Think Progress engaged in some of its more gentle criticism of Mitt Romney Wednesday when it pointed out that little "We Stand United" pins he had made for the 2002 Winter olympics in Salt Lake City were actually made in China. 

The souvenirs and their provenance would have been ancient and forgotten history, but Romney brought them up as an example of national unity at a fundraiser in Virginia on Tuesday night, which apparently moved Talking Points Memo's Evan McMorriss-Santoro to look up where they were made, and sure enough, it's China.

That's actually not so weird, as it turns out. EBay's pin-collecting guide says Olympic pins are usually made in China. And while there are certainly made-in-America pin companies out there, there aren't many and they seem fairly high-end for free tchotchke. So why should we care that Romney commissioned some lapel pins from China 10 years ago? Because it looks like his next defensive maneuver is going to be fending off an Obama campaign ad that launched this week, accusing Romney of "shipp[ing] American jobs to places like Mexico and China" as the head of Bain Capital. The Obama campaign has already bought time for the ad in Virginia, where Romney's been bragging about the pins and picking up Michele Bachmann's endorsement. Unfortunate timing indeed: will they pin this on him, too?

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Adam Martin