The End of an Era

I keep meaning to post on the GOP's 2008 convention logo featuring an elephant adopting a "wide stance" and attempting to mount the numerals. All joking aside, it seems to me that this ought to put to bed the notion that Republicans are just inherently better at the trivial and symbolic elements of the political world since this one doesn't really pass the laugh test.

I also have to wonder on behalf of the good people of St. Paul, Minnesota if they're not taking offense at the idea that this convention is being held in a mythic place known as "Minneapolis - St. Paul." There's an arena in Minneapolis -- the Target Center where the Timberwolves play -- and that's not where the convention is. Instead, it's going to be at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. I don't know the region, though, and maybe St. Paulers don't mind this sort of thing.

Comments

I don't recall anyone saying they were "intrinsically" better, only that they were IN FACT better. I do recognize that in order for your post to work, it has to be "intrinsically" that's attributed.

Posted by sherifffruitfly | October 7, 2007 5:33 PM

I don't know, to me the elephant looks like it's sprawled out dead on the ground, not standing.

On your other point though, have you seen the Democrats' logo for their convention? It's also really bad.

Posted by mad6798j | October 7, 2007 5:35 PM

Also sheriff, if you're going to quote Matthew, at least quote the word he actually used. Inherent, not intrinsic.

Posted by mad6798j | October 7, 2007 5:39 PM

St Paulies don't like being thought of as a suburb or Minneapolis (St Paul is, after all, the state capitol) but they were already going to be out protesting the GOP convention anyway. With the exception of Anoka County and maybe a few other red stains on the map, the Twin Cities are hostile territory for Republicans.

Also, the location of the convention was widely seen as a coup for Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who's been running for VP for years. Part of his positioning was to veto transportation bonding bills, and the MNGOP in particular likes to stiff the Twin Cities whenever possible. I haven't been home since the I-35 bridge collapse but I can't imagine that's added popularity, although Bush was praised instead of buried after the 9/11 catastrophe so who knows.

Posted by aleks | October 8, 2007 9:24 AM

Those tusks are really big.

Posted by MattF | October 8, 2007 9:31 AM

re: Minne-SP:

Enh, it's the name of the airport and there's only one nice hotel in St Paul, so the reality is that the convention will be a regional event no matter what. And no one (in their right mind, at least) refers to it as "St. Paul-Minneapolis"

Posted by zaleriana | October 8, 2007 9:32 AM

I live in downtown St. Paul, and I am dreading the convention. The Dorothy Day Center and the Salvation Army are both within a mile of the Xcel Center (Dorothy Day is across the street) and the GOP is planning on closing both of them during the convention for security reasons, which means the homeless who depend on those places are SOL.

I will probably be living within the security perimeter of the X, which means life is going to be awesome for about 6 days. Awesome.

Posted by Richard | October 8, 2007 9:34 AM

the GOP is planning on closing both of them during the convention for security reasons

I thought this was an RNC tradition, along with a festive mock lynching.

Posted by neil | October 8, 2007 9:49 AM

"if they're not taking offense at the idea that this convention is being held in a mythic place known as "Minneapolis - St. Paul."

Yeah, it's not so weird.

Minneapolis is tiny (it has less people than Omaha for God sake) ... St. Paul is even smaller. The region, however, falls right behind Seattle as the most populous metro area. So, people refer to the region as much as a particular city.
There's is a running joke about the two cities because they're so different, though.

the Twin Cities are hostile territory for Republicans.
I just moved out of Keith Ellison's district that was supposedly the "second bluest" next to Nancy Pelosi's. All of the burbs are turning blue too. Pawlenty will be the only Repub left soon, and he seems to be living up to his Teflon Tim nickname.

Posted by Chris_ | October 8, 2007 10:00 AM

It's not really fair to look at Minneapolis and St Paul separately for populations. Minneapolis has about 388,000 people in an area of 55 square miles, St Paul has about 287,000 people in an area of about 53 square miles. The total population and density is 675,000 people at 6,250 people per square mile.

