It may not seem like a Vice Presidential candidate has a lot in common with a local plumber and a teenage vampire, but then again this was a year of surprises.  Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Joe the Plumber and Edward Cullen showed the kind of impact that can be made when the everyman appeal hits home.

Sarah Palin

John McCain’s surprise pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate spurred a Republican resurgence of energy and a national media frenzy.  As Palin fascination grew, the t-shirts came pouring in – Palin actually unseated Obama for a time in the t-shirt primary, thus proving that a Bible-and-Gun-totin’ Hockey Mom could inspire more than her party members. Sarah Palin had a lot of nicknames and colloquiallisms applied to her that lent themselves naturally to merchandise, and many of them had to do with animals – not entirely inappropriate, given that she hails from the bucolic state of Alaska.  She was the Cougar, the Barracuda (and the Sarahcuda), the Moose-Hunter, Caribou Barbie and the Pit Bull with Lipstick.  She was also the Maverick (and used the term liberally to describe both her and McCain), the Hockey Mom, the MILF and the VPILF.

Given her unabashed love of hunting, guns and her religion, it wasn’t surprising to see strong opinions on both sides of the political fence about Sarah Palin.  The religious right embraced her as the All-American poster girl and portrayed her as the anti-Obama; liberals and feminists, insulted at the implied assumption that women would vote along gender lines rather than on political issues, decried her as inexperienced and anti-feminist and accused McCain of pandering to the 18 million voters who had chosen Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.

It seemed that everything Palin did was worthy of a headline, most notably any homespun gaffes she might make in front of a camera.  But when Palin spoke, people listened.  From her noting Alaska’s proximity to Russia as foreign policy experience to her performance in the debates, Sarah Palin was someone who’s every word (and choice of accessory) was discussed and debated – and, very often, committed to the almighty t-shirt. In the end, Palin’s newsworthiness was unable to knock Obama out of the minds of American voters on election day.  But in the short time she was in the public eye, Sarah Palin managed to put Wasilla, Alaska on the World Map.  (It’s up by Canada, kinda next to Russia.)

Ron Paul

Republican Congressman Ron Paul burst onto the 2008 election scene Howard Dean-style.  Using the Internet as his canvassing ground, he amassed millions of supporters (The “Ron Paul Revolution“) who viewed the Republican Presidential Candidate from Lake Jackson, Texas as a heroic, no-nonsense, common-sense-talking anti-Bush.  Though a Libertarian at heart, Ron Paul has been open about the necessity of running for public office as a Republican in order to have a viable shot at Congress and the Presidency.  He is openly critical about President Bush and his administration, particularly as relates to the Iraq war and Bush big government straying from intrinsic Republican values.

Ron Paul hit the t-shirt scene in earnest in late 2007, and saw big sales and interest through early 2008.  He outsold McCain until March and outsold all other Republican candidates (with a minor hiccup from Huckabee) throughout the election season.  Shunned by the Republican party who later went so far as to try to ban him from the debates, Ron Paul nonetheless showed up and made some Libertarian-style points that won him cheers from his supporters and gave him first-place finishes in online polls by MSNBC, ABC News and C-SPAN.    His debate performance simultaneously guaranteed that he wouldn’t be receiving an invitation to the Republican National Convention, and it seemed that thereafter both mainstream media cameras and his own party took painstaking efforts towards pretending that he was Harvey the Rabbit.

Without the money to buy quality airtime and with the cameras aimed elsewhere, Ron Paul used the Internet and in-person speaking engagements to spread his message.  His dedication to his ideals and the massive online support he amassed did get people to stand up and take notice, though ultimately – like Dean before him – he was unable to transfer his online popularity into real-world votes.  Still, though, Ron Paul made a name for himself as an honest-to-a-fault public servant who stays true to his beliefs and his constituents, and he was the first candidate in the 2008 election to harness the power of the internet to mobilize his message and his supporters.

