Update 2008.06.18: I suppose I can blame it all on Brand New, but that just wouldn't be classy. ;) It seems that this logo is from a piece of merchandise that is not necessarily canon. This does not make it seem any less sinister, IMO. Also, it now seems like a bit of a waste to NOT have this as the McCain logo, for all of the reasons I point out below.

The first thing that pops into my head when I see McCain's new logo is a poster for an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie from the 80's. In this (non-existent, as far as I know) film, Arnold plays a spy, or better yet a member of an elite team of soldiers, most of whom will be picked off by the end -- except of course for him. He is fighting communism, and if not explicitly communism, a thinly veiled metaphor for it. (A predator of some kind?)

This isn't just a flight of imagination (though that part is kinda fun, I admit); it's all right there in the logo, and it is not subtle. The yellow star loudly declares military credentials, the font (Eurostile) and color scheme are severe to the point of seeming fear-mongering all by themselves, and the slant of the whole thing conveys ACTION in the most ham-fisted way possible.

Yes, it is a "bad" logo, but remember that the Republicans have not made any effort to establish a legacy of good design or typography. In fact, the graphic design of the Republican party is so consistently, aggressively bad that it is its own aesthetic. The game here is to look like you're not playing the game, and the subtle (or perhaps not so subtle) implication is that paying attention to aesthetics is not the kind of liberal frivolity that Republicans engage in. People with that kind of time on their hands are a bit suspect, a bit soft. They may actually be homosexual. You know how those graphic designer-types are. If this sounds ridiculous, that's because it is, but the tactic's very brashness is what gives its motives a layer of plausible deniability. Looked at from this point of view, the whole catalogue of terrible design that the Republicans have built, from the clunky, cheap-looking graphics on the Fox News Channel to the childishly simple backdrops of the President's speeches, begin to seem almost... clever.

And so, given all of this, I have to consider McCain's new logo a big upgrade. Now we at least know who he is -- he is The Republican. Compare this to his old logo, which didn't have nearly as much to say. Optima is a standby "nice" font, perfect for the door of your dentist's office or a bottle of mid-priced shampoo, and perfect for a candidate who is non-committal about being a member of his own party, and doesn't believe he has a hope in hell of winning its nomination. Those days are long over, and it is now clearly time for the chiseled, strained authority of Eurostile Bold Italic. With a yellow military star, of course.