Political Mascots

[lpetrich]

Here in the US, the two major parties have animal symbols: the donkey for the Democratic Party and the elephant for the Republican Party.

• Why Democrats are donkeys and Republicans are elephants - CNN Style
• How the Republican and Democratic Parties Got Their Animal Symbols - HISTORY

From history.com

The origins of the Democratic donkey can be traced to the 1828 presidential campaign of Andrew Jackson. During that race, opponents of Jackson called him a jackass. However, rather than rejecting the label, Jackson, a hero of the War of 1812 who later served in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, was amused by it and included an image of the animal in his campaign posters. Jackson went on to defeat incumbent John Quincy Adams and serve as America’s first Democratic president. In the 1870s, influential political cartoonist Thomas Nast helped popularize the donkey as a symbol for the entire Democratic Party.

From CNN

Take "Third Term Panic," the 1874 cartoon often credited with popularizing the elephant as a symbol for the Republican Party. In the months leading up to the midterms, the New York Herald, at the time backing several Democratic candidates, had spread the rumor that President Ulysses Grant, a Republican, was contemplating running for a third term in 1876 -- not illegal in the days before the 22nd Amendment but definitely frowned upon.

Nast, a proud supporter of the Party of Lincoln, drew the Herald as a donkey wrapped in a lion's skin, frightening the other animals with wild stories of a Grant dictatorship. Among these animals are an enormous, oafish elephant labeled "the Republican Vote," which looks as though it's about to tumble off a cliff.

 

[lpetrich]

 Republican In Name Only implies that some Republican is not a Real Republican. It got started in the early 20th cy.

Its abbreviation, RINO, suggests a rhinoceros, a sort of fake elephant.

chadsdaddy on Twitter: "@SenJohnMcCain RINO on the loose_Syrian Rebels R CIA's al-Qaeda 'FREEDOM FIGHTERS' & U can take that to the BANK_ (pic link)" / Twitter - a picture of a rhinoceros edited to have John McCain's face.


Mascots/Logos of Political Parties & Their History/Meaning | Political Party Project

Political Party Symbols - Political Parties Analysis

The Libertarian Party's mascot is the porcupine.

The Constitution Party's mascot is the bald eagle, the American symbol. Though Benjamin Franklin preferred the wild turkey.

The Green Party's logo is the Earth in a flower.

The  Modern Whig Party had an owl.


For Democrats in Name Only, DINO, I've found two kinds of dinosaur logos: a sauropod (a big one with a long neck and a long tail) and a big carnivore like T. rex. There are some other dinosaurs that might make good logos, like a stegosaur (bony plates sticking up) and a ceratopsian like Triceratops (horned face and a neck frill).

 

[bilby]

Our political parties here don't have animal mascots.

We are in the luxurious position of being able to assume that the vast majority of voters are literate.

 

[untermensche]

Well "Wild Turkey" got to be a symbol for something else.

 

[ZiprHead]

I see very little actual politics in this subject. It would be better in history. So off it goes.

 

[SimpleDon]

Our political parties here don't have animal mascots.

We are in the luxurious position of being able to assume that the vast majority of voters are literate.

There was a time that I would have pushed back to this insult to my country. But the firm ground that I have depended on to defend the intelligence of Americans has been seriously eroded by the fact that 25% to 45% of Americans have to believe obvious lies to vote the way that they do.

 

[Tigers!]

Our political parties here don't have animal mascots.

We are in the luxurious position of being able to assume that the vast majority of voters are literate.

There was a time that I would have pushed back to this insult to my country. But the firm ground that I have depended on to defend the intelligence of Americans has been seriously eroded by the fact that 25% to 45% of Americans have to believe obvious lies to vote the way that they do.

You are confusing literacy with intelligence. Bilby is merely noting that Australian voters on the whole seem to be able to read. Whether they they can adequately comprehend what they read is another question entirely.