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Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

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I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

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If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

We’re not going back!

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Cancel the cowardly WaPo and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

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Reader Interactions

116Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    When we line the super-rich up and start herding them into camps, I hope they’re wearing that shit.

    No way those togs will last months of hard labor.

  5. 5.

    Napoleon

    People really wear stuff like this?

    You’re posting this question on the blog of a guy who mops in the buff, then blogs about it?

  10. 10.

    The Ratfucker Assigned To Balloon Juice

    Hey, asshole- do I make fun of your wardrobe preferences? Look, it’s comfortable and it breaths well. The fact that it’s eye catching to the ladies is just the gravy on the cake….

  17. 17.

    Mister Papercut

    I’ve made some strange ads (it’s my job — apologies in advance, y’all), but I do believe that one would have done me in. Wow.

  24. 24.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Laugh all you want, you unfashionable people, that guy will be in the Senate one day:

    ‘And one of the things I had to wear were leather shorts. And these happened to be pink.’”
    As he told the story, he seemed, almost in spite of himself, to get into it. ‘If I wore these now,’ he said, ‘I’d get shot. But it was the ’80s. Pastels were in. It was all pastel-y.’ The shorts went with his tan at the time and a pair of white shoes that he owned, so he gave them a whirl. ‘Gail comes out and she’s like, “Those are pink shorts.” I said: “Yeah, you like them? They’re great. Comfortable. Feel this leather.”’ With this last phrase, he slowly stroked the side of one of his thighs, apparently miming the gesture he made in front of her.”

    and she married that thigh-stroking, pink-leather-shorts-wearing, pastel-y, pick-up truck drivin’ guy.

  26. 26.

    xochi

    I hope the poor schmuck who is modeling this outfit got a nice paycheck for it. Or that he’s not a big fan of dignity.

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    FWIW real Nantucket Reds start out brick red and faded to a dusty pink color over time. These are something else.

  30. 30.

    Amir_Khalid

    I took a look at the embiggened picture: those strawberry ice cream pink trousers have the Brooks Brothers logo printed all over them. Ew.

  35. 35.

    slag

    It’s another shot across the yacht bow by Anonymous. Going after Brooks Brothers by posting stupid-looking ads on their behalf.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Actually, you take away the ironically retro cardigan, the hipster non-prescription glasses, add a polo shirt (white, yellow, green or red), add forty years, thirty pounds, a sun-visor hat, big old wrap around sunglasses, and a wife wearing a matching ensemble, and I’ll be bumping into people dressing like that all summer.

  41. 41.

    jenmcb

    You guys don’t understand the marketing here. RL is trying to take over where Tommy Hilfiger left off. Soon this look will become very ‘urban’ and people will be trying to fit a glock into the waistband before they head out for the club. I salute this trend!

  42. 42.

    mikefromArlington

    Thing is this though Doug. Ads are targeted by your browsing history. They look at your cookies on your PC. I’m not seeing those ads. I’m getting ads about lending and such.

    What exactly have you been shopping for..LOL.

  43. 43.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    @jacy: It’s the new “Revenge of the Nerds” collection.

    Ha!

    The other day I saw a small knot of mallrat girls all wearing total Poindexter horn-rims and suspenders. One of them even had the Mork from Ork rainbow suspenders. They didn’t seem to be self-conscious or showy the way you’d expect from people in costume, so I assume they were in earnest. Maybe there is a Revenge of the Nerds thing going now!

  44. 44.

    inkadu

    @Cat Lady: What Catlady said. This is clothes for them what has enough money for an exclusive summer wardrobe as well as a yacht on a New England dock.

    I mean, if you don’t wear different clothes during the summer, what’s the point of making summer a verb?

  46. 46.

    Nobody Important

    Um, there’s a guy in my office wearing basically that outfit, right now. With crocs the same color as those pants.

    I think that’s actually the same color as my highlighter.

  49. 49.

    slag

    Awesome! Currently, my BJ banner ad reads:

    “GAIN – nuevo – Detergente Liquido para platos…Conoce los aromas”

    Si. Si, it does.

  51. 51.

    Joshua Norton

    Dude. I guess you’ve never come upon Tom and Lorenzo’s Project Rungay website. They’ve shown some Men fashions that make this look seem positively banker conservative.

  52. 52.

    Rosalita

    Our Greenwich born and bread IT consultant has pink chinos. They are a real laugh-riot with his charcoal gray winter overcoat…and the guy is 6′ 5″

  55. 55.

    stuckinred

    we play croquet and we go rollerbladin’
    here’s to the homies on lock for insider trading

    it’s a tea partay from maine to amagansett
    we might be vanilla but our lab(rador)s are chocolate

    we’re chilling from our heads
    and white tennis visors
    right down to our toes
    in a pair of top-siders

    so now it’s time to break
    but please will you promote smirnoff raw tea parties
    and we’ll send you a thank-you note
    in cursive

  56. 56.

