Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Bark louder, little dog.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / 20 Years Ago Today…

20 Years Ago Today…

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The mister and I tied the knot. Here’s my favorite picture from our wedding:

He’s eyeballing my food, a common theme throughout our life together. And yet he still looks the same, and I’m older and fatter despite him eating half my food all these years!

Oh well. Life isn’t fair. But it’s pretty damn sweet if you have good company for the journey. I’m a lucky woman.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

163Comments

  3. 3.

    JPL

    It’s a lovely picture and congrats to you and your hubby. Thanks for keeping us sane also. (that’s a stretch but whatever)

  4. 4.

    amygdala

    Aww… what a great picture. Happy Anniversary, you wacky kids! Here’s to many, many more.

  5. 5.

    Tokyokie

    The spousal unit and I marked 20 years of her not slashing my throat in my sleep Sunday. So we’re like twins!

  6. 6.

    hovercraft

    Great picture, you look a little young to be tying the knot. Happy anniversary

  7. 7.

    Big Ole Hound

    Good for you guys. We had our 50th a while back and the second 20 years does by so fast…just enjoy as the best part is coming up.

  8. 8.

    TheDr

    Happy anniversary Betty! My wife and I (a longtime lurker) tied the knot 8 years ago today. Best day of my life other than the birth of our two daughters. Enjoy!

  21. 21.

    Florida Frog

    Congratulations and may you have many more happy years together. That picture is adorable. You have a mischievous twinkle in your eye.

  23. 23.

    john fremont

    Lurker, but I have to come out of the woodwork and say Happy Anniversary!

  24. 24.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    He’s good looking Bette, you got ya self a catch.

  28. 28.

    Immanentize

    So very beautiful and sweet like the best of life
    My wife and I were married on the first day of Spring, 1998, in a small chapel on the grounds of my University. The President was the priest We married to have a child together and that amazing thing happened in April of 2001. Then everything. Changed?

  29. 29.

    satby

    Super cute picture! Happy Anniversary Betty and hubby Cracker!

    And to all the rest of you stalwarts who stayed married and achieved your own anniversaries. Well done, all of you.

  30. 30.

    moops

    well, we have that in common. The same wedding anniversary. I picked the date as a mnemonic device: Married on the last day of May, the year is the reverse of the day digits. May 31 2013.

    I need to use this device every year. Thankfully so does my wife.

  32. 32.

    Juju

    Judging from your plates, it looks like you had a pretty decent spread. It’s a lovely picture. Happy anniversary.

  34. 34.

    Immanentize

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: my immigrant grandfather and his immigrant brother married immigrant sisters who were 16 and 15 at the time of the wedding. There are many more sad and wonderful tales about this, but there you are.

  35. 35.

    Cacti

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    One of my dad’s cousins married at 16, his wife was 14 at the time. They were Ozark hillbillies.

    One set of my great-grands got married in 1910 at ages 18 and 16. They stayed hitched for 70 years until he died at age 88.

  37. 37.

    ThresherK

    Congratulations!

    I have never wondered what your appearance is like, if only because your nym, sharp-toungued political and social writing, photos of Florida, and tales created a visage that can barely be contained by a mere human form.

  42. 42.

    JMG

    Thanks for sharing the photograph and happy anniversary. On July 22, it’ll be Alice and my 35th. We got married in NYC at St. Patrick’s in the big room. Her dad was a wheel in NY state Republican politics.

  46. 46.

    Eljai

    What a lovely photo! The number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May of 1997 was “MMMBop” by Hanson. I just thought you’d want to know.

  47. 47.

    Patricia Kayden

    You look beautiful, Betty. You look just like a younger version of Secretary Clinton to me. Congrats on being married for 20 years to both of you.

  51. 51.

    Gator90

    So that was you I saw stumbling out of the Purple Porpoise with those questionable companions back in ’89…

  52. 52.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    Anyone else expecting a leak soon? Time seems about ripe for another revelation. Surely some revelation is at hand?

  53. 53.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Tokyokie:

    Happy anniversary to the Tokyokies and the Crackers (also to Raven and his bride, who marked 18 years just yesterday, I think, or maybe Monday).

    I was also a May bride — 53 years ago last week — but the marriage didn’t last, so I merely remember quietly to myself :-)

  54. 54.

    Amaranthine RBG

    That’s a lovely picture.

    The candid wedding photos are always better than the “posed” ones.

  55. 55.

    MazeDancer

    Congratulations, Betty! Look how beautiful you two are.

    And many felicitations to all those posting their own anniversaries. Love is good. Nice to know there is some out there in the world.

