Should have bought one when I had the chance. They will be gold on eBay.

I would have told her to go to hell, since they are not based on the golden children of our great saviour.

@Plates: With a comment like that, I have to ask; are you just trying to stir up controversy?

"Ty, the maker of Beanie Babies, had maintained that the dolls were not based on the Obama daughters."

Right, they picked two names completely at random that just, by chance, happened to be the same as both of the Obama daughters. What are the odds? Maybe they can pick my lottery numbers for me next week.

When did corporate PR departments decide that it was better to lie with a straight face long after everybody knows you are lying than just to fess up and say "Our bad"? Do they think we are all idiots, or do they just not care how much contempt we hold them in as long as they can tell their managers, "See? we avoided admitting any wrongdoing!"

Seriously -- this kind of weasel words is utterly corrosive to public discourse. I think it's time to blow the cobwebs off of the Cluetrain Manifesto and start reminding companies that if they can't speak with an authentic voice, they shouldn't speak at all.

I'm baffled by the apparent outrage over this. Obama has allowed his image to be whored out like so many tacky Che Guevara t-shirts. Seems only logical that someone would extend that to include his family.

um, public figures have no control of their likeness. I'm sure Bush would have stopped all those anti-bush shirts if he could.

@czetie: Fucking exactly! It's insulting beyond belief that they think a single person would buy their bullshit. To the point that if I was the type that like throwing my money away on their crap I'd stop doing business with them since they are obviously full of shit. "Who? Sasha and Malia? Never heard of them."

@Plates: I don't want to get into it with you but that is a stupid f-ing comment. Just about every single word of it.

@cmdrsass: Don't you remember all the marketing effort that went around the Bush twins? No? Never mind, then.

@dohtem: No, If I was in business I would not be bullied around by the bitchy wife of some scumbag Chicago politician. The company is based in Illinois, so of course they would kowtow to to the spouse of some corrupt Chicago politician - that is The Chicago Way!

@Plates: You stay classy.