    David Fud

    Just because you don’t like banksters’ off-hours wear doesn’t mean that you have to hurt our eyes with that. Now I know why banksters are so into their daytime costumes.

    That poor model will never get a job again, also too.

  57. 57.

    ET

    Only if they travel in circles/places where there are others like them and don’t have to risk someone laughing at them or throwing something at them.

  58. 58.

    Lawnguylander

    Where I live not even the really rich people dress like this. It’s frowned upon to look like this kind of rich douchebag. The current local weekend attire seems to be really fancy but not so flashy workout clothes made of various high tech fabrics. Under Armour mostly and the moms look great in it. But when I’m coaching my son’s lacrosse games and we’re playing preppier towns like Manhasset or Garden City there’s always guys dressed like the guy in the ad on the other sidelines. We do the pre-game passing drills in their vicinity and direction and got 4 of them with errant passes last season. Maybe more.

  62. 62.

    Joel

    Saw the new wingnut meme on the internets is that HCR will cut employment by 0.5% by 2011. Anyone else read this? I’m wondering what figures they’re pulling that from, as the CBO hasn’t released anything on HCR since their final summary in December.

  64. 64.

    Catzmaw

    He wouldn’t have gotten by wearing something like that in my old neighborhood. Those pants are to die for … literally.

  67. 67.

    Suffern ACE

    @DougJ®: When you wrote that I said no way is this put out by a stodgy place like Brooks Brothers. If this is what brooks brothers does, I’m afraid to even to into Penney’s.

  68. 68.

    Judas Escargot

    @Xecky Gilchrist:

    Stepdaughter’s 15. Dorky and neo-eighties seem the theme this year, and it seems to cut across class (mullets, trucker hats and workboots for the blue-collar kids, the rich kids dress like an update of the Breakfast Club kids, etc– but all the same throwback theme).

    From my outsider’s view, it seems neither ironic nor in earnest. Earnest was a Boomer thing, and Irony was GenX’s preferred pose.

    In fact, at least as far as dress is concerned, I don’t detect much “pose” at all in this generation, considering these are teens. I honestly think they just like the bright, pretty colors.

  70. 70.

    Joel

    I have a few items from Brooks Brothers. They definitely have a yacht club/ugly collection that they try to sell every year, with loads of ridiculous looks like the one posted above. They usually end up on the clearance racks.

  71. 71.

    JGabriel

    DougJ, I’m in mikefromArlington‘s camp here. Ads are based on your browsing history. I mostly get ads for political websites, computer equipment, and artsy/cultural shit. What the hell kind of websites have you been browsing? The National Review’s 1958 travel guide?

    .

  73. 73.

    cyntax

    Something tells me if all those guys had shown up in Florida dressed like that, the Brooks Brothers’ revolution wouldn’t have been quite so successful. Pity.

  74. 74.

    Interrobang

    The shape of that outfit is very early 1960s, when everybody looked like nerds from outer space, with colour stylings from the 1980s, when everybody looked like freaks from outer space. Either way, not a flattering combination.

    I mean, if you don’t wear different clothes during the summer, what’s the point of making summer a verb?

    I can’t imagine not having completely different clothes to wear in the summer than otherwise; doesn’t it get either cold or hot where you live? Right now, the wind chill outside is a balmy -19C and in the summer, if it doesn’t hit at least +32C, I’ll eat my summerweight don’t-burn-my-head-sun hat.

  76. 76.

    JGabriel

    @Suffern ACE:

    When you wrote that I said no way is this put out by a stodgy place like Brooks Brothers.

    Brooks has been pushing out shit like that for six or seven decades, at least. Possibly longer. Preppie businesswear is staid, sure, but the leisurewear tends to be among the most tastelessly garish prints you can imagine — the kind that seems designed to attract bird shit on golf courses.

    .

  80. 80.

    Redshirt

    I’m pretty close to the source of this fashion – Cape Cod. I work with a guy who routinely wears lime green pants, bright red pants, and some kinda checker pattern I’ve not paid attention to. And there’s a girl on the 3rd floor who does the same, AND I’ve seen these two conspiratorially whispering.

    Which leads me to wonder about the Kennedy’s, and their accent, and their general physical appearance – they look distinctive, in the face. And then a few months back I was on jury duty, and the prosecutor spoke exactly like a Kennedy, and had the same facial characteristics – not a Kennedy though, at least by last name.

    So what gives? Is their a specific ethnic group specific to the Kennedy’s, marked, among other things, by the wearing of oddly colored pants?

  81. 81.

    inkadu

    This thread is a good illustration that many people never see the top 1%, which probably explains why the revolution hasn’t come yet.

    It might explain why cities are more liberal — they see the people with the pink sweaters tied over their shoulders.

  83. 83.