Seattle has 582,000 people at 6,900 per square mile. Omaha, with 430,000 people, has an aggressive annexation policy and a population density of about 3,300 people per square mile - a little better than half. Having never been there, I tend to think of Seattle as a comparable city to MSP.

By the way, Omaha's aggressive annexation policy means that it also has corn fields, something sorely lacking in Minneapolis and, indeed, two to three layers of suburbs around it and Saint Paul. Indeed, by another measure Boston, with 590,000 people, is scarcely bigger than Seattle - until you look at the population density of over 12,000 people per square mile.

More Twin Cities facts: The two downtowns are separated by the same distance as Hyde Park and Lincoln Park in Chicago. The metro area has 3.1 million residents - two-thirds as many as Detroit and three-quarters as many as the Bay Area. Minneapolis and Saint Paul have more theater seats per capita than any city other than New York. Minneapolis has been named the most literate city in the country by a University of Wisconsin survey. Are we Twin Cities residents defensive? Ya betcha. But it seems to be because the cities are way better than they're given credit for.

Posted by Aaron | October 8, 2007 10:37 AM

Oh, and as a Minneapolis resident, I don't mind too much about the naming faux-pas, but Nick Coleman, a columnist for the Star Tribune, wrote a scathing article about the "forgotten city's" hurt feelings regarding the naming.

Posted by Aaron | October 8, 2007 10:42 AM

And, as Aaron also shows, we Minnesotans tend to have a bit of an inferiority complex. Though he's right, its a pretty damn cool* place to live...

*heh.

Posted by an actual olaf | October 8, 2007 10:44 AM

The locals are known as St. Paulites. Ordinarily I would apologize for nitpicking, but as you will no doubt be writing about the convention on a number of future occasions, it's worth getting that one right lest a simple error undermine your message.

For some reason, the local powers-that-be recently decided that we are no longer to be known as the Twin Cities, and that we should instead call ourselves Minneapolis-St. Paul to boost name recognition. Please, for the love of God, just call it the Twin Cities. If the GOPers want to embarrass themselves by using an awkwardly hyphenated abomination they are free to do so, but that doesn't mean everyone else has to go along with it.

Also, since I know it's going to come up again, please make a note of the following: 35W doesn't run between Minneapolis and St. Paul. I heard that way too many times in the bridge-collapse coverage.

Posted by Midwest Product | October 8, 2007 10:48 AM

*Snickers*

You said "put to bed"

Posted by Dan | October 8, 2007 11:06 AM

They're closing the Dorothy Day center for the convention? That sucks. I guess it is right across the street from Xcel, but I fail to see how having homeless people get help in a building is a threat.

Posted by crack | October 8, 2007 12:05 PM

Is it just me, or does that elephant look like it's wearing a striped T-shirt and no pants?

Posted by Traven | October 8, 2007 12:14 PM

Back to the logo. Can't you guys see that it's a MAD elephant? Look at it's eyes. It's rampaging. It's been backed into a Corner (NRO pun) by a bunch of puny villiagers wielding torches and it's got that huge PCP-like adreniline rush that cornered beasts get. It going to trample. It's going to wreak havok. Those puny villiagers better watch out, becasue there is no animal on earth more dangerous than a mad elephant (except maybe a rhino, but that doesn't really work in this metephor).

REPUBLICANS RAMPAGENT '08!

cw

Posted by cw | October 8, 2007 12:17 PM

Or maybe that star-eyed elephant just has a "wide stance?" I definitely see that foot tapping.

Posted by Chris_ | October 8, 2007 12:30 PM

I also have to wonder on behalf of the good people of St. Paul, Minnesota if they're not taking offense at the idea that this convention is being held in a mythic place known as "Minneapolis - St. Paul."

