Posted by M. Wright | Filed in: Memphis Politics
Kevin Gallagher, a Democratic candidate for Tennessee House District 89 and former campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, has placed a rather unfortunate image at the top of his campaign blog. It’s a photo of what appears to be a well-worn pair of Converse All Stars placed on top of the Tennessee flag. It’s evidently intended to be a visual illustration of his blog’s title, tennissues (as in “tennis shoes”) — a blend of Tennessee and issues, but it’s a terrible way to get the point across.
In Arab countries, touching the bottoms of your shoes to something is a gesture of contempt, and stomping your shoes on something carries a similar meaning in this country. It should go without saying that it’s unwise for a politician to place his dirty shoes on the state flag, the handling of which is carefully and respectfully regimented. How this came to be Gallagher’s main banner image is a bit of a mystery and doesn’t speak well of his judgment.
But it forces one to wonder what kind of images his opponent in the Democratic primary, Jeanne Richardson, has included with her campaign materials. Perhaps she’s stripped apart a flag and has fashioned it into a mesh shopping bag. With the Tennessee seal, of course.
UPDATE: Heh: “That image should be a badge of honor.” - Freedonian.
May 19th, 2007 at 2:46 am
It’s also pretty convoluted, this whole “Tennissues” thing. It takes more than one tenth of a second to figure out which means most people will give up and say “that ‘ar don’t make no sense.” I myself thought at first glance that Tennissues supposed to sound like a Greek hero (pronounced somewhat like Odysseus). Then I figured it out and though ‘oh, that was too hard to be pithy.’
May 21st, 2007 at 10:50 am
[...] Memphis Mick takes issue with the banner atop a State House candidate’s weblog: Kevin Gallagher, a Democratic candidate for Tennessee House District 89 and former campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, has placed a rather unfortunate image at the top of his campaign blog. It’s a photo of what appears to be a well-worn pair of Converse All Stars placed on top of the Tennessee flag. It’s evidently intended to be a visual illustration of his blog’s title, tennissues (as in “tennis shoes”) — a blend of Tennessee and issues, but it’s a terrible way to get the point across. [...]