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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Official Portraits

Open Thread: Official Portraits

by TaMara|  April 9, 202110:52 am| 78 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, President Biden, Vice-President Harris

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Has no one posted these yet? They brightened my day yesterday:

Open Thread: Official Portraits

I think radiant is the best word for this portrait

Open Thread: Official Portraits 1

And joyful for this one.

Lots of duckteen news to share this weekend – adventures outside and growing like weeds still. Now if they’d just get feathers.

Open thread

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Reader Interactions

78Comments

  1. 1.

    raven

    April 9, 2021 at 10:55 am

    yo

  2. 2.

    frosty

    April 9, 2021 at 10:55 am

    Wow, a President and VP who smile and look happy!

    Odd thought: can we call Harris Veep or did Julia Louis-Dreyfus warp that title forever?

    ETA: Dammit Raven I thought I was going to beat you! Julia’s name took too long to type.

  3. 3.

    Mike in NC

    April 9, 2021 at 11:00 am

    Nice! Happily, I never had to enter a government building while Putin’s Puppet and Mike Dense were dismantling the executive branch, so I never had to see the bloated Orange Clown’s ugly grimace. Retired from the Navy in 2010, so my certificate of appreciation bears President Obama’s facsimile signature.

  4. 4.

    Old School

    April 9, 2021 at 11:00 am

    Good. I need to go the DMV this year. It’s nice to know I’ll get to see Biden’s picture smiling at me.

  5. 5.

    MisterForkbeard

    April 9, 2021 at 11:07 am

    These are great. Joe looks like he’s happy and wants to be there, and Kamala in particular is just lovely – that’s how a competent, professional woman looks. I still can’t believe we have a black woman as elected VP. So much progress there.

  6. 6.

    VeniceRiley

    April 9, 2021 at 11:11 am

    I can see the goodness.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    April 9, 2021 at 11:12 am

    @Mike in NC: Lucky you! I had to visit government buildings on two separate occasions during the shitgibbon error, so I couldn’t avoid seeing portraits of what appeared to be a sculpture formed of spoiled, Cheeto-dusted luncheon meat topped by urine-colored cotton candy.

  8. 8.

    Tata

    April 9, 2021 at 11:14 am

    Madame Vice President. Vice President Kamala Harris. Madame VP. I say these words over and over, because they make me sooooo happy.

  9. 9.

    p.a.

    April 9, 2021 at 11:15 am

    Pfizer #2, done!  ?for next 3 days.

  10. 10.

    Benw

    April 9, 2021 at 11:16 am

    @p.a.: Noice!

    Great pics of Joe n Kamala!

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    April 9, 2021 at 11:18 am

    Holy shit!  Please, please, please.

    President Biden will create a commission to study whether to expand the Supreme Court, a goal of progressive Democrats.

    Friday, April 9, 2021 11:08 AM EST

    President Biden on Friday will order a 180-day study of adding seats to the Supreme Court, making good on a campaign-year promise to establish a bipartisan commission to examine the potentially explosive subjects of expanding the court or setting term limits for justices, White House officials said.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    April 9, 2021 at 11:21 am

    Our president and VP are so attractive, human, and humane, and work for us.

    Do not even want to address the smirking corpse official photo of the previous occupant.

  13. 13.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2021 at 11:23 am

    @frosty: 
    The KHive call her MVP. I think it works.

  14. 14.

    p.a.

    April 9, 2021 at 11:24 am

    President Biden to form commission to bribe, cajole, beg, threaten Sens Manchin & Sinema to allow the majority of the American voters to have their elected officials accomplish what they were elected to do.

  15. 15.

    PsiFighter37

    April 9, 2021 at 11:26 am

    It will be nice seeing those in government offices and (eventually) customs / borders checks in airports instead of the former asshole.

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    April 9, 2021 at 11:27 am

    @MomSense:   MVP!  I love that.  Clever.

  17. 17.

    bbleh

    April 9, 2021 at 11:28 am

    And she has style, and he dresses well.  The contrast with Trump’s eighties-mob-boss look and the sometimes-tasteful-but-sometimes-embarrassingly-overdone Melania is welcome.

  18. 18.

    Leto

    April 9, 2021 at 11:28 am

    You mean you didn’t like looking at constipated scowl for the past four years as the official portrait?

    @Mike in NC:  I did and it sucked; my first retirement certificate has Obama’s signature (that’s the one I display). My second retirement (after I joined the Air National Guard) I told my leadership, in no uncertain terms, to not even bother having it printed because I’d shred it if they did.

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 9, 2021 at 11:29 am

    @MomSense: the LA Times has an article on the K-Hive that has (hold on to your wigs and keys) pissed off a lot of people on twitter, from the K-Hive to the Roses. A lot of the K-Hive also seems amused. I’m too dumb and too lazy to get around their paywall to read it for myself

  20. 20.

