I noticed a "childless cat lady" yard sign similar to one of these while running errands yesterday. All of the ones I saw on a Google search were privately manufactured and sold on Etsy, Amazon etc. When I went to the Harris/Walz campaign website, there were no such signs available. In fact, there were only two offered: a bland one with both names, and a bizarre one featuring... Joe Biden?!
So unless these sellers specify that a portion of the purchase price is going to the campaign, it appears that these signs are serving only to affirm the homeowner's affinities. We won't be featuring one in our yard for fear of retribution, but it will be interesting to see how many appear in various neighborhoods nearby in our swing state.
It's also curious that the national Democratic campaign hasn't tried to monetize public enthusiasm, compared to Donald Trump's efforts to sell various items. For all I know, maybe the cat lady signs are being manufactured and sold by Republicans who are sending the profits to Trump...
Does anything similar to this phenomenon happen in other countries?
State parties are not the best organized.
ReplyDeletehttps://vademocrats.org/shop.vademocrats.org
404 not found....
The link in the upper right works. https://shop.vademocrats.org/
DeleteStill embarrassing. And worse, the "VOTE" button is also broken, and can't be found elsewhere. Presumably should be vote.elections.virginia.gov, not https://vademocrats.org/category/news/vote.elections.virginia.gov
People do put yard signs up in Australia, but because of our electoral laws any political sign has to include information as to who authorised it. No candidate would authorise Amazon or an Etsy seller to make money out of their campaign, they would want that money themselves. However I don't think anyone sells their signs - they are financed out of campaign funds and handed out freely to anyone who is willing to display them.
ReplyDeleteI've had an anti-trump sign stolen.
ReplyDeletetears
DeleteI live in a red county, plenty of turd signs. Dem signs ripped down. Like minded neighbor and I discussed if we should do the same, or paint NO on top of turd sign. Do we take the so called high road or do we fight fire with fire? My Father and others fought fire with fire in WWII, they took whatever road led to victory over evil.
ReplyDeleteHopefully only in America. Here’s the sign across the road from the “cat lady”: “High school educated, blue collar white guy. By blue collar, I mean the guy that works outside in all kinds of weather, building and maintaining your homes, roads, energy infrastructure, etc. The lady across the street has no idea what I do and how brutal it may be. She’s been working inside all her life. She has multiple college degrees and a fat pension from an administrative job. While I listen to Sean Hannity, she listens to NPR. I’ve been told I'm a patriarchal oppressor racist sexist. No way to escape these labels; they come with my skin color and gender. Doesn’t matter how many sacrifices I make, going to war or destroying my health in the course of working my dirty job. I’ve been made the enemy of the lady across the street with her “Childless Cat Lady” sign. This is the tribal reality.”
ReplyDeleteUm, actually, they come with your words and actions. Plenty of white dudes aren't misogynist pricks.
DeleteYes, plenty of white men are not misogynists or racists or... In fact, few are. But that doesn't mean it's not fair in tribal war to keep claiming they are and to keep making these words elastic enough to encompass some huge, imaginary swath of men. But all's fair in tribal warfare and the war continues. And the left keeps on alienating big chunks of the working class. And, well, that's tragic and didn't need to happen. Thank you Gloria Steinem, et al. Vance is acting on an opportunity created through ideological overreach. What a shame. The "Cat Lady" signs are exactly the gender polarizing reaction he's hoping for.
DeleteDo you really think Vance’s divisive remarks were part of an intentional strategy? If so then, just like his racist attacks on Haitians, they managed to alienate people and made him a joke. Meanwhile he’s not offering anything to help the middle class. In fact the Project 2025 that he supports calls for the middle class to pay higher taxes while the very rich get more breaks.
DeleteVance's "attack on Haitians" was not racist. It was anti-immigrant, plain and simple. Disagree on immigration if you like, but throwing around "racism" every time it suits the agenda of the identity-ites is not honest, IMO. Project 2025 will never be a creation of Vance or Trump, nor their road map, regardless of how many times it's presented as such in the media. (It's not hard to research this and notice the way the folks at the NYT, et al, are manipulating the conversation.) Yes, Vance is polarizing. But what's amazing is how much people on what passes for the left, in the US, notice the polarization wrought by the right and not the polarization they bring to the political culture. It's about even in my view. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAlC4kT6BuU
DeleteIf you can't see how strongly both Vance and Trump are connected to project 2025, I wouldn't give much credence to your thoughts on whether he was being racist or not. Funny how you resort to both-side-isms as if you're sharing facts- but as a working-class male; I don't think you represent the majority of blue-collar workers. The majority of us understand where our value comes from and our pride doesn't hinge on being recognized for such. I suspect you're irked that the cat-ladies are having fun at the expense of another one of Trump's verbal blunders, but you said it yourself; she trudged through years of education for those "multiple college degrees"- you have no idea what she went through- does she not deserve to poke fun at a man belittling her for her career choice?