  62. 62.

    jl

    Lady Cracker is so sweet and beautiful. No wonder all the creatures great and small, cute and cuddly, and ugly gross, emerge from the swamp to seek her blessing.

    Edit: actually, I don’t know that she is all that sweet. Maybe kind of cranky from evidence at this here blog. But, it sounds better that way.

  63. 63.

    JPL

    hmmm Betty, we might need you to post again this evening. Sorry the celebrations will have to wait

    The Trump administration is moving toward handing back to Russia two diplomatic compounds, near New York City and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, from which its officials were ejected in late December as punishment for Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
    Then-President Barack Obama said Dec. 29 that the compounds were being “used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes,” and gave Russia 24 hours to vacate them. Separately, Obama expelled from the United States what he said were 35 Russian “intelligence operatives.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-moves-to-return-russian-compounds-in-maryland-and-new-york/2017/05/31/3c4778d2-4616-11e7-98cd-af64b4fe2dfc_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.ad3022b6c2f8

    Graham and McCain will feign shock, and then move along.

  64. 64.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    Ha ha.

    Jerry DeLemus, a prominent right-wing activist who co-chaired the New Hampshire Veterans for Trump coalition, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison for his role in the 2014 Bundy standoff in Nevada.

  65. 65.

    marcopolo

    Great photo! Happy Anniversary & may there be many many more. My grandparents married at 19 & 17 and managed to get in a 75th before all was said and done. Me, not so much but then I’d have to get married first :).

  69. 69.

    sharl

    Happy Anniversary!
    And like so many others have already said, that is a nice photo of you two!

  70. 70.

    Jeffro

    Congrats Betty!

    This November…assuming we make it through this week’s ahem “disagreements”..,will be me and Mrs Fro’s 20th as well.

    I give it 60:40 odds…

  76. 76.

    seaboogie

    Grrrlllll – you cute – and your hubby too! You are one of my elevator people – if I got stuck in one with you (and I have been in that sitch, with a super-cool old woman), I’d tell the Otis repairmen to take a break and just send down some food and adult beverages. Love your zesty writing, and thanks for sharing your pic – Happy Anniversary!

  77. 77.

    Steeplejack

    Happy anniversary, Betty!

    Fine-looking pair of Crackro-Americans in that picture.

  81. 81.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Since it’s an open thread, I want to share something I noticed over at Charlie Pierce’s place but haven’t seen mentioned here (not that I’ve read through all the threads yet).

    It seems Joe and Mika have been named Fellows at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government*, per an article in The Hill (link).

    That would be weird enough, of course, but here is the entirety of the announcement in The Hill:

    MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have been named fellows at the Harvard Institute of Politics, according to a Wednesday tweet by a Boston Globe reporter.

    The recently engaged couple has been a staple of the network’s morning programming via their political discussion show “Morning Joe,” which will celebrate its 10th anniversary this summer.

    The news comes just days after the death of Brzezinski’s father, Zbigniew Brzezinski, on Friday. He was 89.

    Zbigniew Brzezinski served in the Carter White House as national security adviser. Years earlier, in 1950, the Polish-born Brzezinski received a doctorate in government at Harvard. He would later go on to teach in Harvard’s government department until 1959 before taking a job at Columbia University.
    Before going to MSNBC, Scarborough served as a Republican congressman representing the 1st District of Florida from 1995 to 2001.

    Mika Brzezinski began her broadcast news career at ABC News in 1990.

    –This report was updated at 11:29 a.m.

    The piece says nothing about Joe’n’Mika’s qualifications. It devotes many more words to Mika’s father’s obituary than it does in total to why they were selected for this honour. Not a word about Joe’s Congressional career. The fact that they are engaged and that Zbig died last week seem to carry more weight than any reason as to why either of them is equipped for the job.

    Oh.

    Okay.

    *(CPP identifies the position at being at the Kennedy School of Government; The Hill says Harvard Institute of Politics. I have no idea whether these are the same, totally different, or somehow related to each other, and I don’t feel like poking around the cybers to find out.)

  85. 85.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Congratulations!! The journey through life is good with a trusted companion alongside you, eyeing your dinner plate. ;)

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    One of my dad’s cousins married at 16, his wife was 14 at the time. They were Ozark hillbillies.

    Apparently, most states still have no absolute legal minimum age for marriage. Minors require parental and/or judicial approval to marry, but if they can get their parents and/or a judge to sign off on it, they can get married when they’re 12 or younger. FTNYT recently had an article on it.

