Now they just STEAL the signs

stolen

Remember when my Biden signs were vandalized, so I replaced one of them with a blue one I had in my garage?

Well, a few nights later, that one just disappeared, as you can see above. So I guess they’ve moved on to just stealing them.

So I went on Friday to state Democratic headquarters and picked up a couple of their Biden/Harris signs with the map of South Carolina. They’re not as nice as my old Biden signs, but they’re something.

I told the lady at the door what happened, and she asked me I needed two, or four? I said just two for now, but it was nice to know I could go back for more. I also picked up some Jaime Harrison bumper stickers while I was there. They were out of them at the Harrison HQ.

And I put them up Saturday. But I took them down last night before bed — and put them out again this morning. I don’t mind going downtown to get more, but if I can avoid it by taking them in at night, I will — if I can remember.

Other neighbors keep putting them up.

Other neighbors keep putting them up.

By the way, I saw my second Trump sign in my neighborhood yesterday. Between the first and second ones, of course, more Biden signs had gone up in my Republican precinct. I think there’s about eight Biden or Biden/Harrises — no, seven, because one house that had had them vandalized took all signs in a couple of days ago. Which is a shame.

Of course, while some Democratic signs are placed back away from the street — to make the vandals a little more reluctant to approach them — the two Trump signs are closer to the street, where they show up better.

And I guess what that tells us is that even Trump supporters understand that Biden supporters aren’t the sort to deface or steal other people’s signs… (WHOOPS! Had to correct myself on that!)

One of my new Bidens is in the distance. I also now have a Nikki Setzler sign.

One of my new Bidens is in the distance. I also now have a Nikki Setzler sign.

25 thoughts on “Now they just STEAL the signs

  1. bud

    You need to call in to Keven Cohen’s radio show. His conservative audience is of the opinion that Biden supporters are the more egregious culprits of sign vandalism.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Really? Wow. Which station is Keven on now? I’ve got contact info for him in my phone, but it might be out of date. I haven’t been on his show in awhile…

      1. Barry

        100.7. I listen a few times a week for a small amount of time until the hypocrisy gets too much.

        Keven is a huge trump supporter. The leaps of logic and things Cohen ignores are big enough to fill a stadium.

        Cohen is one of those “I don’t care what trump does as long as his policy works for me” supporters. You know, the exact opposite of how he was under Obama, Bush, Clinton.

  2. Brad Warthen Post author

    OK, the sun’s down, so as we returned from an evening walk (saw six rabbits, so a good walk — they’re only out when the weather’s nice), we brought in the new signs before going into the house.

    My hope is that when the vandals arrive, they’ll be like, “Dang! Somebody got here and stole them ahead of us!”…

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      That’s such a classic.

      And, to my knowledge this — produced decades before music videos were a thing — is the only video featuring Allen Ginsberg.

      At least, the only one meant for a wide audience. Warhol or someone might have made one, but I’m talking mainstream popular music here…

      1. Bill

        I remember Ginsberg coming to Columbia and doing a reading.He wrote a poem about SC using names of all the counties…;it was on TV..

        1. Brad Warthen Post author

          My wife and I went to hear him do a reading at Southwestern at Memphis (no longer called that) in the early ’70s. If I were at home with my scanner, I’d post a picture.

          We had met not all that long before at a party — also, coincidentally, at Southwestern even though neither of us were students there — at which we discovered one of us was reading On The Road while the other was reading a recent biography of Kerouac. Over the subsequent decades, I can’t say the Beats have played a particularly large role in our lives, but it was a great conversation-starter at the time.

          And it was pretty much why we went to hear Ginsberg…

  3. Leon

    Biden supporters aren’t the sort to deface or steal other people’s signs…

    Brad, you really don’t believe that do you? This sort of stuff happens no matter whether you have a Biden or a Trump sign in your yard. I’m sorry it is happening to you but it happens on both sides. Taking the signs in at dusk and putting them back out the next morning is a good way of avoiding vandalism or theft.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Yes, I believe that. I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule somewhere — you can find exceptions to ANY rule somewhere, thereby proving the rule — but not in my neighborhood.

      I’ve thought about it beyond what I said above. As we walked around observing the signs, I remarked to my wife that there are certainly angry people on the left who might do such things.

      Of course, those aren’t Biden supporters. They aren’t the ones who wanted Joe to be the nominee. (Joe being the nominee is one of the things they get angry about.) So they tend to be a little less engaged right now. I can’t see them being the ones who put Biden signs in their yards. Or care enough about other people’s signs to attack them…

      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        As I keep saying, there aren’t two kinds of people in the world. People aren’t all one thing, or all the other thing.

        In the United States, we have about 330 million different kinds of people. Actually, more than that — depending on each person’s mood at a given moment…

    2. Brad Warthen Post author

      OK, Leon, I have to correct myself:

      A friend — a big Biden fan like me — emailed to tell me, “Two old guys up the street had their Trump signs taken.”

