On a side note, do you also remember a little
farther back when the color red represented
the Democrat party and the Republican party
was represented by the color blue in MSM
lingo? When it flipped those of us with a clue
quickly came to the conclusion that the media dolts
figured that red was too closely identified with
Red China and the USSR so it made the ‘Rats
a little uncomfortable.
You are correct. The red/blue Rep./Dem. distinction goes back only to 2000, when it was introduced by Tim Russert. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states