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Ben & Jerry's co-founder inflamed by Bush
seattlepi.com ^ | Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | Chris Rodkey

Posted on 07/20/2004 6:27:25 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker


Ben Cohen

The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is on the road, towing a 12-foot-tall effigy of President Bush with fake flames shooting out of the pants.

Ben Cohen believes it is an acceptable way to point out what he calls the president's lies.

"In a polite society, you don't go up to a person and look at them in the face and say, 'You're a liar,'" Cohen said in a telephone interview before arriving in Spokane, the next stop on the Pants on Fire Tour.

"We think it's a lot more dignified and there's a lot more decorum to say, 'Excuse me sir, your pants are getting a little warm, don't you think?'" Cohen said.

The "PantsOnFire-Mobile" is a trailer pulled behind a car. The Bush character is wearing a flight suit with the words "Mission Accomplished" emblazoned on the back, a reference to the president's declaration that major hostilities had ended in Iraq. An electronic ticker on the front shows what Cohen says are Bush's lies.

The head is a rotating cylinder with various Bush facial expressions.

White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said most people in America support Bush's policies, and that the president supports free speech.

"The president welcomes the fact that we live in a democracy and that people in this country are free to make their own opinions known," Lisaius said.

Ben & Jerry's pioneered "mobile promotions," when Cohen and co-founder Jerry Greenfield took an RV across the country and doled out ice cream on a nationwide "scooping tour," in lieu of expensive national advertising. The same concept is at work with the PantsOnFire-Mobile, Cohen said.

The project is run by volunteers. Cohen flies to a town to train a crew of drivers, teaching them things like how to crank up the smoke machine. Volunteers come from an Internet organization Cohen founded called TrueMajority.org, which he said has 500,000 members.

The Web site, which sends out liberal action calls to subscribers, is not affiliated with Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. In 2000, international conglomerate Unilever purchased the ice cream company. Cohen and co-founder Jerry Greenfield now serve as "ambassadors" for the company.

Reaction to the effigy across the country has been overwhelmingly positive, Cohen said, so much so that he has commissioned a second one to tour.

Portraying flames shooting out of the pants of the president isn't disrespectful, Cohen argued.

"I believe that it's disrespectful of the president to essentially lead the country based on lies," he said. "If that happens, then I believe it's actually our patriotic duty to make people aware of it."

The PantsOnFire-Mobile will spend two weeks in Spokane before rolling off to Seattle. The tour began last November on Long Island, N.Y., and will continue until the Nov. 2 elections. It has already made stops in Florida, Texas, Arizona and Colorado.

---

On the Net: www.TrueMajority.org


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ben; benandjerrys; benlovesmumia; fifthcolumnists; icecream; idiots; jerry; lefties; morons; noimpulsecontrol; radicalleftists; rats
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Reaction to the effigy across the country has been overwhelmingly positive, Cohen said, so much so that he has commissioned a second one to tour.

I would like to see Benny boy roll one of his Bush effigies down my street.

1 posted on 07/20/2004 6:27:25 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
I would like to see Benny boy roll one of his Bush effigies down my street.

Old Ben is a socialist. Just tell him you are going to borrow "our" trailer for a few months...

2 posted on 07/20/2004 6:31:01 PM PDT by Doctor Raoul (KERRY IS A POODLE: #1 He's French, #2 He's A Rich Woman's Pet, #3 He Won't Protect You)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: O.C. - Old Cracker
"In a polite society, you don't go up to a person and look at them in the face and say, 'You're a liar,'"

But it is polite to haul a 12 ft likeness of them down the road as it burns.

4 posted on 07/20/2004 6:31:51 PM PDT by jla (http://www.ronaldreaganmemorial.com/memorial_fund.asp)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
The "Serious Fun" button at the top of Cohen's 'True Majority' homepage shows you exactly what leftist businessmen like Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are really all about.
5 posted on 07/20/2004 6:32:41 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker

Ben Cohen cannot document a single lie that W has told,
unlike Klintoon. He can use his ice cream for an enema
as far as I'm concerned.


