After trying to auction on eBay a napkin used to wipe the sweaty brow of Illinois U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes but getting kicked off the site twice, the fan who started it all has set up his own website for the now-famous item.
It all started Monday when WND reported that “The Napkin Man,” aka Jerry McGlothlin, had daubed sweat from Keyes’ brow immediately following the candidate’s announcement that he would replace Republican Jack Ryan to face Democrat Barack Obama in a long-shot bid for the Senate.
McGlothlin then placed the item on eBay for auction. By Wednesday, however, after the napkin page had received 15,000 visitors and 100 bids, eBay unceremoniously took the item down, saying “bodily fluids” were not allowed to be auctioned. The bidding had reached about $700 before eBay stepped in. McGlothlin planned to give the proceeds to the Keyes campaign.
 The Keyes napkin |
Not easily defeated, McGlothlin reposted the item at eBay without mentioning Keyes’ sweat. In the meantime, eBay admitted sweat was not on the list of prohibited body fluids, giving its blessing to the second posting.
By yesterday, however, the online auction company had again taken down the napkin post, this time saying that if a seller is raising funds for a charity, the charity must be an eBay-approved 501c3 or 501c4 organization; Keyes’ campaign is neither.
That’s when McGlothlin decided to create for the napkin its own website.
Says the Keyes fan on the new site:
Just as the despondent napkin man was crying in his beer (which tear-ladened beer is not allowable on eBay either), during a radio talk-show interview, one of the callers (or was it the host?) suggested the obvious: “Why don’t you launch your own sweaty napkin webite?”
No duh. …
After a pregnant pause (embryonic fluids weren’t on the forbidden list, either. Hum…) …
In an instant, the napkin man saw the light! He realized he must have had sweat on the brain not to have thought of that himself! And from there …
The SweatyNapkin.com site was born! Do you know someone who can find a good home for Alan Keyes’ sweaty napkin? Know a talk show host who wants an interview?
McGlothlin has done several radio and other national media interviews since WND broke the story Monday and still hopes to raise a healthy chunk of cash for Keyes’ Senate effort.
Related stories:
eBay yanks Keyes’ sweaty napkin
Alan Keyes’ sweat on sale at eBay
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WND Staff