John Wilkes Booth

Maybe this is not much of an issue, but I thought it worth mentioning. The Gettysburg National Military Park visitors center bookstore was-for awhile-selling bobblehead dolls of Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. The Lincoln doll makes sense, but a doll of his assassin holding a pistol like the one he used to kill Lincoln seems to me in very bad taste. Of course, it may also show how people in a certain part of this country still view the Civil War and who the real villain was. After a week on the shelves it was removed. However, the doll still sells online for $ 20.

(Source: "Lincoln's Assassin's bobblehead off shelves" by the AP. In the Virginian Pilot on 3/16/12).

Presidential Elections

I was told after the 2000 presidential election that Al Gore couldn't even carry his own state; thus-it was implied-not deserving to win the presidency that year. I have since learned that Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon-both of whom won elections-also lost their home states. Nixon's was California but I am not sure what they consider Wilson's "home" state even thou he was governor of New Jersey prior to being elected. It also seems that Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney will also face this issue if either of them becomes the GOP nominee in 2012. Santorum and Romney are from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, states that usually vote democratic.

(Source: New Orleans Times Picayune from March 4, 2012)