    Leto

    April 9, 2021 at 11:29 am

    @Elizabelle: this; radiance, joy, warmth are evident in those pictures. Such a striking contrast, and I’m glad we have it.

  21. 21.

    stinger

    April 9, 2021 at 11:30 am

    @Mike in NC: Good timing!

  22. 22.

    bbleh

    April 9, 2021 at 11:30 am

    @Elizabelle: Yeah, well, 36-member Blue Ribbon Commissions are where things go to die in DC.

    But the Biden people have surprised me before, so …

  23. 23.

    smith

    April 9, 2021 at 11:34 am

    Joe and Kamala’s smiles are their secret weapon. I can’t think of a single current R politician who has a warm, genuine smile.

  24. 24.

    Cameron

    April 9, 2021 at 11:36 am

    @Elizabelle: I’d also be happy with a retention vote in the House of Representatives every 10 years or so.

  25. 25.

    lollipopguild

    April 9, 2021 at 11:38 am

    @Leto: Pence always looked like an unhappy undertaker. Words cannot do justice to frump.

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    April 9, 2021 at 11:38 am

    @bbleh:   I think expanding the Supreme Court and term limits is an idea whose time has come.  It’s possible even the great John [Roger B. Taney] Roberts sees the benefit.  [Albeit, the reactionaries now see him as practically a leftist.  Welcome, John!]

    Cynicism is a cheap sentiment, in my book.  Watch.  Advocate.  Hold them accountable.

  27. 27.

    Cameron

    April 9, 2021 at 11:39 am

    @lollipopguild: Yeah, but he has the perfect look for an extra playing an SS officer in a WWII movie.

  28. 28.

    Elizabelle

    April 9, 2021 at 11:40 am

    @Cameron:   I dunno there.  How would RBG have done with young blue eyes Paul Ryan’s crowd?

    Have to go out, but bookmarked some articles on John Boehner’s new book excerpts to enjoy later.

  29. 29.

    BruceFromOhio

    April 9, 2021 at 11:41 am

    MVP Harris? I support this.
    MP Harris? Yes, yes, too early, but no robbing this fanboi of his dream candidate.

  30. 30.

    Chief Oshkosh

    April 9, 2021 at 11:43 am

    @Mike in NC: You are lucky. I had to see Twitler’s fucked up face several times in the last 4 years of visiting the VA…

  31. 31.

    PsiFighter37

    April 9, 2021 at 11:43 am

    @bbleh: I don’t think the suggestions of this commission are going anywhere. They aren’t even required to suggest anything.

    My hunch, though, is that some more modest suggestions are given, and Biden’s team pockets it and sees how the 2022 midterms turn out. If Dems hold the House and expand their majority beyond Sinema and Manchin, all bets are off in terms of what may happen.

  32. 32.

    Tony Jay

    April 9, 2021 at 11:44 am

    @lollipopguild:

    I once described Mike Pence as looking like a man who has just awakened from a coma to find a stranger cupping his testicles. My opinion has not changed.

    Tang the Indicted just looked like the bones of a prehistoric sloth stuffed haphazardly inside a well-dried whale penis, and I haven’t changed my mind about that either.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    April 9, 2021 at 11:45 am

    Good looking peeps. I would totally buy an NFT of those portraits.

  34. 34.

    Betty Cracker

    April 9, 2021 at 11:48 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: In my experience, they’re like any other Twitter subgroup: some are positive and constructive, while others are cultish bullies, and the latter group gets most of the traffic.

  35. 35.

    cain

    April 9, 2021 at 11:49 am

    y’all I might be fostering a puppy today – my two cats are gonna be pissed. Please pray for me.

  36. 36.

    Betty Cracker

    April 9, 2021 at 11:51 am

    @Tony Jay: LOL! Spot on with both descriptions! :)

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    April 9, 2021 at 11:51 am

    @Elizabelle: I know that Joe promised something like this during the campaign, but I am wondering about the timing of this.

    I see the timing as a shot over the bow to McConnell and other Republicans who want to obstruct everything.

    Joe plans to get things done, so the Rs had better follow or get out of the fucking way.

  38. 38.

    laura

    April 9, 2021 at 11:53 am

    Madame Vice President is a beautiful woman. She radiates confidence and competence.

  39. 39.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 9, 2021 at 11:56 am

    @lollipopguild: always looked like an unhappy undertaker.

    @Cameron: but he has the perfect look for an extra playing an SS officer in a WWII movie.

    I had to scroll up to confirm that his hadn’t turned into a Prince Philip Memorial Thread

  40. 40.

    Baud

    April 9, 2021 at 11:56 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Good. Even if nothing changes, it’s important that the GOP 6 be on notice that we’re watching.

