Mitt Romney's Olympic Pins

Everyone knows that Mitt Romney is considered the "savior" of the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, and that he says he left Bain Capital in 1999 (retiring retroactively) so he could run the event. But did you know that there are "Mitt Pins" commemorating the event? Yes, these were official pins, except for one,  which has a colorful backstory:

"Romney allegedly used the F-word during an Olympic traffic jam, which resulted in the production of an unofficial Olympic pin featuring a red-faced Romney saying “Flip!” Utah’s sanitized version of the expletive."

Just when you think things couldn't get stranger . . .




Story from National Public Radio

"I've been given an enormous responsibility, and an entire country and the Olympic team from the United States and the world, to a certain extent, expect me to do the job well," Romney said. "And I want to fulfill that responsibility."
This image of Olympic savior was actually cast in collector-quality enameled metal cloisonne pins produced by the Salt Lake Olympic committee.

Critic Ken Bullock has them in his Olympic pin collection.

"We have Valentine's ones with all the Olympic mascots around saying, 'We love you, Mitt,' " Bullock says, as he pulls up images of the pins on his computer.

"We have him pulling a sled of some sort where some of the mascots are saying, 'Are we there yet, Mitt?' "



Ken Bullock scoffs at what he calls "the Superman" pin, which features Romney "with a Clark Kent chin," wrapped in an American flag.

"I don't know how to put words to describe how narcissistic they are," Bullock says.



Three Olympic pin collectors and experts consulted by NPR say they've never seen pins like these featuring the CEO of an Olympic organizing committee.
"There have been plenty of big-headed CEOs for Olympic Games, but none has ever had his or her likeness on a pin," says Ed Hula, a veteran pin collector and editor of aroundtherings.com, an independent news organization that focuses on the Olympics. "Maybe it's an indicator that Mitt Romney has a sense of humor."

Source for Images: Shuksan Tahoma on Daily Kos