April 17, 2004

Mascot Contest

For unknown reasons, I was thinking about the term "yellow dog Democrat" today. If memory serves, it refers to Democrats who would vote for a yellow dog before they'd vote for a Republican. Yes, yes, I could spend three minutes on Google and find out for certain, but if I'm wrong, it will ruin the contest, so just appease me.

I was thinking it's time to update that particular icon. The Democrats need a newly hued animal for this day and age. Something that captures a bit more of the vim and vigor of today's Democrat.

When I think "yellow dog Democrat," I picture a good ol' boy sitting on the front porch, loaded .22 in his arms, overweight Labrador by his feet saying, "Yew know something, Noah? I'd vote for Buster here afore I'd vote for that oily cowboy who's running again." Do you picture John Kerry elbow to elbow with this guy at the local bean feed? Nope, me either.

What the Dems need is an animal that conjures up the image of Hillary Clinton screeching declaring, "I would fly on a sponsored jet to Africa and search out the deepest, darkest cave and have one of my assistants grab the scariest denizen of that cave, and I'd vote for it!"

Which leads me to my choice: the brown bat.

He's a brown bat Democrat.

Has a great ring to it, huh? Easy to chant.

And Dan (another MN blogger) over at The Frozen Toaster already has an appropriate photo:

moonbat.jpg

As with any contest, here's the legal stuff that, were this a commercial, would be read in a very fast voice:

This is a whimsical contest. Contest results bearing any similarity to any Democrats, real or imagined, is purely coincidental. Especially my mother, my grandma, and Natalie. Because I really like all of you. Any use of the above photo is prohibited without express, written consent from Dan. And while I'm thinking of it...Dan, may I have persmission to steal your photo off your blog and use it in my post?

Posted by Cathy at April 17, 2004 01:33 PM
Comments

Heh. You know, I used to halfway identify with the blue dog Democrats, whose identifying characteristic was that they were budget hawks. There aren't enough of them (budget hawks) in Washington right now on either side of the aisle.

Oh, and I believe the picture is actually of a vampire bat, if memory serves. But that doesn't sound as good, either.

Posted by: Dan at April 17, 2004 05:37 PM

Oh, and the photo is public domain. Knock yourself out.

Posted by: Dan at April 17, 2004 05:40 PM

Was 'blue dog' another sect of Democrats? Or did I just have the 'yellow' wrong?

I figured Brown Bat was not the correct genus/species...but it suited my needs. Thanks!

Posted by: Cathy at April 17, 2004 05:55 PM

Here is a address to a left wing web site that goes in to what a yellow, blue dogs and a few other dogs are:

http://www.yellowdogdemocrat.com/variations.htm


And I found this:

Safire's New Political Dictionary explains the origin of yellow-dog Democrat. When Senator William Tom Heflin of Alabama refused to support Democrat Al Smith in the 1928 presidential election, Al Smith's supporters popularized the phrase "I'd vote for a yellow dog if he ran on the Democratic ticket." These Southern Democrats were loyal to their party--they wouldn't vote for Republican Herbert Hoover.

A blue-dog Democrat, a recent term, means 'an open-minded Democrat willing to support some conservative policies'.


I think the official mascot the donkey fits them well enough.

Donkey Terminology

Ass: The correct term for the animal commonly known as the donkey, burro or jackstock. The term comes from the original Latin term, "Asinus". The scientific term for these animals is "equus asinus". The term fell into disrepute through confusion with the indelicate term "arse" meaning the human backside.


http://www.greenapple.com/~jorp/amzanim/donkterm.htm

Posted by: Matthew at April 17, 2004 06:55 PM

Thanks Matthew!

Do you moonlight as a research librarian? :)

Posted by: Cathy at April 17, 2004 07:55 PM

I know it doesn't have a color in the name,but a vampire bat for bloodsucking democrats seems to fit.

Posted by: Sheriff Bart at April 19, 2004 09:55 AM

"a vampire bat for bloodsucking democrats seems to fit"

The man has a point there.

Posted by: Dan at April 19, 2004 01:13 PM

One of my dogs looks like that. Does this mean he too could be a Democrat? The horror...

Posted by: maura at April 20, 2004 07:16 PM