  41. 41.

    rikyrah

    April 9, 2021 at 11:58 am

    I know that it’s real, but, sometimes, I just don’t believe that a Black woman is VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

    I am still coming around to accepting it.

  42. 42.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 9, 2021 at 11:58 am

    She’s infinitely better looking than her broomstick-up-the-ass predecessor, that’s for damn sure.

  43. 43.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 9, 2021 at 12:00 pm

    @cain: The reaction of the cats is unpredictable, but pissed has the highest odds.  As long as the puppy learns his/her place swiftly, I think things will work out.

  44. 44.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 9, 2021 at 12:02 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh: One of my caregivers at the VA walked me to the front door once passing the portrait of cadet bone-spurs, and joined me in covert face-making at it.

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2021 at 12:03 pm

    @smith:

    When hate, destruction and theft are your guiding lights and ignorance and hate are your main tools it’s likely to be rather difficult to actually hold the thought on how to actually smile, as there is no place in a life such as that for humor and appreciation of other humans. Especially in a world that is becoming more diverse, open and actually at least attempting to have some level of human equality, empathy, respect, and less greed, hate and actual ignorance.

  46. 46.

    Geminid

    April 9, 2021 at 12:05 pm

    @PsiFighter37: However this Commission turns out, I think the President and Democrats in Congress will try to push through legislation authorizing more federal District and Court of Appeals judges.

  47. 47.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    April 9, 2021 at 12:06 pm

    @Mike in NC: I was working for the Army till June of 2017 so I did get to see him. Fortunately the director’s wing with the portraits was not on my usual path to my cubicle. Unfortunately i did have to walk by it for the exit interview, and it was an unpleasant surprise.

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2021 at 12:06 pm

    @lollipopguild:

    Dense has always looked to me as a person who actually understood what he stands for, and doesn’t like it, but is too ignorant to understand that he can actually change that.

  49. 49.

    Cmorenc

    April 9, 2021 at 12:07 pm

    @bbleh: don’t be so hard on melania t sometimes dressing in an overdone fashion.  She has to live up to the standard expectations for a rich mans trophy wife so she doesnt get kicked off the gravy train.

  50. 50.

    rikyrah

    April 9, 2021 at 12:07 pm

    @p.a.:

    YEAH!!!

     

    But, not just the next three days..

    You’re on the 14 day antibody countdown :)

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    April 9, 2021 at 12:07 pm

    From the NYT article on the court commission:

    Activists who say a larger court would give Mr. Biden the chance to appoint a number of liberal justices may be disappointed by his commission. People familiar with its charge from the president said the group will avoid making any recommendations to Mr. Biden or lawmakers.

    Instead, the panel of scholars, lawyers, political scientists and former judges will produce a research paper designed to be an authoritative analysis of the issue. The goal, the people said, is not to settle on an answer, but to provide Mr. Biden, members of Congress and the public an evaluation of the risks and benefits of making changes to the court.

    Not sure why anyone would fixate on recommendations to Biden since the chances that the current congress would change the court’s configuration is somewhere between nil and none. But raising public awareness of how we got to this pass is a worthy goal all by itself, as is sending a message to Bony Carrot & Co. like Baud said at #40. I hope Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse gets to testify.

  52. 52.

    TaMara (HFG)

    April 9, 2021 at 12:07 pm

    @cain: My calico turns into Linda Blair in the exorcist with every new addition. Once they all learn she is queen, things go well.

    Once puppy learns cat rules, things will settle right down. Cats will accept nothing less. LOL

    Here is Bixby after realizing Emma was the boss

    ETA: How was he ever that tiny? Emma weighs all of 6 lbs. LOL

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 9, 2021 at 12:09 pm

    @Geminid: I agree, bottom-up judicial reform is way to address this question. Here’s an article from 1998 discussing Rehnquist’s testimony to the Senate about overworked judges, and I have some recollection of Roberts making the same complaint. Dems should push “Judicial Reform” as a back door to the issue. Everybody likes “reform”.

    The Right cares far more about the Supreme Court than the Left. This has been true for going on 30 years, and from what I could see, not even the Garland-Barrett debacle did much to change that. Talking about “expanding the Supreme Court” will just give R Senate candidates a rallying cry. And 2022 is the next most important election in our lifetimes.

  54. 54.

    zhena gogolia

    April 9, 2021 at 12:10 pm

    Thanks for this great post!

  55. 55.

    rp

    April 9, 2021 at 12:13 pm

    Having a commission openly studying the issue of expanding the court is a big f-ing deal. It’s gone from something dreamt about on liberal blogs and twitter to being officially on the table.

  56. 56.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2021 at 12:14 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    I recall that the shitgibbon’s picture didn’t display predominately at the VA facilities in the LA area. Either that or I subconsciously avoided where it was located, as I can not remember it being shown at all. Self preservation and a desire not to be thrown out of the building while the majority of my fellow vets cheered wildly.