  89. 89.

    geg6

    Oh, have a wonderful anniversary! Those two young Crackers look adorable.

    Dinner, then the Pens game. Exhausting day, spent taking both pups to the vet. Turned into about a two hour ordeal. But they had every test and scheduled vaccines and we got some anti-anxiety meds for Lovey to take on the road trip to Bradenton, so it’s all good. In fact, it seems neither is as fat as I thought they were.

  91. 91.

    jl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: But no one has the eerie radioactive Simi Valley glow of BillinGlendaleCA. Sorry you felt slighted by my praise of Lady Cracker’s beauty. Don’t go be jealous now.

  93. 93.

    Anne Laurie

    Happy anniversary, Betty, and may the two of you share many more happy years!

    (Maybe by the 25th anniversary of my wedding next August, I’ll have dug up some pics… )

  98. 98.

    schrodingers_cat

    OMG you look so sweet, appearances are deceptive! That’s story with me and husband kitteh too, he is skinnier though he eats more. Sad..

    ETA: Happy Anniversary! You look like HRC Jr, you should run for President.

  100. 100.

    ruemara

    Congratulations! And many, many more happy years together. And cake, lots of cake.

  101. 101.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl: I generally have avoided Slimi Valley, we used to only go there for the drive-in(until TO got one) and Kmart(until TO got one). We always tended to look down on our northeastern neighbors, kind of reminded us of Fresno(or Fresno reminded us of Simi Valley).

  104. 104.

    seaboogie

    @SiubhanDuinne: Maybe think of it as the Harvard equivalent to Kindergarden “Graduation” ceremonies. I guess we silly humans need a reason to place meaning and have a ceremony where none really belongs just to have something to do. Did Harvard honor Zbig when he was alive? (Too lazy to google to challenge this comment right now…)

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: from vague memory, the Kennedy School of Gov’t seems to give those positions to a lot of media people. Pretty sure O’reilly had one, maybe tweety

  107. 107.

    jl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Well, you were under the influence of Simi Valley How about radioactive Simi Hills glow? that OK. BTW, .the feeling of contempt seems to be mutual. I hear vague insults on both side of the hills toward those low class plebs on the other.

    Now, off with you, lad. I’ll be admiring Lady Cracker a bit more, then I have to do some errands.

  108. 108.

    HinTN

    @ a href="#comment-6405551″>ThresherK:


    a visage that can barely be contained by a mere human form.

    This!

    Also, coming up on 23 in August.

    Congratulations all around!

  110. 110.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl: I never saw the hills glow, but I did feel the rumble and shaking when they’d test out the Saturn V rocket engines.

    No, there is no truth to those insults from our northwest neighbors, ALL LIES!

  111. 111.

    mai naem mobile

    Congrats Betty. Nice pic. You basically look like what I kind of expected you to look like.

  118. 118.

    trollhattan

    Congratulations! May you have twenty more and another twenty after that. And boxers and chickens. Also, too.

  119. 119.

    Olivia

    Happy Anniversary! Wishing you many more happy years. Thanks so much for being here, you keep me sane!

  120. 120.

    ingrediorum

    Gee Ms Cracker, you sure know how to make a man look good in a tuxedo… Congratulations!

  123. 123.

    tobie

    Congratulations Betty and Mister B on your 20th anniversary! Celebrate the good times had and the good times to come.

  124. 124.

    Calouste

    @Это курам на смех: Coincidentally, it’s 50 years ago tomorrow that Sgt. Pepper’s was released.

    But I don’t think the Lonely Hearts Club Band was getting a lot of wedding gigs. Unless they played under a different name.

  125. 125.

    low-tech cyclist

    Congrats, Betty! And congrats to your mister too!

    My wife and I celebrated #26 (the playing-with-half-a-deck) anniversary a couple weeks back. This marriage business is a sweet thing indeed, if you’re going through life with someone wonderful.

  126. 126.

    Another Scott

    Happy anniversary Betty, and everyone! (Ours is in December.)

    I always pictured you as a brunette, probably due to your “it’s a casserole, silly” profile picture. ;-) Pictures of happy people are always welcome, and that’s a great one.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  128. 128.

    Rosalita

    Happy anniversary to you! Wishing you many more ❤️

    Happy also too to have a face to go with the pen name, you’re just as I pictured you.

  132. 132.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    Lovely, lovely photo – and such a darling couple! Congratulations! I remember our 20th – I said to my husband, I think we’re really married now. And now it’s been 52 years – so *really*married. It does just get better and better from now on.

  135. 135.

    mainmata

    Pretty damn nice looking woman you are and, fortunately for your hubby and the rest of us also a great wit and analyst. Yours truly, a fan

  136. 136.

