Comments on: Roadside vernacular

Roadside vernacular

beagle — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:10:28 -0800

The phenomenon of homemade roadside signage for Obama is not much in evidence on the other side. See also Obama signage and other art at The Obama Art Report, and many individual homemade Obama signs. Neither campaign is, shall we say, overly happy with renegade signage, however.

By: anazgnos

anazgnos — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:23:18 -0800

Huh...I was driving up the coast recently and, while in a particularly rural area, noticed what appeared to be a large, homemade McCain sign...but then I saw several more over the next 50 miles or so with the exact same design. Astroturfing?

By: Lacking Subtlety

Lacking Subtlety — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:23:42 -0800

It's seems like they're more unhappy in regards to homemade signage just with the TV appearences and rallys. Which is understandable nobody wants the guy on tv with the sign of "McCain = hitler" or "obaMARX!" They didn't say much in regards to the homemade road sign stuff.

By: milkrate

milkrate — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:23:51 -0800

This one.

By: milkrate

milkrate — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:25:53 -0800

And this one

By: TedW

TedW — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:28:37 -0800

I actually saw a van driving up and down one of the main thoroughfares here covered with anti-Obama signs and a bunch of McCain-Palin bumper stickers. The hand-lettered signs proclaimed Obama is a socialist who would move Reverend Wright into the White house or some such nonsense--they were so poorly lettered as to be nearly illegible. I presume they were made by the scowling old man driving the van, but if so, he could use some pointers in handwriting from the kids in the FPP, who did much better work. All in all it fit the overall tone and intellectual quality of the discourse coming from the McCain camp. I thought about taking a picture but was too busy driving.

By: Big_B

Big_B — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:30:57 -0800

Well for me I can't figure out where to get signs for a particular issue, and the one Obama office is a fairly good distance from me. It seems logical that there are others in this position so making your own sounds like a fantastic idea. I can get posterboard from many stores. Might I suggest if you are going to make your own, you give a little fundage to the campaign in question. That would balance things out ethically for me.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:35:14 -0800

... not much in evidence on the other side. On at least two separate news stories it was indicated that the McCain campaign event staff pre-print "hand-made" signs and distribute them to the crowd. One story seemed to hint that the signs were actually machine-printed but designed to appear hand-painted, while the other story did not indicate either way.

By: Tehanu

Tehanu — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:35:43 -0800

My favorite handmade sign was in VA and said "We are voting for THAT ONE!" in bright letters. That and other signs in the yard looked like they were made by a very excited kid with an artistic streak.

By: jpdoane

jpdoane — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:37:19 -0800

I thought for sure this would be included

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:37:30 -0800

Speaking of campaign signs... McCain/Palin Sign Sends Shocking Message

By: onlyconnect

onlyconnect — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:42:23 -0800

Driving through southern Virginia last week NortonDC and I saw a whole bunch of "I'm voting for the CHICK" signs, which I took to be a reference to Palin, although I suppose there might be some candidate out there with the last name of Chick. In our Northern Virginia suburbs and surrounding areas, we regularly see a whole bunch of homemade signs. NortonDC said he saw one today that appeared to light up! I've considered making a homemade bumper sticker because I gave money to the campaign and never received my promised bumper magnet. (We met someone in Asheville NC who had the same problem and said the campaign was running low on merchandise and not able to send stickers and magnets to everyone it was supposed to.) *sigh*

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:43:14 -0800

Big B, on a similar note, I made a "That One '08" bumper sticker on cafepress, charged $1 commission, and donated the proceeds ($653 so far) to the campaign. They have customizable signs, too, though I'm guessing you wouldn't get it before Tuesday.

By: onlyconnect

onlyconnect — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:48:34 -0800

History of the "I'm voting for the chick" signs -- they are indeed signs for McCain/Palin.

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:59:14 -0800

I was driving down the block last week and saw a sign that looked like it was painted by a child, with big stars on it, that just said "VOTE U.S.A." I thought, hey, that's cool, some kid just wants people to get out and vote. Of course, then I got closer and saw the similarly-lettered "McCain / Palin" sign next to it, but hey, VOTE, U.S.A.!

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:00:21 -0800

"Princesses for Obama"! Awesome!

By: beagle

beagle — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:01:22 -0800

not much in evidence on the other side I probably should have added, "where I live," which is New England. I'll take everyone's word for it that somewhere in the lands of the many-shades-of-beige-and-tan subdivisions west of the Hudson there's McCain folk art, too.

By: chiababe

chiababe — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:02:59 -0800

odinstream, I can confirm that the Obama campaign makes signs at local campaign offices to hand out for rallies too. They're all made by volunteers and distributed to those in the crowd that will be within camera shots.

By: verb

verb — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:07:39 -0800

Yeah, here in the far Chicago suburbs (just on the very edge of corn country) I see hand-lettered McCain/Palin signs. None of the homebrew stuff for the Obama camp. If only I could blot the huge-ass volkswagon-sized "OBERWEIS" signs out, the world would be a better place...

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:09:15 -0800

While this is, strictly speaking, an Obama sign, it's none too positive. Maybe, just maybe, people who are voting for Obama have a lot of emotions tied to the election. Change, progress, hope, etc. While the McCain = Bush debate has gone on well enough, he's a lot more like Bush than Obama. Maybe those voting for McCain are just voting, while those voting for Obama see themselves as part of a move forwards. In other words, McCain is nothing to get excited about. Why make signs? Oh right, there's a lady running with him.