  57. 57.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2021 at 12:18 pm

    @Cmorenc:

    Yeah, that is going to make me change my mind……

     

    But you likely knew that…..

  58. 58.

    Shakti

    April 9, 2021 at 12:19 pm

    Official portraits are official portraits. The main difference is that is their smiles are actual, real, genuine smiles we’ve seen on them IRL.

  59. 59.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2021 at 12:23 pm

    @TaMara (HFG):

    I used to know someone who had a great dane and a pug. I don’t think the dane was as much subservient as amused but they did get along just fine. It was weird to see the loudest of the two of them didn’t come up the the other’s kneecaps.

  60. 60.

    Starfish

    April 9, 2021 at 12:33 pm

    Are the ducks getting surly? Pouting because you won’t buy them smart phones? Asking to drive the car?

  61. 61.

    catclub

    April 9, 2021 at 12:46 pm

    Today, April 9th, is Appomattox Day – aka Traitor Surrender Day.

  62. 62.

    FelonyGovt

    April 9, 2021 at 12:49 pm

    What a great looking President and VP! And the “goodness” just shines. I had the misfortune of having to go into a Federal building once last year and had to look at the portrait of the malevolent clown…

  63. 63.

    catclub

    April 9, 2021 at 12:51 pm

    @Cmorenc: along with all the predictions of Trumps demise in 2016, another set of wrong predictions seen here is that Melania would file divorce papers Jan22. I am disappoint.

  64. 64.

    TaMara (HFG)

    April 9, 2021 at 12:54 pm

    @Starfish: Oh, you joke, but they are full of complaints every damn day. LOL

  65. 65.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 9, 2021 at 1:00 pm

    @catclub: symapethic and skeptical reports on The Beasts suggest they do not, in fact, hate each other, but one sympathetic bio did say flat out she stayed in NYC the first six months of his Occupation so that he would renegotiate their pre-nup. She knows his diet, his lifestyle, and I’m sure part of that renegotiation was a big payout if she sticks around long enough to be The Widow Trump. Which would have the added bonus of being able to give Ivanka a long, blue-steel, fuck-you-princess stare across the box

  66. 66.

    Tony Jay

    April 9, 2021 at 1:11 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    And don’t get me started on the Royal frigging Family!

  67. 67.

    catclub

    April 9, 2021 at 1:15 pm

    Alan Weisselberg’s Daughter in law… will be the only one who goes to jail for income tax evasion:

    She told the New Yorker in a report last month that when when employed for the Trump Organization, “only a small part of your salary is reported.”

    She has said that the couple had not reported the apartment as income.

  68. 68.

    mrmoshpotato

    April 9, 2021 at 1:21 pm

    @Tony Jay:  LMAO! It’s a damn shame both sentences are too long for rotating tags.

  69. 69.

    BC

    April 9, 2021 at 1:29 pm

    @cain:   I had a cat, then got a puppy several years later, and my male, neutered cat became a mother to the puppy.  Shared the box the puppy slept in, cleaned the puppy as his mother would have – just more thoroughly because he was a cat.  They were great friends for rest of cat’s life.

  70. 70.

    Another Scott

    April 9, 2021 at 1:38 pm

    Elon Musk is a walking PSYOP for a wealth tax https://t.co/0ueZvWd7kF

    — LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) April 9, 2021

    Yup.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  71. 71.

    kindness

    April 9, 2021 at 1:50 pm

    I can’t wait to see the ducklings interacting with the ducks.

  72. 72.

    soga98

    April 9, 2021 at 1:58 pm

    Just had Pfizer #1.

  73. 73.

    cwmoss

    April 9, 2021 at 2:12 pm

    @PsiFighter37: I think this commission on the S Ct is a warning to the R motherfuckers in congress and the reactionary racists already on the court, as well as to the squish Manchin and the lunatic Sinema: “Go ahead,  fuck around and find out.”

  74. 74.

    cwmoss

    April 9, 2021 at 2:14 pm

    @WaterGirl: hahaha, yes, I agree 100%!  You beat me to this remark by three hours!

  75. 75.

    WaterGirl

    April 9, 2021 at 2:21 pm

    @cwmoss:  Now we just have to hope that McConnell gets the message.

  76. 76.

    Yutsano

    April 9, 2021 at 3:00 pm

    @Another Scott: ​ Tweet was deleted. I am disappoint.

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    April 9, 2021 at 3:43 pm

    @Yutsano: I can still get to it. ??

  78. 78.

    Another Scott

    April 9, 2021 at 7:28 pm

    @Yutsano:  Maybe he didn’t want to give TehHill clicks? Dunno. The link to TehHill story still works.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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