    Ocotillo

    Wow, congratulations. I really enjoy your writing. Best wishes and love to you and the Mr.

  137. 137.

    John Weiss

    Congratulations for picking well. It took me four times to get it right, but any time is the right time to get sumptin’ right. R and I are celebrating our 34th this year. Indeed, life can be sweet with the right companion. Good on both of you, good fortune and a clear horizon to you all.

    jw

  138. 138.

    mainmata

    @SiubhanDuinne: Harvard has a disgusting habit of hiring Republican “safe” Establishment people for the Kennedy School. Of course, their Business School is famous for graduating some of the most Randian, corrupt business executives round.

  139. 139.

    StringOnAStick

    Congratulations! On your marriage and on your cartoons because how you’ve drawn yourself (the tree frog post especially) is exactly what you look like here; both are things to be proud of.

  140. 140.

    Manyakitty

    Mazel tov to you and the mister! Wishing for many more happy years together!

  142. 142.

    dexwood

    Love the picture. Thanks for sharing. Congratulations. Coming up on 42 years for us this summer.

  144. 144.

    Betsy

    What a darling picture. Congratulations and felicitations! And many, many happy returns of the day.

  145. 145.

    Gravenstone

    Best wishes on your anniversary, Betty. Unfortunately, my memories of the date are much darker. Take pleasures in your life where you find them.

  147. 147.

    Peter H Desmond

    that picture is wonderful. best wishes for scores more of anniversaries!

  148. 148.

    Betsy

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: @Cacti: @Immanentize: My gggg-grandparents were not married particularly young, but were first cousins. And one of their grandsons married a woman, had children with her, then after he was widowed married her sister and produced a second set of offspring with her. She also raised her sister’s kids and they called her “Aunt Mother.”

  149. 149.

    Tehanu

    Happy anniversary to my favorite Saltine-American! Gosh, you look pretty. And I bet you still do. Congrats!

  151. 151.

    SFBayAreaGal

    Happy Anniversary to the both of you. I hope the both of you have many more.

  153. 153.

    Lyrebird

    Late to the party again, but couldn’t miss a chance to wish the two of you twenty and twenty and however many more happy and healthy years together! Thanks for sharing your writing gift with us!

  154. 154.

    Mnemosyne

    Anyone up for a discussion of our favorite wedding photos (from our own weddings)?

    My favorite is of my matron of honor (aka my BFF of 15+ years at that point), me, and my groom (G) standing on a dais during the MOH’s toast. She has her hand to her forehead as she describes one of our college road trips, I’m laughing so hard that I’m almost falling over backwards, and G has a look like, Oh, crap, what have I gotten myself into?

  155. 155.

    stinger

    Congratulations to Ms. and Mr. Cracker and the whole Cracker family! Great pic and great story!

  156. 156.

    Olivia

    @Mnemosyne: My favorite photo of my wedding is the one with my grandpa in it. I don’t think I have another one of him before he was gone 10 months later. I have his diary and in the entry for that day he just wrote that it was my wedding that day and he danced danced all night. He was the smartest man I ever knew and he had to quit school in the 5th grade to work on the farm with his elderly father. He is the one I would choose to be stranded with on a deserted island because he could survive anything.

  158. 158.

    Elizabelle

    Happy Anniversary, Betty! You and the Mr. are an attractive couple. And life seems to have worked out well for you two.

    Yeah, you do have a little bit of the young Hillary look, also young Molly Ivins. 3 formidable women. And you’ve got the NFLTG persona down (you beat HRC to it, in person, but she’s there now).

  159. 159.

    Amir Khalid

    Somehow, I’d already figured out you wore glasses. ;) You look so sweet in that wedding photo, and the mister looks a handsome fellow.

    Why do people say that glasses make a woman less attractive? As far as I have ever noticed, they don’t.

  160. 160.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Congratulations on the milestone. Hang in there, aim high. My wife and I just celebrated #53 together.

    P.S. you look just like my beloved Aunt Madeleine, so that is more evidence you are a good person.

  161. 161.

    Wyatt Derp

    Happy anniversary Mr. and Mrs. C. Thanks for all you do.

    PS It’s cute you think he’s checking out your “food”.

  162. 162.

    LAllen

    Me and my spouse have been together for 44 years, she asked me out first cause my grandmother told her that I didn’t get to go places much. I think you were cute.

  163. 163.

    SWMBO

    Belated congratulations! OldDave and I are at 39 last February. Many many more to you and Mr. Cracker!

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