By: inconsequentialist

inconsequentialist — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:19:44 -0800

Some of the more recent Artists for Obama posters featured on his site: Thing 1 Thing 2

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:20:03 -0800

At the corner of Bush Street and Lyon (I think) in San Francisco, someone has craftily renamed Bush Street to Obama Street using the same font. I'll take a picture when I'm out there next Tuesday. Much better than burning McCain and hanging Sarah Palin in effigy. Yikes.

By: inconsequentialist

inconsequentialist — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:24:35 -0800

If you want to buy those prints, they are $60 on Obama's website. I have wanted the Fairey "HOPE" print for a long time now, but it has been sold out and was very expensive anyway. However, when I stopped by the Obama table on campus this past Monday, they were giving away free prints of the poster. Now I have it proudly hanging in my living room. Obama Art '08!

By: Camofrog

Camofrog — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:31:45 -0800

Here in western MA, it's hard to even get an official Obama sign -- he won the state the second he was nominated, so the campaign isn't exactly pouring resources in. Instead, they are encouraging people to make their own.

By: inconsequentialist

inconsequentialist — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:40:42 -0800

Little girl with a little sign

By: mrbill

mrbill — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:55:04 -0800

It's hard enough to get official signs - the Obama Houston HQ office was out of everything but buttons, stickers, and tshirts, so the wife and I were going to make our own until we found that the Harris County Democratic Party had printed up some Obama/Biden signs. All the signs for the other democratic candidates were free, but they were asking for a $5/sign donation for the Obama ones. I bought four of them (expecting vandalism) but the one in my yard for a week now is still untouched.

By: kyleg

kyleg — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:05:30 -0800

I first noticed this sign in my neighborhood about six weeks ago. You might not be able to tell from the picture, but it's completely hand-knitted. When it first went up as a tree sweater it was even more awesome, but harder to read; I'm not exactly sure why it made the transition to the fence.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:26:25 -0800

Might I suggest if you are going to make your own, you give a little fundage to the campaign in question. That would balance things out ethically for me.- Big_B Huh? There's something unethical about homemade political signs?

By: clearly

clearly — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:32:14 -0800

I made a custom McCain/Palin sign. [self-link to flickr]

By: vorfeed

vorfeed — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:34:32 -0800

There are a bunch of really great hand-made Obama signs in Espanola, NM, including a huge "Obamanos" mural on the campaign office downtown, "OBAMANOS" painted on a huge canvas sign a few blocks away (sorry no photo), and several smaller murals and homemade signs. The preponderance of handmade signs is partly because the local Dems didn't have any yard signs ready to give away. There's a funny story about that last sign -- the date on it looks odd because it originally said "To a great victory Nov. 8". I noticed the mistake on my way to work the morning they put it up, but someone must have pointed it out quick, because by the time I came home they had already scribbled it out and put "Nov 4"!

By: Big_B

Big_B — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:57:45 -0800

Huh? There's something unethical about homemade political signs? I mistakenly took the post and one of the links to infer that they were not supported by the official campaigns due to being non-official er some such reason or that the campaigns do make a little money from selling the signs, so there was a sort of ethical question in my mind. But as noted here the campaigns are making signs and giving them away, so I was mistaken. That and the quality in some of these is really good, so more power to the artists.

By: dog food sugar

dog food sugar — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:18:33 -0800

I really like this Voted Early one. Another nice print. This gigantic homemade one on this guy's field is awesome. And I think this one is beautiful.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:36:20 -0800

Oh, yeah, I made one modeled on McCain's logo, too. None of those have sold--perhaps too obscure?

By: drezdn

drezdn — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:13:20 -0800

In general, it seems like people with graphic design talents or musical ones (thinking of all the Obama songs) are in the tank.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:26:17 -0800

From the "overly happy" link: But campaign staff members wouldn't allow the civic-minded crafts onto the University of Colorado field where Obama delivered her speech. Maybe the "voting for the chick" signs were talking about Obama....

By: JHarris

JHarris — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:27:23 -0800

Wait, dammit, Michelle was speaking. Harumph harumph.

By: Miko

Miko — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:01:33 -0800

Coolest one in our town: a round window on the 4th and top floor of a condo. The owner took white sticky-vinyl and created the "O" flag logo in the window...it looks great at night! Also, tonight at our campaign office, someone carved "HOPE" into a jack'o'lantern with the logo "O" as part of the word...and a little candle inside, of course. I need to get a pic of that.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:34:10 -0800

In Charleston recently I was wandering around loving all the amazing architecture in various neighborhoods. One morning, in front of a gorgeous three-story house on Thomas Street that dates to 1832, I read in this book that Robert Rhett, who was known as "the Father of Secession," made that house his home in 1856. I turned the corner, and there in a window on the second floor was an Obama poster. I laughed.

By: hippugeek

hippugeek — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:06:03 -0800

voting for the chick: Groannn. Andrea Oakes would be connected to that! Empty-headed abstinence-preaching idolization-of-Momhood ignore-the-other-issues politics of personality grumble grumble. Her daughters are real sweet, though. I taught them at Vacation Bible School. /small-town politics

By: beagle

beagle — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:03:46 -0800

Belatedly, I found this Obama & McCain Vote 08 corn maize in Tennessee.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:04:19 -0800

If I have to look at the OBAMA SUPPORTS ABORTION WE DON'T sign on my drive home one more second, so help me... Every day I yell "So don't have one, idiot!" at it.