Last evening my Obama lawn sign had been bent over, so I straightened it up. This morning, all that was left was the metal frame. Walked the dog around the block, and couldn’t help but notice that the only other house that had previously sported an Obama sign, now had a metal frame as well.
Curiously, a number of McCain signs were untouched.
Just further proof that when we talk about the “American way of life” we are supposedly so interested in defending, it apparently doesn’t include tolerance for the free speech of others.
God, there are so many pricks in my town. I can’t wait to move.
We haven’t put out any signs, but we figure if we put out Obama signs they will disappear very quickly. Here, it’s more kids than anything political. Put out anything that has any value to you whatsoever and the little jerks will destroy it.
The black couple who live across the alleyway from us had their Obama/Biden signs painted over. After they cleaned them off, and put them back up, someone came by and painted a fucking swastika on their fence. In the middle of the day!
I wish I was allowed to vote in this country. I still doubt one more vote to Obama in Texas would make any difference at all (though I do see a lot more Democrat-related signs in very conservative Plano than ever before), but goddamn it would feel good to be able to stick it to the morons and arseholes that do things like that.
This happens in my hometown every two years, against both the majority Democratic and minority Republican signs. You know, because some liberal punk never gets any conservative resistance and is sure he/she is right, or because some conservative punk feels oppressed (a rational feeling, if not reaction). The best revenge is to go out and vote, and to encourage your friends and neighbors to do so.
At oh-dark-hundred every morning, I walk to the local college’s pool for a dip. Lots of Obama signs (heck I got one). A lone McCain sign, it has been repeatedly defaced.
I cannot recall a nastier campaign.
My neighbor had her Obama sign defaced and a ten foot scrawl in spray paint on he sidewalk that said “Fuck the niger”(sic). She replaced the sign and painted a big American flag over the illiterate scrawl.
I have an Obama sign in my yard and a bigger one right next to it that says “Smile, you’re on candid camera”, my sign has not been touched.
I saw in the Washington Post this morning an article about a certain neighbo(u)rhood in Toronto. Someone is vandalizing houses and cars at places the have Liberal signs. They are spray-painting “Liberals Lie.”
The vandals have neatest cursive script I have seen lately. You have to love Canada.
A neighbor of ours had a Kerry sign out in 04. It got stolen. So they got another one and mounted it in their window, facing the street. Then someone shot their fucking window out.
When England lost their semi-final in the world cup to Germany people went out into the streets and vandalized German cars. (English owners obviously :rolleyes: )
Well of course no-one actually saw it happen. We went out in the morning, driving past a pristine fence, came back late afternoon and there it was. I believe he just painted over it.
My neighbor across the street has an Obama sign near the sidewalk. The next day it was gone but looked like the frame was still there. Then it was back but it looked rather bent and ragged. Now I noticed that the neighbors next door to them have a McCain sign and they put it up by there house. It could really only be seen by myself or someone walking up to their front door so I don’t really know why they are bothering.
I never put out yard signs or use bumper stickers for fear of assholes vandalizing my property.
Wile E I gotta wonder - why do people bother anyway? A sign isn’t a vote. You can still vote if you don’t have a sign. I’ve never understood the point of saying “I support party X” I always wonder why, Britain for instance people would but photos of the party leader they’re supporting in their window. What the F__k do I care who you are going to vote for?
Edit: No offence to the OP, but isn’t putting up signs inviting hostility???
AIUI it’s a cheap, and easy, way to show support for a campaign, or candidate. I’ve never heard that the signs are considered useful as a means of convincing the undecided - but they help keep the supporters for the candidate involved, and feeling they can do something to affect the race.
I believe that some campaigns actually sell such signs as fund raising, too. But I don’t think that’s universal.
The problem comes from the people who think that a campaign sign is more than what I just described.
There was an article in the local paper a few weeks ago, about two so-called stereo-typical supporters for each Presidential campaigns. Both had gotten involved in the campaigns beyond the level described here. I can’t recall why the Obama supporter had gotten involved, but the McCain supporter got involved because he found out that he couldn’t make his neighbors take down their sign saying, “Support the Troops. End the War!”*
Some people take these things far more personally than they should. On both sides of the fence. Last week some bozo was caught stealing McCain signs, too.
*The truly surreal thing about this was that the guy’s last name is Fink. The D&C doesn’t have more than the last week up for free archives on the Web or I’d find the story and link it, to prove that. I have never seen a better case of name/behavior matching.
We live on the corner of a quiet residential street and the most convenient route for people going from one side of town to the other. And since my husband is active in local union business, and since he knows every local dem, we are constantly asked to put signs up on our lawn. He always tells them “it’s up to the boss (me)” knowing I will always say no.
It’s not that I don’t support local, state and national democratic candidates–I do, and I will vote for them as many times as I possibly can!
It’s that:
My vote is my business; I will mark my ballot in the privacy of the voting booth.
I don’t want my property vandalized even more than the lame graffiti on my fence (which post I would link to if anyone cared and if I knew how).
And most shamefully, I am a public employee in a conservative town. Therefore, I am cautious of endorsing the unpopular choice when it might affect how I am perceived. I’ll remain publicly neutral. And wish my balls were bigger.
You’re proud and excited to support your candidate, in the same way you might have a bumpersticker or hat supporting your college or your favorite sports team.
Having a sign for your candidate may make others feel a little more comfortable voting for him. In a neighborhood with many signs for a particular candidate, people may think, oh, everyone’s voting for him, validating that candidate as a choice. In a neighborhood where you’re in the minority, having a sign may give another minority voter more courage to vote the same way.
It gets the candidate’s name out there. Almost everyone knows the names of the presidential candidates, but for lesser offices, that isn’t always the case. Just like advertising intended to stick the name of a beer or a detergent in your head, signs can make the candidate’s name familiar and therefore more likely to be chosen when you’re looking at a list of candidates for city council or school board.
Others have answered why people put up signs, so I am going to answer your edit. I think that some people just have a little too much faith in humanity and don’t believe someone would actually vandalize their sign or property when they are just exercising their right to free speech.
That sucks-still, I’d call anyways, just to let them know that there’s someone doing such things in the neighborhood. :mad:
(I did, however, laugh at that picture of the dog lifting its leg on the Bush/Cheney sign. But I don’t think that counts. I’m sure people see animals doing that all the time)
