I wish I had some visual evidence to back this up, but the local police force frowns on driving and taking pictures at the same time, so you will have to take my word for it. Starting this weekend, I started seeing a phenomenon that I last witnessed four years ago: The Republican challenger's yard signs and bumper stickers are starting to be cut in half. No, not by the local teenage Democrat hooligans or by overly aggressive liberal dog walkers, but by the owners of the signs themselves. What was once Romney-Ryan, 2012 is now just.... Ryan.
Follow me below the tang-flavored cloud for analysis.
I must say, that four years ago this happened earlier in the election season. I would say about two to three weeks before the election. I saw a multitude of McCain-Palin signs turn to just Palin.
Now, I am seeing the same thing. Obviously, it would make sense to see this sort of thing on Wednesday. After the loss, the good troops showing their support for the person they feel could represent them in 2016. But this was the weekend before the election. No one has won or lost yet.
I feel that what has happened here is two-fold. Obviously, the Romney-Ryan team is acknowledging defeat. They know that their boys are going down (Both nationally and in their home State, as I write this in Michigan) and the time to keep up their optimism has passed. But I think is more of a statement of what we knew all along: These people were never for Romney. They were against Obama. Sure, they played along when the chance of victory still lingered in the air. But now, why even grace their lawn with a guy they can't particularly stand? I mean, sure he is not a Kenyan Muslim Socialist Communist Chicagoan, but he still is an asshole they wouldn't want to have a dinner date with if given the opportunity. In their minds, the option was shit and shit-lite, and now that shit-lite is going to lose, they have decided to just skip dinner all together.
This speaks to the enthusiasm level of these people. They are enthusiastic, about 2016. The white knight, Paul Ryan, (or maybe Christie) will come in and save the country from whatever ruin Obama has caused in his second four years, just like Palin was supposed to do this year in the minds of these people back in 2008.
Personally, I am much happier to relay the anecdote of my father, who bought a generic Obama/Biden sign in 2008. I asked him, why didn't you purchase one of those fancy Obama/Biden 2008 signs at the local Democrat headquarters? His simple answer, "I knew I would need it again in four years."