Election Makes People Stupid

It appears that ignorance is on the rise as Election Day draws near. Case in point: Both Travis Co. Democrats and Republicans have reported heavy doses of election sign stealing and vandalism in recent weeks. Indeed, Travis Co. Democratic Party Chairman Chris Elliott said that he and his neighbors have seen the vandalism firsthand. Elliott said that the Kerry/Edwards signs in his yard (and in his neighbors' yard) have twice been shredded and strewn across his lawn – the second time it happened, Elliott said, the vandals stacked the wooden stakes on his front porch. And Elliott's car, on which he'd posted a Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker, was egged in his driveway. "It's ridiculous and indicative of the intolerance that Republicans seem to have for our opinions," he said.

But it isn't just Republican intolerance making headlines – Democrats are also reportedly displaying weakened brainpower. In Vail, Colo., GOP organizers have lost several large Bush/Cheney signs to chainsaw vandals and arsonists, and in Maricopa Co., Arizona (which includes Phoenix), several Bush/Cheney signs have been adorned with swastikas. But a healthy dose of pachyderm immaturity was also on parade outside Phoenix earlier this month, when a stolen Kerry/Edwards sign reappeared on its owner's lawn, spray-painted with Bush's name and stabbed through a saguaro cactus. But not to worry, the homeowner told the East Valley Tribune in Tempe – the cactus survived.