    DougJ®

    @Redshirt:

    I am often mistaken for a Kennedy (Patrick, the former Congressmen) when I am in Rhode Island.

    We Irish all look alike to you, don’t we?

  85. 85.

    moe99

    You’ve never been to the races at Keeneland in Lexington Kentucky, have you? I’ve seen bright green and yellow cord pants on men there too.

  86. 86.

    Redshirt

    @DougJ®: Really? LOL. Yes, you Irish do look all alike. But you all don’t have that Kennedy accent! It’s exceedingly rare. My only thesis as to origin is a mashup of Boston Brahman (which traces to the King’s English) and motley Masshole, which is more Irish/Scots based.

  87. 87.

    stuckinred

    @moe99: Fucking frat boys at Georgia wear bright red drawers on game day. And then there’s the girls. I makes me sooo glad I didn’t have kids.

  89. 89.

    Redshirt

    @DougJ®: Now that’s some good info! Never heard of that before. Will have to do my own digging. I’ll see if I can tie that lawyer to the same school, because, damnz! All I could hear every time he talked was Diamond Joe Quimby.

  91. 91.

    Dan

    I did stand-up in the 80s and got hired to do a private party in Greenwich, CT and everyone dressed like this.

    I ripped on them for about 45 minutes about their clothes (pink, plaid or lime green pants, whale prints, etc.) and stiff jawed accents and golf and whatever. They howled. They loved it.

    Then they paid me and I drove away in my Hyundai Excel.

  92. 92.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Redshirt:

    Is their a specific ethnic group specific to the Kennedy’s, marked, among other things, by the wearing of oddly colored pants?

    Yacht People.

  93. 93.

    mcjocar

    @stuckinred and @scarshapedstar get my vote for the best reply. Bring more of that shite, please.
    However, my guiltly pleasure will always be a good knock of the bow-tied (former?) one.

  97. 97.

    Phoebe

    I think I’ve seen some black teenagers with fauxhawks wearing stuff like this, but only they can pull it off.

  99. 99.

    RobNYNY1957

    One of the advangages of a man dressing like this is that he only needs to add a pearl necklace to change it to drag.

  101. 101.

    Tom Johnson

    I’m not sure what’s happened to Brooks Brothers. I was at their website a week ago to buy a couple of shirts — their no-iron dress shirt is really a thing of beauty — and I wandered over to look for a rain coat and holy frijole. All the models are these oddball, waifish hipsters that seem to be styled to illustrate the clogged fantasies of a closeted middle-aged child rapist. It actually made me uncomfortable to look at.

    I’m not sure if someone at BB decided that they needed to break out of their stodgy, traditional niche, or if the creative director of their agency is having some kind of nervous breakdown. But jeez, I had to have a big glass of bourbon just to get to sleep after seeing a few catalog pages.

  103. 103.

    vtr

    Architecture is an Art Form, and it’s up to engineers to construct the building and keep it from collapsing. Similarly, clothing design is an Art Form, and it’s up to I just lost my train of thought.

  104. 104.

    shortstop

    I have too much to do today to be laughing as hard as I am at this thread. It’s going to be a good 20 minutes before I can calm down.

  106. 106.

    cs

    Had to go to the BB website as I couldn’t take my eyes off of this outfit. Apparently, it costs approximately $450.00 to look like this. Quite amazing. Makes me glad I live in the relatively unpretentious mountain west.

  109. 109.

    Gozer

    Ahem…ok.

    I actually own many polos in various pastels (STFU, my wife likes ’em). And some boating shoes, but I never wear them at the same time.

    But they’re not from Brooks Brothers…so at least I’ve that going for me.

  111. 111.

    mwing

    In defense of old New England WASPitude, most of us do not, in fact, dress like that. Parts of my family have been not-dresssing-like-that here for 350 years.

  112. 112.

    2liberal

    @DougJ®:

    The Kennedy accent is from that school they went to, the Priory School. My uncle went there and he has the same accent.

    The portsmouth (R.i.) priory (actually an abbey), i assume you mean. My hometown. We don’t talk like that.

  113. 113.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @mwing: The old families have never really done that. My New England descended family members resole shoes, patch sweaters, and generally will only buy something new when the old one no longer can be repaired. Clothing can get passed from generation to generation as well. For example, I finally bought an overcoat about five years ago when the one my grandfather bought in the 1930s that I inherited from him finally became unwearable.

  115. 115.

    Ked

    SCARY!

    But safe for work. Though if someone is looking over my shoulder and catches a glimpse of that I may not be safe AT work for long.

  116. 116.

    Church Lady

    @DougJ®: My father did a year at Portsmouth Priory (1950/51), before entering Notre Dame, and he certainly didn’t sound like a Kennedy. I don’t think that is the source of your Uncle’s accent, unless he was also from the Boston area. Of course, my father was from Detroit, so that might have had something to do with it.

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