Until 2000, there was no accepted standard of assigning blue and red to the two major U.S. parties. Media tended to assign them randomly and switch them off from one election to another. In 1980, two networks were using blue for Republicans, and two were using red for Republicans. It was only on a network that was using blue for Republicans that the “sea of blue” comment was used; it was not universally applicable.
In 2000, neither the Gore nor the Bush campaign chose one color or another as an explicit partisan symbol. The networks had randomly assigned blue to Gore and red to Bush for the television map and it was the overall controversy surrounding the election that led to those colors sticking more than they had in the past.
I know the Word Detective (see my post #10) is an etymologist and not a political guy, but do you have a reference to support your claims or refute his?
And, in keeping with the forum, Limbaugh continues to be a dick.
I’ll note that the Word Detective himself doesn’t cite his sources. However, I don’t think what I said is irreconcilable to what he said. And both our stories refute the notion that Blue=Republican/Red=Democratic was ever a generally agreed standard. The important point, however, is that even if you accept the Word Detective’s word, RickJay is still wrong! wrong! wrong!
I seem to recall that there is a U.S. government agency whose election results maps are yellow, pink, and green, or something like that. Anyone have any idea what I might be talking about?
Hillary is still proud of Ortiz’s support, however, because at least unlike an Obama supporter Ortiz didn’t just talk about stabbing, he did it, and when he did he used his own knife and not one “borrowed” from a friend in Massachusetts.
In the wake of the neo-con coup of the Republican party, I find the current color association quite fitting. Red being bloody, raging, and aggressive; blue being clean, serene, and peaceful.
Now what would really impress me is if someone could make the case for the Green Party to be associated with the color orange.
ETA:Good point ShibbOleth. Republicans being in the red is just too fitting.
I yield to Captain Amazing on why colors changed when.
It’s pretty obvious what happened in 2000. In previous years, the colors were up there for Election Night, then put away the next day for another four years. Consequently, few people remembered which colors went with which party long enough to even notice it switched from time to time.
But in 2000, the Red v. Blue map was up there for 37 rather intense days, and by the end of that time, it was embedded in the language.
As far as Rush goes, who cares? Maybe it’s just what I read these days, but I get little impression anymore that he’s affecting the larger political debate in any meaningful way. His audience seems to be the loyal 30% who would vote Republican even if Bush, McCain, and Cheney were videotaped in a gay 3-way.
Actually, the past tense is spelled differently. That’s probably the source of the confusion. Correct it to “Larry Craig, Republican, blew” and it makes more sense.