Joe the Plumber

Joe the Plumber (known as Joe Wurzelbacher by those who can pronounce it) made a name for himself during the third Presidential debate.  Better said, John McCain made a name for him (namely, Joe the Plumber), mentioning Joe 21 times.  Obama was good for 5 mentions, for a grand total of 26 mentions for Joe the Plumber. By contrast, Iraq came up 6 times and the economy was mentioned 16 times.  Joe far outshone mention of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden as well. Not surprisingly, we saw Joe the Plumber designs hit the system mid-debate and within a few hours Joe had about 1/4 the content of all plumber designs.

Joe became an unlikely hero for the McCain campaign after having a discussion with Obama on the campaign trail about the Illinois Senator’s proposed tax plan. McCain used Joe as an example of a hardworking American (dare we say Joe Six Pack?) who would pay more taxes under the Obama plan.  The Obama/Joe conversation was recorded by cameras; the uncut version ends with Obama noting that chatting with Joe was good debate prep:

As it turns out, Joe the Plumber doesn’t actually make $250,000 a year; it seems he was simply concerned about the principle behind Obama’s plan.  Despite being made an instant celebrity thanks to McCain, Joe initially wouldn’t endorse either candidate and went on-record that he was keeping his vote private.

His vote was kept private for 12 days, at which point he jumped on the bus and hit the campaign trail with John McCain.  In the meantime, Joe was made an instant celebrity and unlikely political pundit, being interviewed as a symbol of the everyman by everyone from Katie Couric to Mike Huckabee.  Local television stations around the country scrambled to find their own Joe the Plumber (my own local station used Eduardo the Electrician – yes, really), but none could match the t-shirt worthiness of the actual Joe the Plumber.

As is the case with so many relationships rushed into by two people who barely know each other, the McCain/Wurzelbacher romance hit the rocks a couple weeks later over McCain’s support of the Paulson bailout plan.  While Wurzelbacher now says he was “appalled” by McCain at that point and considered moving out (read: getting off the bus), he reconsidered due to their mutual desire to move the Arizona Senator into more modest accommodations in Washington, D.C..

With the election over, Joe has found a place for himself on conservative talk radio and television; he also has a book deal in the works.  When all is said and done, Joe the Plumber will go down as someone who took his 15 minutes of fame and ran with it.  (Er… or rode a bus with it.)

Edward Cullen

If you haven’t heard of the small town of Forks, Washington or its sparkly resident Edward Cullen, chances are that you don’t have a teenage girl in the house.  The real town of Forks is the setting for Stephenie Meyers’ “Twilight” book series, which portrays a love story between teenagers Bella (a mortal and recent transplant to Forks) and Edward Cullen (vampire, baseball player and Forks resident).

The hit book series was optioned by Hollywood, and the first “Twilight” movie hit theaters on November 21st to rave fan reviews.  Before the movie opened, the “Twilight” folks did something for their fans that’s a rarity in Hollywood: they gave them permission to make “Twilight” merchandise.

Given the avid fan base of “Twilight,” we looked forward to seeing creative, inspired designs – and we weren’t disappointed.  Twilight t-shirts immediately filled the fan portal to the tune of almost 450,000 Twilight products as of this writing, and motivated fans were able to wear their own creations – and those of other fans – to the opening night showing.

While Edward Cullen himself is by far the most popular character in the land of t-shirt fandom, there’s also a wide variety of shirts celebrating Bella, Jacob and the story itself.  All in all, it’s been a real treat to see the enthusiasm and creativity that “Twilight” enthusiasts have demonstrated over the past few months.

So what would Edward wear?  Well, we think he’d find something.

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As mentioned in Part I of our 2008 retrospective series, this was a year of ups and downs for America.  From politics to the economy, the sudden changes engendered a virtual case of whiplash as tides turned on a dime and fortunes were reversed on Main Street, Wall Street, and at seemingly unlikely location of the local gas pump.

Gay Marriage / Prop 8

In May of 2008, the California Supreme Court overturned the gay marriage ban, noting that the fundamental “right to marry” extended to same-sex couples equally.  While gay couples around the country celebrated a stride in the name of equal rights, opponents of gay marriage scrambled to introduce an initiative to the November ballot in order to alter the California State Constitution, thus deeming same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

Thousands of gay couples, many of whom had waited years to have their unions legalized, rushed out between May and November to tie the knot under the law of California.  All in all, over 10,000 couples were married in the three months following the May ruling – more than were married in the first four years after Massachusetts legalized gay marriage.

