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The Punchline

Birth certificate turned campaign merchandise

Katharine Crnko May 19, 2011

People asked to see it, now you can wear it.

The campaign to re-elect Barack Obama is selling t-shirts on its website that show the president’s face on the front with the words “Made in the U.S.A.” The back is emblazoned with an image of the president’s long-form birth certificate from Hawaii — the much-discussed document that ended the “birthers” claims that Obama was not a U.S. citizen.

T-shirts not your thing? How about a mug?

Both items are available as a donation gift from the campaign — $15 or more for the mug, $25 or more for the t-shirt.

The campaign advertised the “limited edition” t-shirts and mugs on Wednesday in an email to supporters. The email also discussed a new book by birther Jerome Corsi. The book is titled, “Where’s the Birth Certificate?: The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President” and makes false claims about Obama’s purported ineligibility for the presidency.

In the email Obama deputy campaign manager Julianna Smoot writes, “There’s really no way to make this stuff completely go away. The only thing we can do is laugh at it — and make sure as many other people as possible are in on the joke.”

“If the facts can’t make these ridiculous smears go away, we can at least have a little fun with it,” she writes.

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