This morning I stepped out onto my front lawn to find my McCain/Palin sign torn from the ground, crumpled and tossed. I went over, picked it up, straightened out the sticks, and put it back up.
While driving the kids to school I noticed the same had happened to a few of my neighbors. Oddly, the few Obama signs I saw were left standing. What an odd trajectory for a storm, right?
So after I dropped the kids off I stopped at my neighbors’ house and picked up their McCain signs.
This seems to be happening all over. I guess it happens every election but I’ve seen it more this cycle.
Recently, I was volunteering at the local McCain office and was speaking to this little old lady who was also volunteering. She told me the signs in front of her house had been savaged or stolen three times. And then she started laughing quietly. “But I’ve got the answer,” she said.
She now puts the signs in the poison ivy bush in front of her house. “If they try it again I’ll know ’em by their scratching,” she laughed.
October 29, 2008 at 5:57 pm
You know, some of his supporters are downright nasty. I’ve a had a few trolls over at my blog who leave nasty comments. What cracks me up (kind of) is that they leave these comments in the comboxes for the Divine Mercy Novena or St. Monica Novena posts I did. I guess this means I must pray for those folks, huh?
October 29, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I've seen nastiness on both sides. Some people really have far too much time on their hands.
But…things can always be worse http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=121886&catid=3
October 29, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Our “Democrat for McCain” sign seems to be a particularly scary Halloween decoration.
It was stolen less than 24 hours after we put it up, while the Obama signs across the street and next door remain secure.
My solution was to march straight to the McCain “victory” center and get a back up supply.
My husband, a veteran of scrappy local elections in his rust belt hometown, says that some creative solutions include covering the sign with Vaseline or depositing a generous supply of fertilizer from the family pet around the base of the sign.
Our small children have urged us to take the high road, however 🙂 so I guess we’ll just keep replacing it as needed.
October 29, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Last night while the rest of the house slept, our 10 year old made up dozens of NOBAMA signs as well as Micane/Palin signs. After several efforts on his own to spell Sen. McCain’s name correctly he put his signs up on the front bay window and both doors. (I’m going to post pictures tomorrow at my blog nofightingnobiting.blogspot.com)
Part of me is just waiting for some freak to throw a brick through the window.
October 29, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Cruel, but very funny.
Thank you for the giggle.
October 29, 2008 at 7:08 pm
In Venice/Sarasota, FL signs stolen and defaced with Obama spray painted over them. Also at a pro-life sign waving, over half of the Obama supporters driving by made obscene gestures.
October 29, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Funny you should mention this…We live in Ca….Our Prop 8 sign was stolen 2 nights ago, along with others along our street. I placed a call to the sheriff, so they’d know what was going on. He stated that over 300 ‘Yes on 8’ signs had been stolen in the last few weeks, in our area. My sons got a very large piece of plywood and painted a new sign (one that you couldn’t walk away with) and it was vandalized last night, with spray paint…The sheriff told the boys,”Don’t let this intimidate you, paint it again.” So we have, and the vandals are on our prayer list…so much for ‘free’ speech. Mary L.
October 29, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Yeah. When I was campaigning in NH this weekend they warned of potential violence against McCain supporters. Apparently this is not uncommon.
October 29, 2008 at 8:24 pm
People, this is all quite unsettling. What have we become? Does democracy mean nothing to these people? A lot of this mischief is the handy work of teens–acting out the vitriol passed along to them at school by liberal teachers. We are in a bad way! Just imagine the mayhem next Tuesday if people take the day off per Berack Hussein Obama’s instructions, thus leaving them the whole day free to harass others going to vote? We are in for it, I’m afraid.
–William
October 29, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I have heard similar stories at my local headquarters (Walnut Creek, CA). People are lucky to keep their signs up for 12 hours. I’m sure there is hate on both sides, but one side cetrainly has a lot more of it.
October 29, 2008 at 8:41 pm
People can have political differences, but at the end of the day, they can get along. At least it used to be that way. These days, whether it’s teenaged pranks, or genuine partisan nastiness, this sort of thing is a sign of two very different visions of what America is, or should be. People can talk about “tolerance” and “diversity” all they want, but it doesn’t mean jack if it isn’t lived out. And forcing either on anyone is a contradiction in terms. Still, that is what some people have in mind.
I’ve talked to people on the bus, who get red faces at the thought of McCain winning, as if jackboots will be heard outside the door at any minute following the oath of office. These are people in their forties and fifties, who have lost all sense of proportion. They have no idea what it is to really live under tyranny.
I don’t know about other parts of the country, but where I live, nobody will dare to violate the rules of decorum within sight of a polling place. If only for the moment, this is still America.
October 29, 2008 at 9:14 pm
My McCain/Palin signs have not been touched and I live in a heavily Democratic area. It might be because I have many Assyrian neighbors who know tyranny first hand.
But what is more remarkable is that I travel by bus all over the NW side of Chicago and its adjacent suburbs–and there is an eerie dearth of Obama signs…sometimes I go for literally miles without seeing one…and this area of Chicago is patronage heaven for city, county and state of Illinois employees. This should be Obama country as it was for Kerry–but you wouldn’t know it by any signs of his. There are almost as many of McCain!
October 29, 2008 at 9:25 pm
The sign wars here in California are severe with respect to Prop 8. There’s one house that keeps having its Yes on 8 sign torn (not stolen, mind you — ripped so as to express the emotion behind the act), only to be replaced the following day like clockwork.
McCain/Palin signs don’t seem to be suffering as widespread a destruction. Maybe the frustration is greater when it’s an issue you think you’re going to lose…
October 29, 2008 at 10:10 pm
We have had all of our towns 40 Days for Life signs stolen. Same folks I bet.
October 29, 2008 at 10:54 pm
What kind of sick person takes down a 40 Days for Life sign?
October 29, 2008 at 10:59 pm
matthew:
Go look at the comments here and you’ll see what sort of person …
October 29, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I was very reluctant to put up a McCain sign since many of my friends had their signs taken. However, my kids convinced me to put it out and we are going on Day 10! (One friend’s sign didn’t last 3 hours.) Interestingly, I have seen more and more McCain signs pop up in the last week….hmmmm
Nominee for the best yard sign ever:
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2008/10/best-yard-sign-ever.html
October 29, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I think it was in Pennsylvania, some african-american kids tried taking down a white guy’s McCain sign, so he shot at them, winged one in the arm. It hasn’t been a big deal in the media, like one might think, but it means that yes, shooting has started.
October 29, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Ridiculous to shoot at someone over a political sign.
October 30, 2008 at 12:09 am
Two weekends ago, had the prop 8 sign stolen from my front yard, replaced immediately. This past weekend, prop 8 sign was torn and left in place, replaced immediately.
Same weekend, in my sister-in-law’s neighborhood in San Jose, not only signs, but GARAGE DOORS and a CAR were spray painted with NO ON 8 graffiti. Freakin’ unbelievable. That actually got the cops out to the house to take a report…
Margaret