The November ballot initiative, Proposition 8, was primarily supported both financially and vocally by religious organizations – most notably the Mormon and Catholic Churches.  The official Yes on 8 (ProtectMarriage.com) camp estimates that about half of the $35.8 million raised came from the Mormon Church and its members, which also supplied volunteers in such large numbers that 80-90% of the early door-to-door canvassers were actually out-of-state members of the Mormon church.

The battle over Prop 8 was touch-and-go down to the wire.  The measure passed by a margin of 4%, leading gay marriage and equal rights proponents to a series of post-election protests.  Supporters of a repeal will argue about the Proposition being unconstitutional, and that it violates the separation of Church and State; those who passed the measure will argue that the will of the people is the final word.  This argument is of course far from over; on November 19th, the California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits challenging Proposition 8.

Since the May ruling and the subsequent November election, we saw a flurry of gay marriage, equal rights and Prop 8 t-shirts be created and bought as folks decided to voice their opinions in a more public manner than the ballot box.  Of course, California wasn’t the only state to have anti-gay marriage initiatives on their November ballots; Florida and Arizona passed similar laws, and Arkansas passed a measure to prevent gay couples from adopting children.

What the future holds for gay couples and their rights is uncertain, and at this point it seems that it’ll take a lot of time, lawyers and money to determine it.  One thing’s for sure: when religion and civil rights clash as a political issue, there is never an easy solution.

Wall Street Bailout(s)

Early in 2008, we saw a troubled mortgage industry lead way to some bank failures and dramatic government bailouts.  Bear Stearns was the first to make headlines, but it most certainly wasn’t the last.  By early September,  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the government.  By mid-September the government bailed out AIG, which showed its gratitude by treating executives to a $440,000 corporate retreat a week later.

Around the time that AIG executives were golfing and hitting the sauna, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced his plan for a taxpayer-funded bailout of Wall Street so that We the People could foot the bill for AIG’s $25K in spa treatments.  The plan allowed him to spend $700 billion in taxpayer money without any oversight, and was met with raised eyebrows by much of the American public and political leaders.

While political pundits had managed to avoid head-on discussion of the financial crisis for previous 6 months by arguing back and forth on semantics as to whether or not this kind of action (i.e. the Bear Stearns rescue) was a “bailout,” those days were over.  It was bailout time, and Paulson warned that the time was now.

In a nutshell: The Paulson plan proposed to use American taxpayer money to buy distressed mortages in order to prevent a banking collapse.  But would it work?

As it turns out, we’ll never know.  The Paulson plan was shot down in the Congress, despite Bush and McCain both pushing Republicans to pass it.  An amended version of the plan – known officially as the Emergency Economic Stablization Act – did pass 2 days later.  And yet we’ll still never know if the plan would have worked, because Paulson decided he didn’t want to buy those crappy mortgages after all.  Of course, to be fair, perhaps the reason he changed his mind is because some of those distressed mortgages don’t actually exist.  Whoops.  Hmm, if only China would buy the “imaginary debt” story…

The mortgage crisis and resulting fallout led, unsurprisingly, to a personal credit crisis.  And this of course leads us into…

Big 3 Bailout

The latter part of November brought us an early version of Christmas alms, as General Motors, Ford and United Auto Workers showed up in Washington to request a 25 billion dollar bailout from the government.

Of course, given the state of the American economy as a whole, the fact that the taxpayers had just bailed out a bunch of banks, GM CEO Richard Wagoner’s salary increase in 2008 despite GM’s losses since 2005, the fact that Honda and Toyota maintain American plants that employ American auto workers, GM’s aggressive investment in China (thus giving thousands of auto industry jobs to Chinese citizens, while simultaneously claiming that America needs this bailout to save American jobs), and the fact that the American auto industry has spent the past decade proudly and churlishly churning out SUV’s rather than moving toward smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles in spite of a global oil shortage and a war in the Middle East…

Well, all of those things added up were and are a recipe for the aforementioned collective sigh on behalf of the American people.  As well as a whole lotta t-shirts.

