Published: October 09, 2008 06:07 pm            

Michael O'Connor: On the color of political signs and media bias

I received one response to my question about why Republicans are red and Democrats blue.

I’m guessing it was written by a Democrat because the explanation provided was that Democrats were blue because they’re cool.

So, I was forced to go to the Internet and do some research. Not much, mind you. I found an entry on that venerable site of all common knowledge, Wikipedia, and I’m going with that.

According to the site, the media created the set up. That doesn’t surprise me. The way some folks talk, we’re responsible for everything.

Anyway, the article said that at various times both colors have been used for the parties, but in 2000, all the networks used the same color system, and the late Tim Russert gave us the terms “red state” and “blue state” that have since been pretty much universally adopted.

I noticed while walking a different route the other day, and while driving down Texas 174 in Cleburne, that the color scheme didn’t really hold together as well as I thought.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards has a bunch of red signs out. If passersby think he’s Republican, that might help him out with voters who completely missed the news about his possible selection as Barack Obama’s running mate or his vote on the bailout bill.

But state Rep. Rob Orr has blue signs, though a more subdued tint than you see associated with the Democrats. I don’t see how being confused with being a Democrat could help him in this part of the country.

Wendy Davis, who’s running for the state senate and has signs in the Tarrant County portion of Burleson, avoids the whole problem with red, white an blue signs. I presume she means us to understand she’s entirely patriotic. You have to poke around awhile on her Web site to find out she’s the Democrat in the race.

State Rep. Bill Zedler, campaigning in the Tarrant portion of Burleson, also avoids the color problem by using green signs. That’s the color green. I don’t think the signs are specifically intended to be environmentally friendly. He’s a Republican, by the way.

Still, as a member of the media — mainstream, liberal or otherwise — I would have preferred to find some sort of nefarious reason behind color use on political signs.

That would have been a story.

Speaking of the mainstream media, Sarah Palin jumped on my last media nerve during the VP debate. Although I would have judged the overall debate a draw, she just had to go make a crack about being glad she could avoid the filters of the mainstream media and speak directly to the American people.

And she did this with a straight face, staring into the cameras that broadcast her comments all over the mainstream media.

Before you write me a letter, I understood what she was saying. But she’s the one who sat in front of Charlie Gibson and said she was for the “bridge to nowhere” until it became obvious that Congress wouldn’t supply the funds, at which point there was no reason to be for it, so she decided to be against it.

Pretty much the same kind of statement she accused Biden of making about the war: “I was for it until I was against it.”

Again, before you write me a letter, let me state up front that all the candidates have made bone-headed statements — when was FDR president, Joe? — all of which I’ve heard about through mainstream media.

What she’s really saying, along with others who gripe about that sort of thing, no matter what color their signs, is this: “The media aren’t going to cut out any stupid thing I say, and comedians are going to make jokes about it, but I really wish they wouldn’t. If they do, I want it clearly understood that even though I said the stupid thing, the media show they are biased against me by reporting it instead of what I’d rather they reported.”

All I can do is sigh.



Michael O’Connor can be reached at editor@trcle.com.

        

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