Plated Politics
November 25th, 2009
Murmurs • Our Reporting, Our Words.0 comments
November 25th, 2009
Dr. Know0 comments
November 25th, 2009
Letters to the Editor • Inbox0 comments
November 25th, 2009
Lost A Space | The new cannabis cafe’s neighbors are ticked. But not about the pot.0 comments
November 25th, 2009
Contract Killers | What’s holding up a deal between Portland Public Schools and teachers?1 comment
November 25th, 2009
Reasonable Doubts | Five Portlanders take the police union’s beanbag-video challenge.0 comments
November 25th, 2009
A Donor By Any Other Name | Corporate interests use associations to pass money to Oregon’s anti-tax campaign.1 comment
November 25th, 2009
Cover Story • Trail Mix | This holiday weekend, give thanks for your other family: The Blazers.0 comments
November 25th, 2009
Ask the Editor • What Were We Thinking? | WW Editor Mark Zusman answers your questions about our coverage.0 comments
November 18th, 2009
Murmurs • Going Rogue Each Week4 comments
![]() Rian Moore and his 4Runner. IMAGE: TOM OLIVER |
[October 13th, 2004] Rian Moore, like many Americans, dislikes the incumbent president. He just found a unique way to say so. You may have seen Moore's white Toyota 4Runner tooling around town. His vanity plate: "IHATE W."
Moore, a 32-year-old producer for Food Chain Films, dreamt up the plate shortly before the Iraq invasion.
"I never considered myself an overly political person," says Moore. "But now I can't help myself."
Reaction to the plate has been overwhelmingly positive. Drivers honk; pedestrians yell and give Moore the thumbs-up. So far, his fears of vandalism have not been realized, though he's seen a couple of middle fingers. His most treasured moment came when he returned to his ride after lunch to find a $1 bill tucked neatly under the windshield wiper.
Moore's partisan sentiment cleared the state approval process required of all vanity plates. A seven-member state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services panel vets all slogans, screening out references to intimate anatomy and excretory functions, as well as drug references and inflammatory statements about gender, class or race.
Political statements aren't prohibited. WW asked DMV spokesman David House if a plate reading "BUSHSUX" would pass muster.
"Probably," House says. "We've had licenses with S-U-X approved before."
RECENT COMMENTS ON “Plated Politics”
I HATE WI thought liberals invented the slogan "Hate is not a family value". Who's being holier than thou now?—Joe
License plate.You guys were duped. The plate was supposed to read "IHATE WW", but he was only allowed 6 letters. Shame, it would have been such an appropriate plate.—Randy











