For my money, this is a little weirder than whatever Al Franken did:
Rep. Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican who is among the most conservative members of the House, said he would resign his seat after House officials learned that he had asked two female employees to bear his child as a surrogate.
While we’re at it…what’s the over/under on the total number of wetsuits that come up in the complaints against Republican Congressmen?
mike in dc
With or without dildos, Doug?
B.B.A.
All of them, Katie.
SiubhanDuinne
All of them, Katie. SATSQ.
ETA: Fist at B.B.A., shakes.
Shalimar
Why do I think Franks asked them to have sex with him to get pregnant with the surrogate child?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I doubt this is all there is to the Franks story
dmsilev
I’m sure right now there are some right-wingers saying “he didn’t ask them to get abortions, so it’s all good”.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “Actually, I’m Leonard Lake. That guy you took in who committed suicide all those years back was actually a body double.”
hellslittlestangel
I guess Franks wanted the women to think sex would be as much of a chore for him as for them?
Doug!
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): s
Terrible but funny
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I’m not going to go with all of them. I’m going to go with all of them who obsess about sex. The economic terrorists like Paul Ryan aren’t going to find themselves caught up in wetsuits, unless it involves digging up Ayn Rand or Ludwig von Mises to stuff them into one.
Mike in NC
Watching “Psych: The Movie” on USA Network. It was a cute show while it lasted. They’ve moved the locale from Santa Barbara to San Francisco. Wife says it’s corny but sweet.
dr. bloor
I can’t imagine a greater honor in life than bearing the child of Trey Gowdy’s older, uglier, and dumber brother.
mike in dc
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
I would peg people like Paul Ryan for financial shenanigans, most likely. There’s a big payday for him, someday, somehow, related to dismantling the safety net and handing the keys to the treasury to the donor class.
Humdog
As an ardent abortion prohibitor, he should have been looking into adoption, not surrogacy. How creepy! “Would you pick up my dry cleaning and allow me to borrow your uterus for a year or so? I have only recently been made aware this made them uncomfortable?” Gah!
Amir Khalid
I have never understood the adulation for Paul Anka’s songwriting.
If Mr and Mrs Franks were looking for a surrogate mother, wouldn’t the normal course of action be a chat with Mrs Franks’ obstetrician? A doctor in that field would have known which organisations could help, and might even assist them in getting in touch.
ginger
Who took my eye bleach? I thought I successfully put the wetsuits out of my mind.
Next thing you know Doug is going to bring up skull-fucking kittens again.
dr. bloor
@Amir Khalid: C’mon. What says true love and dedication to a marriage like walking in the door with an infant and telling your wife, “Look what Inge, my twenty-two year old aid from Sweden, and I made for you?”
Gin & Tonic
I don’t understand the snark and disrespect toward wetsuits. It’s a personal preference, on the latex spectrum, and I don’t think we should judge.
AliceBlue
Thanks for that ghastly earworm.
Duane
@Shalimar: He’s not interested in having a child. “Would you have my baby” is a pick up line older than Franks. He thought he was being cute, or funny. Sorry, asshole.
Ridnik Chrome
Doug: I’m old enough to remember when that god-awful Paul Anka song was a top forty hit. If “1984” ever happens in real life, that song, along with “Sometimes When We Touch” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, played on an endless loop, is what will be waiting for me in Room 101.
Aleta
Because he wanted them to pretend they were sisters having a pillow fight in their hotel room when rodeo cowboy Frank Trentman accidentally walks in?
(Just a guess)
B.B.A.
@Gin & Tonic: People are entitled to their sexual proclivities…
I’ve referenced this a couple of times here. It’s a useful counterargument to pretty much anything: “what about crocodiles?”
Millard Filmore
@Duane:
“Can I wear a condom while we give this baby making thing a shot?”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ridnik Chrome: cromulent to the season: (Simply Having) A Wonderful Christmas Time
hueyplong
@mike in dc: “I would peg people like Paul Ryan…”
I wouldn’t.
Your comment was related to the wetsuits thing, right?
Mai.naem.mobile
Trent Frank’s has been around AZ politics for a long time. He’s like the local total RW nutjob going on about abortion,gay rights, evolution etc. Ugh. Glad he’s going to be gone but ua guessing he will end up on the Wingnut Welfare Circuit.
Kay
He took a helicopter to go horseback riding. They’re like some crazy monarchy, the Trump Administration. It’s not just wasteful spending- it’s decadent. It’s like they all took those jobs and said “let’s get as much free stuff as we can grab!”
Duane
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Worse Christmas song in history. Even the greats have an off day.
Miss Bianca
@Ridnik Chrome: “Let’s Get Physical” on that loop or GET OUT!
Kay
I think I’m fairly shameless but Zinke would not be able to make me say he took the helicopter to familiarize himself with the in-flight capabilities. I would have to refuse that order. Forget my boss- it’s too embarrassing for me.
Emma
@Ridnik Chrome: you terrorist. How dare you remind me of that dreck?
danielx
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Really glad I had dinner before reading that.
trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
This is not extant on this planet.
His accidental coup was penning the instrumental theme for Carson’s Tonight Show, which harvested him royalties for an astonishing thirty years.
danielx
@Ridnik Chrome:
I see that and raise by Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Oak Tree.
trollhattan
@Kay:
Speaking of Zinke, mad, yuge props for Patagonia saying what they really feel.
If “corporations are people” this one deserves a place at the table.
hueyplong
@danielx:
Watching Scotty Grow
[mic drop]
?BillinGlendaleCA
@danielx: I actually saw Tony Orlando and Dawn sing that at the 1973 Boy Scout Jamboree.
