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Jared Keller

Jared Keller - Jared Keller is an associate editor for The Atlantic and The Atlantic Wire. He has also written for Lapham's Quarterly's Deja Vu blog, National Journal's The Hotline, Boston's Weekly Dig, and Preservation magazine. 

Health Reform Is a BFD ... Says Democratic Party T-Shirts

By Jared Keller
Mar 31 2010, 3:52 PM ET Comment

The signing ceremony for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23rd was supposed to be a winning moment for President Obama. Unfortunately for the President, his historic victory after a 14-month legislative battle was momentarily overshadowed by Vice President Biden's accidentally audible profanity. Many Americans were put off by the gaffe, a purportedly inappropriate slip during such a historic moment. Others were nonplussed. President Obama laughed off the comment, telling reported he wished he'd said it himself. Nobody issued an apology.

A week later, the Democratic National Committee is trumpeting Biden's gaffe in commemoration of Obama's health care victory. The DNC released a series of sponsored Google ads today for T-shirts marking Obama's health care victory. Among them was this gem:
BFD T-shirt.png
"There are things that are a big deal -- birthdays, anniversaries, the NCAA Championship game. And then there are things that are a BFD, like delivering health insurance to 32 million Americans."

When reached for a comment, Organizing for America National Press Secretary Lynda Tran said that the shirt was designed to be "a little tongue in cheek fun, something supporters could connect with."

"We agree with the vice president," said Tran. "We think that this was a really big deal that we passed reform, and we want people to be excited for the future."


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