That's nothing. I can't count the number of important public events that have taken placed in the body of water known as Tampa Bay.

It was probably a mistake to name the football team "Tampa Bay" back in the 70s, in an effort to have the team embraced by the entire region. People around the country naturally assumed then, that like Green Bay, Tampa Bay is a city or a region. But locals always referred to "the Tampa Bay area."

West-coasters, think of how stupid it would sound if people started talking about San Francisco Bay to refer to San Francisco and Oakland and environs. Everyone knows to call it "the Bay Area."

Well, I've never heard anyone but my immediate family complain about this and even local radio and TV folk now routinely refer to Tampa Bay to mean the region, so I guess that horse is out of the barn. Still, it irks me. At least Minneapolis-St. Paul is actually a place on dry land.

Posted by Rob Mac | October 8, 2007 1:05 PM

They're closing the Dorothy Day center for the convention? That sucks. I guess it is right across the street from Xcel, but I fail to see how having homeless people get help in a building is a threat.

The threat is that convention goers might have to see homeless people, which might cause some of them to reflect that real people are hurt very badly by the so-called ownership society. Or maybe not, but maybe the media will make that note. Or maybe not...

Posted by Pooh | October 8, 2007 1:14 PM

The threat is that convention goers might have to see homeless people, which might cause some of them to reflect that real people are hurt very badly by the so-called ownership society.

Think about the poor homeless people for a minute, How are they going to feel standing in line wearing their three or 4 coats waiting to get their beans and weaners and cot assignments, seeing all those rich, powerful white guys with their fine trophy wives pulling up in limos and tuxedos, the flush of fine burbon rosying up thier corpulant cheeks. That's going to make them homeless people feel like shit. The contrast is just going to be too painful. You move them to spare their feelings.

Posted by cw | October 8, 2007 1:39 PM

Was that elephant run over by a bus from the Minneapolis or the St. Paul transit authority?

Posted by Angry Sam | October 8, 2007 1:59 PM

The whole 'dead elephant' interpretation didn't occur to me until I saw it upthread, but once I did I realized that star-in-the-eye thing is really weird. I dont think it works in general, but after reading the comment I realized the star is really close to the comics convention of an X in the eye for dead/unconscious.

If someone really wanted to bring the dead-elephant meme home, some easy photoshopping could change that star to an X, and maybe rotate the elephant onto its side or back.

P.S. RE the upthread comment deriding the DNC logo - which can be seen at this link - I don't think it's nearly so bad. I don't like it much - it's a bit soulless to my taste, and the iconography has nothing about the Dem's and only a vague nod to the usual patriotic claptrap (though the nod to the mountain west seems effective) - but I don't think it's so easily mocked as the RNC's logo.

Posted by Warren Terra | October 8, 2007 2:33 PM

On close inspection the GOP elephant appears to have died from a terminal load in its pants. It was either that or the Enron logo machete'd into its back, Apocalypse Now-style.

Posted by Rindy Ross | October 8, 2007 3:20 PM

There's too much money, too much catering, too many high-dollar events and parties for St. Paul alone.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have satellite events in Chicago and Milwaukee, etc...

Posted by Jon H | October 8, 2007 3:26 PM

Your party's mascot an ass, don't be one and don't throw stones.

Posted by narciso | October 8, 2007 8:06 PM

narcisco: Neener! neener! neener! Your mascot sucks!

Posted by cw | October 8, 2007 10:09 PM

Both conventions' logos look ready for an Urban Outfitters-style ironic vintage t-shirt.

Posted by Reality Man | October 9, 2007 12:58 AM

Yes, St. Paulites are not pleased about "Minneapolis-St. Paul" in the logo. The convention is in St. Paul, not Minneapolis.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is the airport, not a city. They are not holding the convention at the airport. OTOH, perhaps they are planning to hold it in Senator Craig's airport bathroom stall.

Posted by VOR | October 9, 2007 1:17 AM