It’s interesting to see how a notebook, particularly a Moleskine, and particularly a red one, can become a political symbol. Canada’s Liberal Party Leader, Michael Ignatieff, was spotted at a party conference jotting notes in a red Moleskine, and it seems to have whipped up a lot of commentary, sometimes rather snide :

“Perhaps Michael Ignatieff will write a Red Book (make that a red moleskine notebook), tear it up after the next election, and eliminate the deficit à la Jean Chretien.” (National Post)

“Susan Delacourt has a nice story this morning [The Star article quoted below] on Mr. Ignatieff and his moleskine notepads. He was up front all yesterday, and is again today, quietly taking notes. The Liberals should promise a moleskine for every child. I’m convinced this would boost our national productivity. Or at least our self-esteem. It’s impossible to carry around a moleskine and not feel like your thoughts are important and worth writing down. My egomania has improved immeasurably since I started using them.” (Macleans)

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is writing a book.
“Actually, the author-turned-politician is writing many books these days – filling small, red-covered Moleskine notebooks, to be precise, at a rate of one every couple of months.
On any given day, at any event, the faithful red notebook is at Ignatieff’s side and more often than not, he’s writing in it.
What’s in there? Speech ideas, to-do lists, personal diary entries.
He likes them lined and diligently stays between those lines. He says he likes to cram as much into each book as possible…” (The Star)

The term “Red Book” refers to Canadian policy documents, but as one of the articles points out, critics of the Liberals might also point out the comparison to Mao’s Little Red Book of Communist ideas. And at least one of these articles seems to imply that using a Moleskine is a sort of twee affectation of well-intentioned but clueless liberals, like drinking latte.

But here in the U.S., it seems the highest-profile Moleskine user is the very not-liberal Glenn Beck, much to the dismay of many people, and delight of many others. But as far as I know, Beck only uses black Moleskines, not red ones.

Whatever side of the political spectrum you favor, that’s the great thing about notebooks: there’s room in them for every kind of idea.