As you know, I very proudly put out my campaign signs on Labor Day. I live on a corner at the highest point on a long residential street, so I put one set on each street.
Since signs and bumper stickers are new to me — I just started this in the 2018 election — I put thought into it. First and foremost, they were carefully selected to express support for:
- Joe Biden — Because I’m one of the people who can’t wait for the chance to get out and save our country on Nov. 3. And of course, as you know, I believe Joe is the perfect candidate to do this. He was the only one of the multitude that put up their hands who is a survivor, an emblem, of the country we were before we went mad — a decent, thoughtful, fair-minded human being who knows all about how to be better than what we see around this. A guy who deeply cares about every American he meets, and will do his best to serve us all. A guy who had done more than enough for his country and deserved to kick back in retirement. But he saw what happened at Charlottesville, and what the malevolent ignoramus in the White House said about it, and that was it. He stepped up.
- Jaime Harrison — He’s the other one I’m willing to do this for because of two factors: One, Lindsey Graham has to go. As you know, I’ve respected and praised Graham for years, for the intelligence and courage he has displayed over the years, doing his best to play a constructive and unifying role on some of our most divisive issues, such as immigration and judicial selection. For years, he was the kind of senator we need — just as Joe always was. Now, he has lost his character, his courage and his mind. No, he hasn’t lost them — he’s thrown them away, contemptuously. He is opposed by a young man I’ve respected and praised in the few years I’ve known him. Someone I believe would be the kind of senator Graham once was.
Anyway, that’s what those signs represent. And a lot more, of course. In fact, I’ve often thought about putting a third sign up that says, “To understand what these signs mean, read my blog,” with the URL for a relevant post.
I’ve told you about some of my neighbors who have put up the same or similar signs in their yards. And I noticed something I hadn’t seen before: They had placed them far from the road, near their houses. I didn’t talk to them about it, but this indicated to me that they worried about having the signs defaced or destroyed by hostile passersby.
They were less ‘polite’ on this side.
But I didn’t do that. Not because I’m bold or defiant or anything, but because I wanted them to be seen as easily as possible, from the most advantageous angles. And I’ve worked in a campaign, so my attitude is that you can always get more signs.
So now I’m going to some more signs now, after what they did last night to mine. Or rather, to my Biden signs. They left the ones for Jaime untouched. Interesting. Why on Earth would anyone hate Joe Biden — one of the most likable people on the planet — enough to do this? And why spare Jaime, who is running in essentially the same cause — saving the country from people like Trump and Graham?
Anyway, it means that this time I only have to replace two signs. Next time, maybe it will be more. I’ll keep doing that until I can’t get anymore signs. I suppose I’ll be stuck with some Biden/Harris replacement, as the signs I was using from the primary were rarer. Which I regret, because for me it’s about Joe. Nothing in particular against Kamala; she just wouldn’t have been my first choice, and Joe was my guy, 100 percent, from the start. As I say, I’m particular about the signs I put up — I have to be really, REALLY on board.
But I’ll put up what I can get, if it supports Joe.
As you can see below, I’ve already replaced one of them, with the last primary sign I had in the garage. I’ll get more.
I had to clean some dust off this one from the garage, but I put it up.
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Put those sign photos on Facebook. If you’re not on FB, I am, so send them to me. A large segment of Trump supporters are crass and mean spirited enough to do that to many Biden signs, particularly in this state. There have been national stories about this.
We live on a high visibility street. Our Biden sign was stolen the day of the primary, and I doubt it was a Bernie Bro.
Maybe I will. I used to have my blog posts automatically post to Twitter, and from there to Facebook.
But I found that Facebook was a weird place to post about politics. People didn’t seem to get that it was a link to a blog, and it just wasn’t a great place for conversations.
So I shut off the mechanisms, and now post links to the blog manually on Twitter. People there are more likely to get this sort of thing.
But as you say, maybe this needs a wider audience, and Facebook is certainly that…
Y’all, my wife reports from a walk around the block that this happened to another neighbor on this same street. Which is interesting because those were some of the signs placed back away from the road.
But the signs of two friends on another street in the neighborhood — signs I obtained for them at their request, months ago — were untouched.
Just my street, apparently. So far….
Looks like one of Bud’s comments…
That sucks, man. Free expression of ideas and opinions is a fundamental value in America, and vandalism has no place in it.
Also, vandalism is about as cowardly of an act as there is. Whether it’s a storefront, a car, a home, or even a sign, vandalism is awful.
You should replace it with even more signs.
Welcome to Trump’s America!
Brad I would invest in a game camera.
What a great article. I think I will move my little biden sign to the front yard. Anyone who is as kind as you should be copied. Thanks
It must be terrifying to watch your carefully constructed worldview crumble before your eyes after having successfully warded off challenges to it for centuries. These threatened life forms won’t stop at defacing signs; it looks like intimidation is all they have left. It’s a shame that yours were defaced; fortunately you have back-ups. How infuriating for them.
Biden and Harrison are running two of the most pitch-perfect campaigns I’ve seen. Harrison is the real deal, with that same calm, good- humored way of communicating that Biden has. Biden gave another good speech today, this one laying out clearly and succinctly how the upcoming Supreme Court appointment will affect us. He and Harrison are making this election about we the people, and they don’t take the bait and get sidetracked. It’s great! You can infer a lot about how people will govern by how they run their campaigns. These guys are disciplined, principled and smart. We’re lucky they came along when they did.
Here’s another fun ad from the Lincoln Project, which never fails to delight. You may have seen it.
I have an extra Biden primary sign if you need it. I worked hard for it volunteering at the state Dem convention.
Doug, wish I could have your sign, but Brad needs it more. The graphics chosen by the state Democratic Party for the Biden/Harris sign are terrible. The state outline in the background just about obliterated the candidates’ names. Who thought that was a good idea? I ordered a much better Biden yard sign on Amazon, and it will be here tomorrow. Wish I had my old primary sign, but it was stolen the evening of the primary.
Sally, could you email me the link you used to order that Biden sign?
I think those new Biden/Harris signs are pretty lame-looking, too — although I like having the SC map in it. And I have no enthusiasm for Kamala. As you know, I have to really, REALLY like a candidate to put up a sign. And while her being on the ticket in no way diminishes my enthusiasm for Joe, I’d rather just have him on the sign.
It’s always been about Joe for me. I’d like the running mate more if it was Amy Klobuchar, or maybe Karen Bass. But for me, it would still be about Joe…
Okay. Your other email is coming, too.