This is not a yard sign election. Sometimes yard signs are a great energy sink for all the volunteers who must be put to work. Canvassing for the candidates and distributing free yard signs to supporters is a great way to rally support and engage active supporters. The drive-by neighborhood advertising doesn’t hurt anything either. It’s sort of like the Colombian civil war of the fifties when partisans demonstrated their support for one side or another by painting their doorways, only without the mayhem and gunfire.
Yard sign election or not, I traipsed over to the Madison Obama Campaign Headquarters and bought a great union made recyclable plastic yard sign and placed it conspicuously on the lawn by the road. It cost eight dollars. It was wonderfully visible to travelers going in either direction.
Note the past tense.
Somebody ripped it off today and logic tells me the thief works for John McCain. So hear this Mr. McCain… you snotty, immature child of privilege: don’t bother coming to my state until you’ve reimbursed me for the sign or I’ll have you pinched for aiding and abetting, and inciting petty theft. How will that look on your permanent record?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Doug Alder 10.07.08 at 9:08
I do believe that there’s a hangin’ offense over your way Frank , s’bad as stealin’ a man’s horse or rustlin’ his cattle now. Imagine old fly boy swingin’ from a big ol tree limb. Now don’t that jus make you feel better
fp 10.07.08 at 9:48
Yep, you betcha *wink*
I’m thinking of replacing it and running about 450 volts through the wire frame for the next sign rustler.
Charles Follymacher 10.08.08 at 7:12
If McStrain gets in, that 8 bucks’ll trickle right to ya, you betcha.
p.s. loveloveloveluuuuve the new look.
Bruce 10.08.08 at 9:02
On my way back from the Gulf of Mexico a couple weeks ago, someone at one of my stops put a “Sportsmen for McCain-Palin” bright orange sticker over my Obama 08 sticker.
Luckily, manufacturers use glue nowadays that allows stickers to peel right off.
Repubs are desparate and angry. I hope no one gets hurt.
Frank Paynter 10.08.08 at 10:00
Thanks, Charles — and it’s true that we’ll all be singing “happy daze are here again” if McVain gets in.
Bruce, the desperation and anger was reflected in a post card I got from the NRA about how the cost of guns and ammo is going to go straight through the roof if Obama is elected. The message was incoherent, but the rage was palpable.
Inoculated Mind 10.08.08 at 12:16
You’re in Madison, WI?
Frank Paynter 10.08.08 at 2:29
Close enough… I’m in the Town of Dunn on the “rustic road” that runs between Goodland Park Rd. and County B. I know nobody actually IN Madison would tear down an Obama sign, unless they were rabid McKinney supporters, I suppose; but, out here in the country there are both fundy xtians and NRA members (often one in the same, people who also are their own cousin, if you get my drift). This potent combination of low IQ armed and credulous assholes can make life interesting.
autodidact 10.09.08 at 4:28
Frank
Send them a bill. Include gas/mileage and the per-hour expense you spent driving to get the sign.
I’d buy a sign too, but in North Oakland it’s pointless. Every third house has one — even the $3.5 million ones (after devaluation). We’re thinking about taking a foray into lily white suburbanland to post signs here and there.