush Cheney Halliburton NOW!!
The economy is like nature itself. IT HAS TO GO THROUGH CYCLES (with a disruption only caused by war)!
The GOP republicans has only delayed this cycle (by foreign loans) which will only make economic recovery LONGER AND HARDER.
Go get an education in economics!
Pres. Carter''s public debt was not close to the mammoth tax debt your children will suffer. The economy is like nature itself. IT HAS TO GO THROUGH CYCLES!
The GOP republicans has only delayed this cycle which will only make economic recovery LONGER AND HARDER.
Oh, and in my early post about bad presidents, I forgot the Reagan/Bush team. Trickle down economics, my arse.
I''ve never wished bad things to happen to another person in my life, but I could easily start now. Since they say what goes around comes around I won''t, but I tell ya, when I think about all the deaths that this man has caused, I might have to rope and hog tie myself to keep from doing cheerleader flips across the pasture if something did.
Au contraire. I''d say in front of Carter is pro''bly Nixon, and then in front of them both of course is Bush.
You could put Satan on the democratic ticket this year and I''d still vote democratic, because if the republicans win and continue their war mongering and raping of this country we''d soon see the apocalypse anyway.
Posted by SgtRDS
Unfortunately, unless the Republicans in Congress either get booted out, or begin to do what''s right for the US rather than their party, there''s no way anyone is going to be impeached or jailed for the crimes committed by the Bush Administration. And this is the real reason the US doesn''t sign up for the International Court at The Hague, as other countries would have no such qualms about going after war criminals, be they Iraqi or American. It all makes a mockery of the US ideas of justice and democracy that they go touting around the world.
Posted by anonbene at 05:41 PM : Jan 20, 2008
I''ll second that. Send him to Iraq to face trial for his war crimes just like they did with Saddam. Hopefully he''ll even get the same sentence.
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