Didn't vote for Trump and want a 'Don't blame me' bumper sticker?
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
With President Trump tanking in the polls, Terry Stahl figured his idea for a bumper sticker was bound to be a hit.
“Don’t blame me, I voted for Hillary,” was to be the message. “Then I changed my mind,” said the 60-year-old die-hard Democrat from Bowling Green.
He huddled with Linwood Hardy of Cadiz. A longtime Democratic activist, Hardy, 83, is Stahl’s partner in a part-time bumper sticker hobby business.
“He said that a lot of young people got involved in the Bernie Sanders campaign and that we needed to keep them active,” Stahl explained. “We also wanted to keep the party unified.”
So Stahl went back to the design board. “Don’t blame me, I voted for Bernie & Hillary,” the final product declares.
Stahl is also planning a “Dump Trump” sticker. He said he got the idea when the president reportedly called the White House “a dump.”
“It might not be the Taj Mahal, but it’s not a dump. Besides, you don’t run for president for the living quarters. You’re supposed to run to serve the country.
“I thought it was unpatriotic and low class for the president to say the White House is a dump.”
Stahl and Hardy also teamed up on “Ditch Mitch” stickers, which were aimed at Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Louisville Republican. They’re popular collector’s items with Bluegrass State Democrats, who hope to use them again in 2020.
“The stickers came in blue and white for UK [University of Kentucky] fans and red and white for Western [Kentucky University in Bowling Green] and University of Louisville fans,” Stahl explained.
Their best-known sticker Hardy and Stahl made was the one that bragged “GM is alive, Bin Laden is dead.” It made the national news when Vice President Joe Biden was photographed holding one, Stahl said.
“Joe Biden was one of the most dapper guys I’ve ever been around in my life. He’s a true gentleman; most Democrats are.”
Chuck Todd also showed one of the stickers on Meet the Press, according to Stahl.
“We send our stickers all over the country. We always send one to [Democratic strategist] James Carville. We’ve also sent them to Bill Clinton.”
All the Stahl-Hardy stickers are union made. “Linwood and I are big union supporters,” Stahl said.
The partners aren’t out to make big bucks off the stickers. “Whatever money we make off them we put back into making more. We just want to get our money back so we can make more stickers.
“If groups like the Young Democrats want them, we give them away.”
Meanwhile, the duo is branching into apparel. “We’re coming out with a tee shirt with the Three Stooges on it.”
Stahl didn’t mean the immortal comedy trio of Larry, Moe and Curly. “It’s got Donald Trump, Mitch and [Kentucky GOP Gov.] Matt Bevin on it.”
The “Don’t blame me” sticker is white with blue and red lettering and features an American flag in the lower left corner. “We wanted it to be patriotic,” Stahl said.
Stahl doesn’t have a website or even an email address. But he said anybody interested in bumper stickers may phone him at 270 282 3586.