The original bailout plan was rejected.  It’s worth noting that the CEO’s didn’t do themselves any favors by using private jets for their trip to D.C..  Likewise, when Ford CEO Alan Mullaly was asked whether he’d accept $1 for a salary (down from his $666,667 salary – yes, that’s the real number, so it’s a good thing he wasn’t asked to subtract $1), his smarmy “I think I’m fine where I’m at” response didn’t exactly endear him or his cause to the members of Congress or to the American taxpayers.

So the CEO’s went back to the drawing board (read: Detroit), and returned again a few weeks later in hybrid vehicles to ask for their money again.  Despite 2 of them putting the corporate jets on the auction block, this time they wanted $34 billion.  But they weren’t asking for a “bailout.”  No, no.  They just wanted a “bridge loan.”

Mmm hmm.

After a lot of back and forth, Bush came to the rescue with $17.4 billion of the taxpayer-funded $700 billion that wasn’t used to buy distressed and/or ficticious mortgages.

The Big 3 have made a lot of promises, including a focus on more fuel-efficient vehicles.  And that leads us to our last topic…

Gas Prices

Until very recently, gas prices were a major sticking point with American drivers throughout 2008.  As prices continued to climb, Americans watched in disbelief with hope that the worst would be over soon.  With President Bush apparently asleep at the wheel and without a roadmap to put an end to the seemingly non-stop price hike, drivers were left with 2 choices: grin and bear it, or find alternate solutions.

During the summer travel season gas was up to $4.00/gallon and up – which is to say that gas prices had moved beyond an annoying inconvenience and into a travel barrier.  Some folks, looking for productive ways to deal with the gas price crunch, channelled their frustration into creativity.

While gas prices have dropped since the election brought in a new President who’s already assembled the key players in his energy team, the robust collection of gas price t-shirts will forever serve as a reminder of a time when beer by the keg was cheaper than gas in some places.

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As mentioned in the first installment of our 2008 retrospective, 2008 was a year of ups and downs for America.  While the “Yes we can” spirit was most certainly a high point, four men in particular showed us the damage the lowest common denominator of humanity can do to others – and to themselves.

Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer, the (now former) Governor of New York, made headlines early in the year when he was linked to a high-end prostitution ring.  The former New York Attorney General, Spitzer made a name for himself as a white-collar watchdog, relentlessly prosecuting various financial fraud cases.  Indeed, Spitzer was the Governor who was going to bring ethics back to New York State… right up until his own (lipstick-sullied) white collar was grabbed by the Feds after a wiretap recorded him making arrangements to meet a high-priced prostitute at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C..

Spitzer was known alternatively as “Client 9” and “George Fox” by the Emporer’s Club VIP who serviced him, and used “George Fox” to check into the Mayflower.  (The actual George Fox, a friend of Spitzer’s, was less than thrilled at the latter pseudonym.)

As the sordid details of Spitzer’s long, customer-satisfied history with the Emporer’s Club came into the public eye – including the fact that he used taxpayer dollars to fly to and from his appointments – Spitzer decided to take a cue from Snagglepuss and exit, stage left.  He resigned on March 12 – 2 days after news of the scandal first broke – citing “personal failings.”  (We might note that Rod Blagojevich does not seem to be using the Spitzer Scandal Playbook.)

Although it was a mere 2 days of headlines before Governor Spitzer resigned, in that time we saw a flood of Spitzer t-shirts being created, from off-the-cuff Client 9 and Emporer’s Club designs to interesting political commentary.

