One more reason to not get your "news" solely from talk radio:

Over Halloween, designer ChadMichael Morrisette and his partner Mito Aviles raised a bit of stir with their rooftop display featuring a dummy John McCain in flames and a Sarah Palin mannequin dangling from a noose. Google News shows over 400 news references to the mannequin from October 2008. The story about the mannequin was featured The View and Inside Edition, as well as on Fox News and the other major networks.

In honor of Obama’s inauguration, this month Morrisette and Aviles dressed another mannequin as Superman, placing him on their West Hollywood rooftop, and put the McCain and Palin effigies up for sale on EBay. The auction house yanked the couple’s first attempt at selling, as reported in several newspapers, possibly, says Aviles in an email to the LA Times, because of the listing picture:

We think it was the noose in the picture that they deemed as glorified hatred.

Morrisette re-listed the items, though they were taken down again by EBay because of another accessory. Morrisette told LAist:

The second time was because we had her glasses as tortoise shell glasses and eBay said we can’t sell anything tortoise shell because they are endangered and protected. Really pushing it there.

The third time, they got lucky and the items sold Wednesday for $2,247.22, plus shipping.

But now the buyer is having remorse. According to Morrisette, the buyer–a Los Angeles County-based McCain Palin supporter

thought he was bidding on a pro-Palin and pro-John McCain item and didn’t realize its true nature until he heard about the auction on talk radio.

The auction listing read:

PLEASE NOTE: YOU ARE BIDDING ON THE FAMOUS SARAH PALIN HALLOWEEN DISPLAY MANNEQUIN. AS SEEN ON THE TODAY SHOW, INSIDE EDITION, THE VIEW, FOX NEWS, KEITH OLBERMAN, EVERY MAJOR NEWS NETWORK, AND READ ABOUT IN EVERY NEWSPAPER WORLDWIDE.

Um…live in a vacuum much? EBay says changing your mind isn’t an excuse for non-payment, so looks like the Southern California resident who doesn’t read the LA Times or watch the teevee is stuck with a reminder to read the auction listings, pay attention to the "drive-by media" and caveat emptor.