Cool !! I want one for my garden!
Posted on 09/18/2004 3:47:06 PM PDT by Deadeye Division
Bushgnome brings smiles to both parties
Presidential parody created by professor at Ohio University
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Randy Ludlow
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
ATHENS, Ohio — With editorial cartoonists fond of portraying him with large, pointy ears, President Bush always struck Sam Girton as, well, gnomelike.
Inspired to produce an election-year presidential parody he hopes appeals to Republicans and Democrats alike, Girton has a creation that appears to be a hit.
Fueled by newspaper articles and Internet blogs, sales of the Bushgnome — a 10-inch-tall, hand-painted ceramic garden gnome — have reached 1,000 in less than a month.
Whether the gnome based on the Oval Office occupant is tacky yard art or political statement is in the eye of the beholder.
"Either dogs are peeing on it or people are putting it up on a pedestal," said Girton, a visual communication professor at Ohio University.
"The response is always a smile. If you are a hard-core Bush supporter, it’s cute and humorous. The anti-Bush people think it’s hilarious."
The 36-year-old Girton is toying with a John Kerry "fairy," but will pull the trigger on the concept only if the Democrat defeats Bush on Nov. 2.
Girton, who teaches Web design and labels himself a political independent, picked what he believes to be a bipartisan design.
Topped with a pointy red cap, the ceramic piece shows Bush offering a "mission accomplished" thumbs up with his left hand while his right hand is held behind his back with fingers crossed. Pointed cowboy boots with spurs and a star belt buckle speak to Bush’s roots deep in the heart of Texas.
Republicans reliably delight at the garden Bush, reading its crossed fingers as a good-luck sign. Some Democrats, however, read the crossed fingers as covering up a fib and recoil as if the gnome could spring to life in the night to declare war on their households.
The gnome was designed by Athens resident Sandy Plunkett, a former artist for Marvel Comics who produces editorial cartoons for The Athens News, while Philadelphia sculptor Erin Payne crafted it out of clay.
The first gnome came out of the kiln on Aug. 23 at Hull/Alpine Pottery in Roseville in Perry County — one of the centers of Ohio’s rich history of art pottery.
"This is one instance where Dubya is bringing jobs to southeast Ohio," Girton joked.
The ceramics factory is getting ever busier producing Bushgnomes in the wake of articles and photos in the Los Angeles Times, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland and the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel.
The Web site offering the $29.95 Dubya gnome — www.bushgnome.com — is averaging about 7,000 visits a day.
An unscientific gnome poll along Court Street in Athens — reliably Democratic when picking presidents — elicited reactions ranging from feigned fright to laughter.
"It’s just funny, but I’m not touching that thing," said Patrick McGee, 52, a lawyer who disputed the belief that garden gnomes are good luck. "I think Bush is bad luck."
Fellow lawyer Dave Baer, 48, smilingly observed that the Bush version "is giving gnomes a bad name," but added: "I’ve got to have one."
Kat Hammond, 28, an OU art history major from Newark, declared the gnome funny, but read a message into the presidential pose.
"He’s giving us the old thumbs up while lying to us with his fingers crossed behind his back," she said.
rludlow@dispatch.com
Perhaps, the Lurch-lookalike statue of Kerry can be placed in gardens to scare away the birds.
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Cool !! I want one for my garden!
That's always struck me as weird. What's the deal with his ears? They're a bit pointy, I guess, but not particularly prominent.
You want to pick on something physical, he has little squinty eyes close together and he walks like he has a stick up his butt. But his ears? Nothing wrong there.
That's supposed to be the Prez. I want one.
ping
BTTT
Why advertise this junk?
If I put one on my porch, will it keep Lefty trash away?
I agree.
There's nothing like a garden gnome to bring back that good ol' bipartisan spirit.
(Did I really just say that?)
I had to have one..just ordered it. Backordered until Sept 29th:(
How about a John Kerry fairy?
heh heh...
LOL...hurry up and make a million with it!
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