Spitzer’s replacement, David Paterson, saved the media the trouble of digging up a scandal by simply admitting that he and his wife had both had extramarital affairs during a rocky point in the marriage.  Neither affair involved a business transaction, and this news was treated as a minor bump in New York’s gubernatorial turbulence.  Paterson has been at the helm ever since; he’s most recently charged with choosing Hillary Clinton’s Senate replacement.  Another bonus: he’s stuck with his habit of avoiding inappropriate financial transactions, a behavior that other Governors would be wise to adopt.  And that segues nicely into…

Rod Blagojevich

Just when you thought that Spitzer bumped out Larry “Wide Stance” Craig (still in office until 2009) as the disgraced politician least likely to be invited to this year’s neighborhood Christmas party, Rod Blagojevich one-upped Spitzer with a litany of federal corruption charges.  Among them:

1) Putting Obama’s Senate Seat for sale;

2) Extorting the Chicago Tribune by offering state help with the sale of Wrigley field in exchange for the dismissal of journalists who’d been critical of him;

3) Shaking down a Children’s Hospital

That last one, however, does make Blagojevich a shoo-in to play “Scrooge” in the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s production of “A Christmas Carol.”

The 3-year investigation that led to the arrest carries an indictment that lists various other charges and evidence, but Blagojevich has not resigned and, instead, returned to work.  He continues to assert his innocence and shows no signs of stepping down; not surprisingly, the influx of Blagojevich t-shirts continues to grow.

While the ImpeachRod.org folks had been calling for Blagojevich’s removal long before news of this scandal hit, the Illinois house has just recently begun looking into impeachment proceedings.  One interesting sidenote: with a 20% corruption rate for its senior officials in the past century, Illinois also has sent 3 of its last 7 Governors to jail.  If Blagojevich is convicted, Illinois will have a 50% imprisonment rate for its highest official.

Plaxico Burress

Wearing fitted pants isn’t just a fashion tip anymore; as New York Giant Plaxico Burress taught us all during a wild weekend in New York, it’s a good safety tip too.

Burress is in crosshairs other than his own after accidentally shooting himself in the leg in Manhattan’s LQ nightclub, where he’d been detained by security after he’d admitted he was packing heat. Explaining that his bling needed a nickel-plated bodyguard, Burress was allowed to enter the club with his gun.

Unfortunately, Burress ostensibly doesn’t believe in engaging a safety. Nor does he apparently find a gun holster to be a fashionable nightclub firearm accessory, as it would seem he was instead carrying his weapon in his waistband.

Gravity and clumsiness did the rest, as the gun slipped down his pants leg, Burress fumbled to catch it, and he shot himself in the thigh during the process.

On the bright side for Giants fans, Burress is arguably more skilled at handling footballs than he is at handling handguns. On the not-so-bright side, Burress just signed a $35 million dollar contract with the Giants and is now sidelined due to both a pulled hamstring and, more recently, a bullet hole in his leg.  As upset as Giants fans may be, Mayor Bloomberg seems even less forgiving.

While his future as a professional football player is unknown, it’s safe to assume that Burress has lost any chance at a celebrity endorsement deal with the NRA.

Bernard Madoff

Wall Street didn’t let politicians, sports figures and the auto industry steal the limelight for long this year.  Coming in at the wire, news broke of the largest Ponzi (pyramid) scheme in history, to the tune of $50 billion dollars.

Madoff was turned in by his sons after he admitted to them that his investment advisory business was “a giant Ponzi scheme.” Although both sons worked for Madoff’s company, it seems they were in the dark on the fraud… until Madoff decided to tell them about it, that is.

The list of defrauded investors is as long as it is impressive, including a variety of banks, the owner of the New York Mets, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Steven Spielberg’s financial advisor.  Their actual or intended recourse is unknown at this point, as it will take years to unravel this house of Benjamins.  Although most victimes have declined to comment on the scandal, other people are speaking out for them via merchandise.

Many would assume that Madoff would be in custody, but they’d be wrong: he’s back at home in Manhattan with his wife Ruth. But he does have a curfew, so apparently bilking investors for $50 billion dollars gets you the same punishment as taking the skinny kid’s lunch money on the playground. No word on whether he was made to stand in the corner before heading home.

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2008 was a year of ups and downs – from politics to gas prices to the economy, this year was a mercurial one for America.

