Friday, June 29, 2012


Hallmark bashes Tea Party

Great joke.  How about a Hallmark card that says:  "Be a panther, but not a black one".  Would that be a great joke too?  Or maybe:  "Occupy Wall St  -- but clean up after yourself"  Hilarious?

Lennie Jarratt’s children had gone to Walmart over the weekend in search of a gradation card for a family friend. But instead they found a Hallmark card that has generated outrage within the Tea Party community – along with calls for a national boycott.

The card, published by Hallmark, features an image of President Obama on the cover declaring, “You graduated! Time to go to a lot of parties!”

The inside of the card reads, “But avoid those tea parties if you can. Trust me.”

“It’s offensive,” said Jarratt, the founder of the Lake County Tea Party in Illinois. “Why is Hallmark getting political? What’s the point of this? Why would they want to bash a whole group of people?”

Jarratt said his children returned home from the store and told him about the card – so he decided to go to the store and purchase a copy of the card.

“My kids didn’t like it because it was bashing tea parties,” he said. “I got the same reaction.”

Source


23 comments:

Bird of Paradise said...

BOYCOTT HALLMARK and quit watching their crapp HALL OF FAME SPECIALS

Anonymous said...

Not everything has sinister motives. It's a cute play on words.

A. Levy said...

It's a "cute" play on words, but only if you agree with their underlying premise, which is, obviously, pro Obummer.

In the case of Hallmark, and many other companies that use their products to convey their political agenda, the American people should understand that they can continue allowing these companies to make fools of them, or, they can use a very simple, and VERY effective tool, used by Europeans for decades. BOYCOTT!

You can survive without their products, but they cannot survive without your cash!

Nameless Cynic said...

Wow. So if somebody complains about buttons sold at the Republican conventions reading "If Obama Is President, Will We Still Call It The White House?" - so that's just a joke, right? But this can't be a joke, it's evidence of a blatant liberal plot to pollute your precious bodily fluids?

Help me out here. I'm trying to figure you guys out.

Dman said...

Anon 1:10 nails it. Not everything is sinister. In my opinion, this is much to do about nothing.

It's a policital joke. By definition, political jokes poke fun at one party or the other.

This is Hallmark simply making a joke that Obama might. It's pretty much a given that Obama wouldn't be a fan of the Tea Party.

And Levy... I would agree with you if they were making some Pro-Left statements in their own name; stating their own opinion. But in this case, the humor is that Obama is the one making the (obvious) joke.

Let's leave being "offended by everything" to the Left.

Anonymous said...

Levy -- Not even thing is pro-Obama. Lighten up.

Anonymous said...

get over it, no big deal. I'm a member of the tea party yet I am not offended.

Anonymous said...

For the majority in the usual comment sections on this site - if they agree then it's "free speech" - but if they disagree then it's hateful propaganda from the left/atheists/gays/foreigners(brits, french, and europeans in general), or insert any other of their pet demonized groups. Biased much?!
Of course JJ steers the arguments with his own biases - but he really seems obsessed by "homosexuality" for some no doubt freudian reason!?

Anonymous said...

3:27, are you saying those groups you mention don't hate? wow how blind you are.

Anonymous said...

3:27, you're as biased as anyone or any group (including all the biased groups you've mentioned).

Anonymous said...

The majority of the people on this site, who aren't douchebags, base their comments on freedom of speech issues. Halmark is free to publish offensive cards. But this is capitalism, so offending half of their potential customers is a stupid business decision. That goes for Walmart selling them too. No respectable company would make a button as described by the nameless troll (effing idiot) - it just wouldn't happen, and for good reasons.

If I don't like a company, I'm not going to do business with them if I have a choice - a choice you loose under socialism. I used to almost always buy Hallmark cards - now, not so much.

I must say that I still have a fantasy of owning my own company. I wouldn't try to offend people, but you can't help it these days. I'd have all complaints forwarded to me so I can tell them to eff-off and I don't want their business.

Anonymous said...

3:58 - yes I'm biased - against idiots like you; but I guess a bias against a bias is much like intolerance of intolerance - it cancels out! (You are evidently 3:55 as well, so that cancels out the need for a reply to his/her silly comment.)

Anonymous said...

I don't see how it could be considered offensive. It is a political joke and really plays both ways. I took it as Obama warning against "tea parties" because they can be rough bad a$$e$ and you'll come out of it pretty scuffed up. Which, to me, should be a badge of honor for the Tea Party that it implies Obama is affraid of you. Lighten up and leave the vicimization to the left.

Uno Hu said...

I am not "offended" - I don't offend easily unless I choose to become offended, as when exposed to some racist terms used to describe white people.

But I do reserve the right to spend my money in places that don't sell products that denigrate or disparage that which I support. Wal-Mart unquestionably has the right to sell those and even more odious cards; those of us who find them odious have an equal right not to spend our money there and to encourage others who think like us to withold their patronage also.

What neither conservatives nor moonbat liberals have the right to do is to try to forcibly or physically prevent others from patronizing an offending retail institution, but that's an activity pretty much confined to the far left.

Anonymous said...

4:30 you've missed my point. all those groups you've pointed out all hate others and are all biased as well. You have a lot of hating to do. Hate is ugly, look into a mirror.

DALE R. PATTERSON said...

I wish I had seen this one when we were looking for graduation cards, I know of at least two kids who would have LOVED it!

(and we're all Tea-Party-ish!)

Nameless Cynic said...

Uno Hu:
What neither conservatives nor moonbat liberals have the right to do is to try to forcibly or physically prevent others from patronizing an offending retail institution, but that's an activity pretty much confined to the far left.
You need to look around, cracker. Are you trying to claim that anti-gay Minnesota for Marriage is "far left"?

One Million Moms?

Fox News, which has pushed boycotts on everything from stores that don't say "Merry Christmas" to entire countries.

Do I need to go on? The American Family Association finds somebody new to boycott every week. There's no such thing as a Planned Parenthood clinic that isn't surrounded by protesters. The Family Research Council promotes boycotts of Walmart, McDonalds, the Girl Scouts, Starbucks, and probably zoos for all I know.

Are you willfully ignorant, or just deluded?

Anonymous said...

The card is somewhat ambiguous in that it doesn't say WHY you should avoid tea parties.
It may be because you are allergic to cucumber sandwiches, it may be because Obama considers them a bit hostile, it might be because he thinks they are full of bigots and/or morons.
In any event, it is clearly meant to be humorous - something that doesn't always work. I think that only those who are looking to be offended would be.

Anonymous said...

This is much ado about nothing.

The same series of cards have jokes about Obama as well.

I was looking for a birthday card for my mom and came upon one that said:

"You and President Obama have something in common....."

And on the inside:

"Neither of you want your birth certificate shown."

The series takes "shots" at both sides of the aisle. Are we that divided that we can't even laugh at ourselves anymore?

Calls for boycotts in this case really shows a lack of class and a certain amount of stupidity.

Anonymous said...

5:54 - yet another silly and pointless comment - look in the mirror and see how silly you look!

A. Levy said...

Anonymous 2:24 said...
"Levy -- Not even thing is pro-Obama. Lighten up..."

Obviously, you haven't been paying attention.

TheOldMan said...

Don't like it, don't buy it.

Anonymous said...

@Oldman, That is exactly what a boycott is. Don't like the views of that company, don't buy from them.