John Revolta
@Ridnik Chrome: Don’t let’s forget “Afternoon Delight”!
Damn song totally put me off having sex in the daytime.
Well, briefly.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s bad, but it ain’t nothin’ compared to “Admiral Halsey”. It’s like four or five awful songs in one!
Doug!
@Ridnik Chrome:
Total Eclipse Of The Heart is a good song.
Lapassionara
@Kay: This. I was thinking about the French Revolution just now driving in the car, and how, if there is an analogy there, we have managed to get rid of Danton and Marat, but somehow have failed to deal with the King.
John Revolta
@hueyplong: Watching Scotty Grow
I’ll see that and raise you “Honey”
frosty
@Emma:
No shit! We’re at the mercy of Earworm Jihadis.
Kay
I think what people are missing about Moore is he can’t survive an ethics inquiry in the senate- NOT for child molesting- but for repeatedly lying. They won’t be able to prove he molested those girls but Moore wasn’t satisfied with giving vague answers – he took it further. He repeatedly lied about knowing them. They will be able to get him on that and that’s enough.
He knows them. They’ll be able to produce evidence that he knows them. It isn’t a criminal trial. They don’t have to convict him of child molesting. They just have to prove he lied to cover it up.
There are lots and lots of child molesters, but the thing is when they’re caught they don’t deny encountering the child. They instead deny the substance of the charges- they say they didn’t molest. They don’t deny encountering or knowing the child because that’s the ONE part of child molesting that involves witnesses.
He should start praying Jones wins. This gets much worse for him when the campaign is over.
hueyplong
@John Revolta: No one can claim a worse pair than Mr Goldsboro.
Miss Bianca
@John Revolta: Aw, I actually like “Admiral Halsey”. But then, I also like “I’m ‘Enery the Eighth, I Am”, so it’s quite possible my taste is suspect.
@Kay: Oh, you mad, impetuous optimist. You really think Moore would be in trouble? I sure don’t.
sharl
Erick Erick Erick Erick son of Erick knows what’s up, and he thinks y’all are making too much of this:
I’m left a bit flummoxed by this, but fortunately the Federalist Pitchbot seems to understand:
A lot of mutual inspiration and sparking of ideas on twitter regarding this Trent Frank news. Whoever writes the eventual Federalist piece only needs to copy-&-paste, and they’ll have their article.
Repatriated
@Doug!: Redeemed by its Literal Video Version.
Steeplejack
@Gin & Tonic:
“Latex Spectrum”: maybe not a band name, but early, edgy album title at least.
B.B.A.
@Kay: Knowing the Republicans, they won’t even bother scheduling an ethics committee hearing.
Knowing Moore, he’ll do something flagrantly unconstitutional his first day in office.
And knowing the Republicans, they won’t even bother investigating him for that, either.
Quinerly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I actually saw Tony Orlando sing that song without Dawn in 1995 in Branson. I’m embarrassed that I have admitted it to you. Please don’t tell anyone.
Yarrow
@Amir Khalid: The obstetrician would refer them to a Reproductive Endocrinologist. That doctor and/or the fertility clinic would then discuss options with them. Finding a surrogate is not necessarily a simple matter. There really aren’t a lot of organisations to help.The clinic may have a list. People have been known to ask around to find someone.
@Humdog: According to Franks’ statement, he and his wife had several adoptions fall through.
@sharl: Can’t believe I’m agreeing with Erick son of Erick, but I do agree with him that I don’t think Franks resigned because he asked women about surrogacy. There’s more there.
Ridnik Chrome
@Doug!: The line “Turn around, bright eyes” always makes me think of this.
John Revolta
@Miss Bianca: ” ‘Enery the Eighth” is a bit of allright. I likes a bit o’music hall now & again.
Prefer the Stanley Holloway version though.
AliceBlue
@John Revolta:
How about “Cat’s In the Cradle”?
Ridnik Chrome
@AliceBlue: A decent song that got ruined for all eternity (for me, anyway) by excessive radio play.
Luthe
@John Revolta: “Brandy”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Luthe: ever since the Selma Bouvier cover, I have a perverse affection for that song
John Revolta
@AliceBlue: What Ridnik said.
Also “Taxi” too.
@Luthe: Oddly, I don’t hate that one all that much. I think it’s the guy’s voice that I like.
Omnes Omnibus
@Lapassionara: Who is our Danton? Who is our Marat?
Steeplejack
@Quinerly:
Forget you! The key political question is: was Poco there? This could affect Baud! 2020!
Omnes Omnibus
@Doug!: Literal version.
Mnemosyne
@Luthe:
Don’t rent Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. That song plays a pivotal role.
Steeplejack
@Luthe:
Okay, you’re DQ’d. “Brandy” is a perfectly cromulent pop ballad. Great vocal, great electric piano. Lyrics not excessively saccharine for the genre and its time. No way it should be lumped with that other dreck.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I generally hate sugary dreck. “Brandy” is a good song.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Srsly. Not the greatest song ever, but certainly respectable and able to hold its head up in polite society.
Boudica
Dreck Austin Roberts’ Rocky: https://youtu.be/lQm9u21dCvI
lowtechcyclist
@Steeplejack:
Great vocal?!
The vocals are fine on the chorus, but in the verses, he sounds like he’s singing through a mouthful of mush. I heard that song innumerable times during the 1980s and 90s (back before the days of Googling the lyrics) and all I could tell about the verses after the first one was that they were attempting to describe Brandy’s back story. But what her story was, who could tell?
But I’d still put “Brandy” in the category of “inoffensive, if not for being overplayed into the ground.” Not like, say, Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey” where one listen is already too many.
laura
@Ridnik Chrome: Afternoon Delight. Just sayin’