In winding down this 2008 we’re taking a look back at the four main themes we saw ’round these parts, with this post serving as the first installment.  As you may have guessed, one of the main themes of this year happens to also be the catch phrase of someone who inspired most a nation to believe it: Yes we can.  And as the shirts will tell you, yes we did.

But Barack Obama wasn’t the only person determined to succeed in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds this year.  There were others out there who put their noses to the grindstone and faced their challenges with the single-minded determination of an ant travelling uphill in a flood while carrying cargo 5 times its body weight.

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton ran a campaign that had her as the Democratic front runner right up until Obama showed up in earnest.  Even when it seemed that the Obama train was running full speed ahead, she didn’t step out of the way.  When it seemed the numbers were insurmountable, she put her head down and stayed in it to win it.

And when political pundits started calling for her to drop out, Hillary ignored them with the bold determination to finish what she’d started.  Nobody was going to tell her she couldn’t win; ironically, Hillary embodied the “Yes We Can” spirit right down to her Primary Night Non-Concession Speech wherein it had been presumed that she would concede the race.  But she didn’t concede, and instead focused on the 18 million people who’d voted for her.

In the end, Yes We Can became a Well, We Tried Damn Hard for Hillary Clinton.  But that kind of grit didn’t go unnoticed by us – or the Obama camp – and so it is that Hillary, though she didn’t succeed as being the first female President of the United States, will in fact be our next Secretary of State.  So in a way, she succeeded in her mission to make it to the White House.  Yes,  she did.

Stand Up To Cancer

Stand Up To Cancer has a mission cure to cancer by funding the most cutting-edge research available.  Towards that end, SU2C partnered with an A-list celebrity lineup to produce a telethon that aired on all major networks and brought in over $100 million for cancer research.

In order to raise additional funds and help folks sport their support for a cure, Stand Up To Cancer launched an online shop carrying SU2C t-shirts, buttons, stickers and other gear.  All proceeds from the shop go towards curing cancer, thus allowing people to take part in a cure by virtue of their fashion choice.

SU2C was also the beneficiary of the “Fashion Rocks” broadcast that aired a week later.  This special brought together celebrities of sound, stage and style to celebrate fashion, music and the greater good.  An original song, “Just Stand Up,” was performed by a range of female artists – all wearing the Stand Up to Cancer t-shirt.

The Stand Up To Cancer camp believes that a cure for cancer – though a monumental task – is within reach.  Hats off to them for the “Yes, we can” spirit that dominated airwaves and reminded us all that banding together is the best way to fight the toughest battles.

T. Boone Pickens

Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens has a plan for reducing both America’s dependency on and investment in foreign oil.  That plan hinges largely on the natural energy endemic to the Great Plains – the very force of nature that partnered with earth to define the Dust Bowl, has ruined uncountable hairdos and led to countless runaway kites…

Yep.  Wind.

The plan is, appropriately, called The Pickens Plan.  With American dependency on foreign oil having increased from 24% to 70% in the last 40 years, the plan goal is to lower that amount by at least 1/3.  Pickens calls the United States the “Saudi Arabia of wind power,” and notes that moving into wind will not only reduce our foreign energy investment,  but also revitalize the American Midwest with a new energy business.  While wind is the cornerstone of the Pickens Plan, it also calls for natural gas to be used in the trucking industry, as well as for a more concerted focus on solar and biofuels for the everyman consumer.

Pickens will also remind Americans not to get complacent with the recent fall in gas prices, noting that OPEC has spent the past several decades lowering oil prices whenever America gets serious about alternative energy.  To help their supporters spread the word about their vision, they have a Pickens Plan shop with merchandise available at cost.

Coming up with alternative energy solutions that plan to change the way that Americans live their everyday lives – as well as the American and global economies – may seem like a Herculean challenge, but T. Boone Pickens has a plan and he’s moving full-steam ahead.  Pickens seems to be running on the clean energy of sheer will, determination and the “Deliver a plan, plan to deliver” adage.  This style of effort, of course, is easily summed up by three little words: “Yes we can.”

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