      Maybe it’s a gang that goes after old guy’s signs. Maybe they’ve seen my beard. Which, you know, fooled them into thinking I’m old…

      Here’s the really interesting part, from the same source: “Left Lindsay’s and Joe’s, though.”

      The vandal/thieves in my neighborhood only take or deface Biden signs. They don’t touch the Jaime Harrison or (in the case of my neighbors) Adair signs.

      Which is not exactly what I expect…

  4. Brad Warthen Post author

    UPDATE:

    Good news — the people who had taken in their Biden/Harris, Harrison and Adair signs a couple of days ago put them back out yesterday.

    Maybe they had just been working in their yard or something. As I do, before a mow…

  5. Brad Warthen Post author

    Oh, by the way, when I say things like this:

    By the way, I saw my second Trump sign in my neighborhood yesterday. Between the first and second ones, of course, more Biden signs had gone up in my Republican precinct. I think there’s about eight Biden or Biden/Harrises — no, seven, because one house that had had them vandalized took all signs in a couple of days ago. Which is a shame….

    I’m not saying that means Joe is going to win my precinct or anything. I learned how little to rely on yard signs as an indicator back in 2018. We kept seeing a VERY encouraging thing in Greenville during that campaign — loads of Smith/Norrell signs in Republican neighborhoods, and McMaster signs were very rare. I’d say the proportion was about 10 to 1 in our favor. Sometimes, you’d see a yard with both a sign for Republican Solicitor Walk Wilkins and one for James.

    That’s because anyone who was truly engaged in state politics — especially people who actually knew something about James and Henry — preferred James. Which was no surprise, after the way Henry had struggled up there in his primary.

    But most people aren’t engaged like that. Most people just go in and vote the party, or for which name is listed first, or whose TV ad they last saw.

    Which, of course, is possibly THE greatest flaw in democracy — elections are not decided by the thoughtful, engaged people.

    So what do the signs mean in my neighborhood? I don’t know exactly, but it’s encouraging in such a Republican precinct.

    Before the 2016 election, I only saw one Trump sign in my neighborhood, but he won. In a neighborhood like mine, you might BE a Trump voter, but you don’t necessarily want your neighbors to know it.

    I suspect the only reason I’ve seen TWO this year is that there are so many Biden signs, which has prompted Trump supporters to react. I definitely don’t think it means his support has doubled…

  6. Ken

    Finally came across some Biden (and Harrison) signs in this part of the Upcountry. Found them in a Black section of a small town I passed through last week. Otherwise in this area you only see Trump signs and, mainly, flags, lots of flags, including a pink “Women for Trump” flag hoisted on a tall frontyard flagpole.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Yikes. Maybe you need to move. If you don’t plan to, you can read this to feel less lonesome — about a guy who lives in Alabama, and is trying to help Doug Jones.

      Somebody should do a neighborhood-by-neighborhood anthropological study of all this. You don’t have to go all that far from my house to find that sort of thing, I’m told. I was talking the other day — on the phone, of course — with a friend who lives in Chapin. He says his neighborhood is plastered with Trump stuff…

      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        Of course, that’s the only way many of us learn about ANYTHING outside our neighborhoods — via the phone.

        A couple of weeks back, I mentioned roaming around to several neighborhoods in Columbia. One of my kids had been looking at houses for sale, and my wife and I drove around to look at some of them from the road.

        That was the trip when I mentioned having seen LOTS of Jaime Harrison signs, but few for Biden. Of course, that’s before the party starting pumping out those plastic Biden/Harris signs, like the ones I picked up Friday. Before that, I think the only Biden signs around were ones like mine that were vandalized and stolen — pre-primary signs…

        That was Columbia. Maybe if I’d gone to look at houses in Chapin, I’d have seen some Trump signs…

        1. Brad Warthen Post author

          By the way, the two Trump signs I’ve seen were both of the same cheap quality as the ones I got from the party — essentially a plastic bag stretched over a bent length of wire.

          I’m not complaining about my new signs. I appreciate that the party went to the trouble and expense of providing them, and let me have some. I guess I’m just missing my old, super-nice ones…

      2. Barry

        I know a college educated professional who is voting for trump because, as he told my wife

        1 Biden will outlaw private insurance

        2) outlaw all guns

        3) Biden is a threat to women.

        Seriously.

        He has ZERO to say about what trump will do in a 2nd term. It’s all irrational fear of Biden.

        I don’t argue with him or even talk to this guy anymore. What’s the use? There is no reason. There are a lot of people like this walking around.

  7. Bob Amundson

    Signs or memes from rural New York State include: Make Liberals Cry Again – Trump/Pence 2020; I was going to be a Democrat for Halloween but my head wouldn’t fit up my a**; I’d rather be locked in the trunk of an ’86 Buick trying to shave a bobcats butthole with a wooden spoon than to vote for Joe Biden.

    It could be worse Brad – and I own a business there, in my hometown! I’m still just a hillbilly …

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