The Donkey and the Elephant

The famous Democratic Donkey and the Republican Elephant (shown above). How did this evolve? Well did some research and found out how come these party animals got chosen vs. any other animals.

History said that during Andrew Jackson's 1828 presidential campaign, the press and opponents started to call him a "Jackass." So in response Andrew and his campaign team wanted to find a strong-willed animal for his campaign so at that time there was a famous cartoonist named Thomas Nast who did a sketch of a donkey that was used in a famous paper at the time - "Harper's Weekly", January 19th 1870, to symbolize his party and it became famous.



Thomas Nast also invented the Republican elephant when he did a sketch that appeared in the Harper's Weekly in 1874 shown here:
He drew a donkey clothed in a lion's skin (shown below) trying to scare the other animals in the zoo and the Elephant was labeled "The Republican Vote"



As you can see (above), Nast drew a donkey dressed up as a lion, trying to scare away all the animals at the zoo. One of those animals, the elephant, was labeled “The Republican Vote.” That's ALL it took for the elephant to become associated with the Republican Party.

Democrats today say the donkey represents intelligence and courage, while Republicans say the elephant represents strength and dignity. From what I have learned in my current job is it's all a SPIN which has exploded on the web and beyond the press.

Well hopefully we will see the first debate this coming Friday if they can resolve this Financial crisis that we are encountering in our nation. I gotta tell you, we are living some interesting times in our lives with whats going on around us.