No, Barack Obama Is NOT Buying That Ugly Ring For Michelle

While I buy this story from the Daily Mail, I knew the already infamous "Barack buys Michelle a $30,000 ring" story was a load of bull right away.  Think about it - how many leaks (or any other details) managed to get out about the Loree Rodkin diamond earrings Michelle Obama wore on Election Night? The earrings were researched and identified (not unlike her clothes) after she had already worn them.

She wore the same earrings a few weeks earlier at a Springsteen concert.

Do you want to know why you never heard anything? Because the Obamas would not do business with any company that blabbed details like that. This is clearly a publicity stunt on the part of the jeweler and, as my friend Gina at What About Our Daughters? observes, it also harkens back to Lobstergate.

Obama aide denies ring story

The communications for Obama's transition, Dan Pfeiffer, flatly denied a Daily Mail report that Obama is buying an exotic $30,000 ring to thank his wife "for her support during the election."

The report is sourced to an anonymous spokesman for the manufacturer of the rhodium ring, who is quoted claiming, "Our agent in the United States was asked by Mr. Barack Obama about the ring because he wants it as a thank-you gift for his wife, Michelle, for her support the last two years."

The spokesman is not named in the story, and there seems to be no other evidence for the claim.

The report is "not true," said Pfeiffer in an e-mail. He didn't elaborate.

Enrico Gamba, a spokesman for the jeweler, Bosco Giovanni Srl, declined to comment on the story.

"I don't confirm any news," he e-mailed. 

Gamba sent a longer, but also unclear, statement to an AOL News blogger, saying that "because of reports so wrong and clearly different from the reality of our statements, we decided to not issue [a] statement on this matter."

Loosely translated: Our publicity stunt backfired miserably.