DeleteWhy do you let 'labels' get to you like that in the first place? Sticks and stones man...
You have your own definition of "racism", but many people, with good reason, see Vance's attack on Haitians as racist since racism and anti-immigrant feelings often go together. He made up a lie and has repeated it in spite of being called out with the facts. That lie has caused a great deal of harm and you're welcome to dismiss it if you want but it matters to people who care about the harm it's causing.
ReplyDeleteVance is also deeply involved with Project 2025, going so far as to write a forward to a book that explains it favorably, and it includes many of his policy ideas, like making it harder for women to get divorces if they're in abusive marriages. Trump may not be as closely tied to Project 2025 but then it's policy. Trump has never cared about policy, only himself.
Vance wrote the forward to a book by a man who was involved in producing Project 2025. This is not the equivalent of being involved in producing Project 2025. I'd appreciate a source for your assertion that Vance was an author or signatory of Project 2025. I've never seen one, but the pro-Harris media is bent on making this claim, ad nauseam. All's fair in war and politics.
DeleteAs to seeing the criticism of Haitian immigrants (unfair as it is) as racist for "good reason": I don't find that a very compelling argument since the best good reason I can think of is that many Harris supporters are looking to tar anyone who supports Trump with the racist label, given the obvious political expediency. Unless we craft some kind of esoteric definition of racism, racism has been deeply unpopular across the political spectrum for at least 40 years. Hence the power in calling people racists. (Ironic.)
Again, the question (since we're on the subject) is immigration and how it affects the working class. It's a real question, even as it may descend into cartoon territory as candidates angle for votes. Taking the "racism" path is a distraction. I think that distraction serves the Dems who are caught between a rock and a hard place on the immigration issue.
I've never said Vance was an author or signatory of Project 2025. Please don't ask me to prove things I've never said.
DeleteAs for racism, you said unequivocally "Vance's 'attack on Haitians' was not racist". Now you're backing away from that certainty because you say there's no "esoteric definition of racism". Vance singled out a group of people who are easily distinguished by the color of their skin in a majority white community with a story he admitted he made up. In spite of being called out on the facts he continues to make statements calling all Haitians in Springfield criminals; according to him regardless of their status "they're all illegal immigrants." If you don't consider that racist that's on you.
As for immigration, look at the history of the city of Springfield. The Haitians Vance derides helped turn around a community in decline. They filled empty jobs and contributed to the community. Vance only sees people from another country who don't look like the majority. But, again, if you don't consider that racism that's because it doesn't match whatever your personal definition of "racism" is. You can't expect others to adopt your definition just because theirs is critical of political candidates you defend.
"Vance is also deeply involved with Project 2025..." But had nothing to do with producing it? Okay.
DeleteI never said there were no "esoteric definitions of racism." Academics have created many. Identity politics-types depend on this sort of thing. (As we fail to unite the working class, as I've said many times.)
I suggest you ask the minimum wage residents of Springfield if the Haitian influx (cheap labor, which, as usual, serves the "haves" very well) has been a wonderful thing. I do believe Democrats are tone-deaf when it comes to the interests of the 20 million poor whites in the US--along with the bottom 50% in general. Again, Trump is exploiting this blind spot (one of many).
To think mass immigration (again, creating a labor surplus and slamming the lowest paid workers) in a country with gross wealth inequity can be seen as benign is evidence of the disconnect of what conservatives call the "coastal elites." Especially, IMO, affluent NPR donor class-type folks.
Crowboy, you're missing, or perhaps ignoring, the point. The Haitian community of Springfield has been there since the 1980's. That means many of them are citizens while others are here legally. They have as much right to be there as the poor white people who are your sole concern. Their presence has benefited the city, as has been well documented:
Deletehttps://www.reuters.com/world/us/haitian-immigrants-fueled-springfields-growth-now-us-presidential-debate-2024-09-11/
The question remains, if Haitians in Springfield really are that bad, why has Vance made false accusations? Why couldn't he make a fact-based argument against them?
This comment thread has been a good reminder of why so many decent, conservative, normally-Republican voters are choosing to vote to preserve the Union over wallowing in hate and false witness, even though that means voting against one's party.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to hear this comment elaborated. Any specifics?
DeleteNo one here said Vance had anything to do with producing Project 2025, just that he supports it. I don't know where Crowboy got that.
ReplyDelete