CafePress Is Officially Cool with Selling T-Shirts Urging People to Pray for Obama's Death
Yesterday, we reported that CafePress had halted sales of T-shirts bearing the slogan, "Pray For Obama: Psalm 109:8," which in Bible-talk means pray that "his days be few; let another take his office." After some thought, they're selling them again.
Go here for the full panoply of CafePress bumper stickers, mugs, and shirts containing prayers for the president to die and for his daughters—per Psalm 109—to "continually be vagabonds, and to beg." The Psalm 109 items were indeed briefly taken off the market yesterday, a CafePress spokesman tells Gawker, after some controversy developed about the appropriateness of veiled death threats as bumper sticker material. But they thought about it, and you know what? Why the hell not! Here's CafePress' statement:
Based on current public discourse and our determination of what it is fair political commentary, Psalm 109:8 products are still featured on our site.
Anti-presidential gear has been a mainstay at CafePress since we were founded in 1999 and has become a key component of political discourse. Our site has become a cultural barometer of public opinion and as such designs often come into question. In managing our content we are trying to protect self-expression, while making sure we are not advocating violence.
They have a point: If "current public discourse" as defined by folks at Fox News won't banish people openly calling for the death of the President, why should an online tchotchke outlet say different? And besides, maybe all those supplicants are praying for Barack Obama to die non-violently, through a heart attack or AIDS or something.
In the end it doesn't matter, because it turns out that the Biblical joke is on those people praying on Psalm 109: We're the last person to come to for Biblical exegesis, but a tipster pointed out that the psalm's "Cry For Vengeance" is attributed to King David, who was beset by faithless and lying critics seeking to undermine him: "Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul." In other words, the guy praying in Psalm 109:8 for his enemy's days to be numbered is an embattled leader facing down a gang of hectoring usurpers. And the guy whose days he wants God to number is Glenn Beck. Keep praying, kids!