6 posted on 07/20/2004 6:33:18 PM PDT by beethovenfan
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker

Ben and Jerry? Christ, cant they come up with any new lefties? Who is next, Grace Slick and David Crosby?


7 posted on 07/20/2004 6:33:38 PM PDT by somemoreequalthanothers (comma key broke)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker

These libs are just getting more and more extreme. These folks are certifiable.

Irony is that their "great lie" is that "Bush lied".


8 posted on 07/20/2004 6:35:27 PM PDT by Ramius (The pieces are moving. We come to it at last. The great battle of our time.)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
the next stop on the Pants on Fire Tour

This ought to be about Sandy Berger.

9 posted on 07/20/2004 6:35:41 PM PDT by beyond the sea (There's always one to turn and walk away ........ and one who just wants to stay)
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To: somemoreequalthanothers

Well, they *do* believe in recycling, after all.


10 posted on 07/20/2004 6:36:16 PM PDT by Ramius (The pieces are moving. We come to it at last. The great battle of our time.)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
Inflamed as in Ben&Jerry's hemorrhoids?! GOOOOOOODDD!
11 posted on 07/20/2004 6:36:35 PM PDT by RoseofTexas
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
Already posted here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1175185/posts
12 posted on 07/20/2004 6:37:28 PM PDT by Cultural Jihad
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
"In a polite society, you don't go up to a person and look at them in the face and say, 'You're a liar,'"

"It's much more polite to mock them in effigy, thousands of miles away."

13 posted on 07/20/2004 6:38:11 PM PDT by ICX (This tagline was inadvertently removed from the National Archives.)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
Ben is also a "three dollar bill." He can shove his ice cream, cones and all.
14 posted on 07/20/2004 6:39:51 PM PDT by Joee
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To: somemoreequalthanothers

I wonder how many of Ben's employees got laid off when he sold out to corporate America.


15 posted on 07/20/2004 6:40:24 PM PDT by Victoria
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
Reaction to the effigy across the country has been overwhelmingly positive, Cohen said, so much so that he has commissioned a second one to tour.

Errata: "Reaction to the effigy accross the county has been overwelmingly positive..."

Mr. Cohen said that next week he will take his display out of San Francisco and across the Bay into Oakland.

16 posted on 07/20/2004 6:41:19 PM PDT by mc5cents ("We will have to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." Hillary Clinton)
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To: Victoria

I wonder how left wingers ever develop a successful business to begin with.


17 posted on 07/20/2004 6:42:47 PM PDT by somemoreequalthanothers
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To: somemoreequalthanothers
cant they come up with any new lefties? Who is next, Grace Slick and David Crosby?

Hmmm...who's that total babe that used to hang out with Jerry Brown? I sure can't recall her name....but she'd probably qualify.

What IS her name? This is gonna really bug me, and I probably won't sleep a wink tonight until I get it.

18 posted on 07/20/2004 6:43:51 PM PDT by ErnBatavia ("Dork"; a 60's term for a 60's kinda guy: JFK)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
... not affiliated with Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. In 2000, international conglomerate Unilever purchased the ice cream company. Cohen and co-founder Jerry Greenfield now serve as "ambassadors" for the company.

Hmmm, isn't this the same 'Unilever' we just got done writing to concerning Whoopie Goldberg? Looks like its time to just do an outright boycott of all Unilever products. They just don't get it!!!

Unilever brands:
Axe, Bertolli, Birdseye, Cif, Comfort, Domestos, Dove, Family Brand, Findus, Healthy Heart, Heart, Hellman's, Iglo, Knorr, Lipton, Lux, Omo, Ponds, Radiant, Rexona, Signal, Slim fast, Sunsilk, UBF Food Solutions

19 posted on 07/20/2004 6:45:38 PM PDT by AgThorn (Go go Bush!! But don't turn your back on America with "immigrant amnesty")
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To: ErnBatavia

Linda Ronstadt?


20 posted on 07/20/2004 6:46:19 PM PDT by ScottFromSpokane (Re-elect President Bush: http://spokanegop.org/bush.html)
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