Satirical mints poking fun at Obama pulled from UT bookstore

KNOXVILLE - Breath mints packaged in a tin can poking fun at President Barack Obama have been pulled from the shelves at the University of Tennessee bookstore after local legislator Joe Armstrong told store officials he was offended by the mints.




Este cara de culo es el State Rep. Joe Armstrong

Armstrong, D-Knoxville, said he got a call from a student who had seen the satirical mints in the bookstore and was bothered by the depiction of the president.

The tin can reads: "This is change? Disappointmints."

Armstrong followed up Tuesday with a visit to the bookstore, located in the basement of the University Center, where he talked to director David Kent.

"I explained to him that I felt those mints were politically specific products that had no educational value," Armstrong sa

A box of breath mints, pictured at Vice Chancellor of Communication Margie Nichols' office on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011, were taken off of the shelves at the University of Tennessee Bookstore after Rep. Joe Armstrong complained that the satirical mints made fun of President Obama.

"If it was a book or something of that nature, fine, but that's sort of a discretionary product they have there. It wasn't viewpoint neutral. It was very specifically insulting to the president."

Armstrong said he did not ask Kent to remove the mints from the store but was glad he decided to do so.

Kent said the bookstore had previously carried mints in tins that depicted former President George W. Bush when he was in office.

More details as they develop online and in tomorrow's News Sentinel.