What is the origin of the Republicans "elephant"?
140280
In 1874 Thomas Nast published a political cartoon in the Harper's Weekly that used both the elephant and the donkey as symbols.
625246
This symbol of the party was born in the imagination of cartoonist Thomas Nast and first appeared in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874.\n\nAn 1860 issue of Railsplitter and an 1872 cartoon in Harper's Weekly connected elephants with Republicans, but it was Nast who provided the party with its symbol.\n\nRest of the story: http://www.meckgop.com/elephant.html
953724
What about an elephant?
208357
The Republican party is known as the GOP. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the first known reference to the Republican party as the "grand old party" came in 1876. The first use of the abbreviation G.O.P. is dated 1884
978140
Never heard of such a thing. Are you sure? Where is information on it. That's like Jewish nazis, or a Native American republican.
747679
http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/donkey-elephant.html
1150496
you forgot Democrats.\nLiberals is the Republican "slang" for anyone that is not one of them.
829379
Interestingly enough, the person credited with getting the donkey widely accepted as the Democratic party's symbol probably had no knowledge of the prior associations. Thomas Nast, a famous political cartoonist, came to the United States with his parents in 1840 when he was six. He first used the donkey in an 1870 Harper's Weekly cartoon to represent the "Copperhead Press" kicking a dead lion, symbolizing Lincoln's Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who had recently died. Nast intended the donkey to represent an anti-war faction with whom he disagreed , but the symbol caught the public's fancy and the cartoonist continued using it to indicate some Democratic editors and newspapers.
435963
Republicans don't think.  If someone is running as a Republican they vote for them.  It's why their symbol is an elephant.  Did you ever watch the elephants at a circus. They grab the tail of the elephant in the front and follow it without even thinking of where they are going.  This is what Republican voters do.  They don't think, they just grab the tail of the lead Republican and follow or vote for that person without even thinking of where they are going, like to a needless war in Iraq, hugh deficit spending,  hugh increase in gas prices,  more poverty, smaller middle-class, less people covered by hospitalization, etc.
61760
This pretty much explains it:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Political_Parties#Historical_political_parties
508010
For the elephants, I'm not sure.  I've heard Jeb Bush, but I doubt it.  Guilani (sp?) also.\n\nFor the Donkeys, Hillary, Kerry again, Possibly Edwards, Barak (hopefully not, wait for the next one).\n\nDefinately not Condi.
888185
It appears to me to signify the Democrats victory over the Republicans. The size of the two animals is in direct proportion to the size of power each party possessed before the election. \n\nIt also reminds of Virginia's State seal. It too is a picture of someone (Liberty) standing over a fallen foe (Tyranny), holding a flag. \n\nhttp://www.hometownusa.com/va/images/Virginia_Seal.png\n\nIn case you didn't know, the donkey represents the Democrats and the Elephant the Republicans. That dates back to the 19th century political cartoons of Thomas Nast.
485280
Republicans: to conserve national traditions, limit government interference, promote big business, and support democracy causes.\n\nDemocrats: to reshape government, to acquire more government control, limit big businesses, and focus on domestic issues.
65563
During the mid term elections way back in 1874, Democrats tried to scare voters into thinking President Grant would seek to run for an unprecedented third term. Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harper's Weekly, depicted a Democratic jackass trying to scare a Republican elephant - and both symbols stuck.
809583
The images were created by newspaper cartoonists.   The parties did not select these symbols for themselves.\n\nThe newspapers selected these images for their negative qualities.   The parties have adopted the images for their positive traits.\n\nSo you can see in this example that the Press has a real impact on the political parties.\n\nThe elephants come from US Grant's era and is related to a bunch of slow moving circus elephants that escaped.\n\nMore interesting is the origin of the Uncle Sam character.
516120
The elephant is part of the Coat of Arms of Coventry.\n\nHere is the explanation as to why:\n\nMary Dormer Harris, the local historian thought that the elephant had a religious symbolism. The ancient 'Bestiaries' works of unnatural History, treat animals as religious types, and it is from these works that many of the animals and birds in church architecture derive. \n\nThe elephant is seen, not only as a beast so strong that he can carry a tower - Coventry's castle - full of armed men, but also as a symbol of Christ's redemption of the human race. The animal, according to one of the 'Bestiary' stories, is supposed to sleep standing, leaning against a tree. Hunters sever the trunk, and he falls helpless to the ground, until a small elephant approaches and pulls him up with his trunk. \n\nThe elephant, then, is a dragon slayer and is associated with a tree. There is a now forgotten tradition of dragon-slaying in the neighbourhood - Coventry is said to be the birthplace of St George, who slew the dragon. \n\nIn the medieval mind, the elephant suggested the eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and did not merely symbolise strength.
852460
See your already talking like them!  Yet you deny their support of your party??  What a laugh!\nBTW, it was a republican (Lincoln) who started the civil war to STOP oppression you troglodyte.