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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Open Thread: Sen. Fetterman Stands Out

Late Night Open Thread: Sen. Fetterman Stands Out

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It’s not as though the man has much choice in the matter; he’s been bigger than most for long enough to have grown comfortable in his fashion choices…



Everybody’s got an opinion…

… The intrigue: It’s unclear whether the Senate dress code is actually an official, written policy. It appears to be more of an informal custom, enforced by the Sergeant at Arms.

– No senior staff contacted by Axios on Friday could find a written record of the rules — an omission that also has puzzled some on social media.

Between the lines: Five years ago, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) petitioned her colleagues to make some changes in the dress code, according to New York Times reporter Jennifer Steinhauer’s book “The Firsts: the Inside Story of the Women Reshaping Congress.”

– After some grumbling by males, the standards for women’s attire were relaxed. Afterward, women on the Senate floor were allowed to show their arms. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), a triathlete, often goes sleeveless…

Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    More like “Get behind Biden’s policies or you’ll suffer under Trump’s policies” because that is the reality for us.

  2. 2.

    opiejeanne

    Have any of these people yapping about Fetterman ever mentioned Gym Jordan’s appearance sans tie and jacket?

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    Could not care less what Fetterman (or anyone else for that matter) chooses to wear or not wear. Picayune caviling.

  4. 4.

    Quaker in a Basement

    Wealthy, Yale-educated George W. Bush wears cowboy hats and “clears brush” on his “ranch” and pundits froth about his authenticity. Fetterman wears a hoodie and the same pundits puzzle over what point he’s trying to make.

    Pretty easy to see where the problem is.

  5. 5.

    Danielx

    So Fetterman, who got elected by acting and dressing precisely as he does, is supposed to abide by some unwritten rule? A rule imposed by the senate gerontocracy? Bearing in mind that numerous senators manage to make themselves look like complete dipshit fools while wearing some seriously expensive threads…see Tuberville T., Johnson R., Graham L. (shudder). These fucking people…

  6. 6.

    Doc Sardonic

    Man could run into the Senate chamber in a loin cloth with a bone necklace, as long as he uses Ted Cruz or Rand Paul’s head as a bung starter I could care fucking less.

    +lots of whiskey

  9. 9.

    SpaceUnit

    As someone who lives in cargo shorts and hoodies I have mixed feelings.

     

    ETA:  Decorum is a thing.

  13. 13.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Joey Maloney:

    That works, too. Also. Ubetcha. ;)

    (gotta have the Palin wink to make it complete!)

    @Baud:

    Chaps count, right? A bit breezy from behind but no swamp ass, that’s for sure. Call it cowboy formal.

  15. 15.

    TS

    I used to wonder about women wearing gym shoes to work (while in the high heels & stockings) and then I retired and started wearing gym shoes (and hoodies) everywhere – why on earth I didn’t wear them to work is now the major thought – conformity is such rubbish – it took my daughter to explain it to me.

  16. 16.

    Another Scott

    1) I ass-u-me that 99% of their time is not on the Senate floor. I recall C-Span clips of senators walking in, walking by the desk to yell their vote, and walking out. In committee hearings, they’re sitting behind giant panels and only their heads and shoulders are usually visible.

    2) I’m reminded of dress codes at the Vatican, so tourists who bake in the sun before being let inside have the choice of being able to get in or suffering heat stroke.

    3) I’m sure we all remember the picture of Rand Paul in a jacket and tie, and shorts and sandals, waiting for some TV interview that would show him from the waist up.

    4) Ties are (finally!) on their way out almost everywhere in many – even conservative – professional settings.

    5) It’s long past time to stop judging people based on outward appearances.

    Good for Fetterman and others pushing for change.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    Rusty

    I’ve ridden the proper clothing wave from a suit and tie every day to work, to my current workplace where the joke is the only time you will ever wear a suit is the day you interviewed.   I’m now a wedding,  funeral, and add graduation suit wearer.   But wearing a suit at graduations has changed, and I look like a dinosaur in the May heat.  My mother-in-law still insists on giving me a tie every Christmas,  but this is more a passive -agressive act on her part than any fashion statement.

  20. 20.

    matt

    to be fair to Republicans like Amash, dressing up is pretty much the peak amount of work they do in the day. They’re pretty upset someone doesn’t have to put in the same work.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    If I ran the Democratic Party of Florida, I would buy every available ad in every college football game broadcast in the state and run that clip of DeSantis criticizing Fetterman’s wardrobe.

    Has Ron seen us? The people he allegedly represents? 

    We’re the most casually dressed motherfuckers in the country! Fetterman looks like he’s going to the opera in Tampa — it’s a little chilly in the Straz Center, so you might need the hoodie!

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: I am now a Ron DeSantis birther. No way that priggish fop is a native Floridian. The Dunedin Little League photos are fake! I demand to see the long form birth certificate!

  25. 25.

    mrmoshpotato

    Really?  DeathSantis de Puddin’ Fingers is chiming in on this?

    Get a spoon, and shut the fuck up!

    And bring hundreds of thousands of COVID-dead Floridians back to life!

  29. 29.

    hueyplong

    @mrmoshpotato: I guess it would be cruelly rude for me to ask to see the list first.  My view on vaccine policy is evolving into one of “compromise” with the far right.

  30. 30.

    The Oracle of Solace

    Dress codes are the work of the Devil, especially if one lives in hot and/or humid zones. Where I work there are, quite sensibly, no particular dress codes, so people get very casual. I, on the other hand, will wear a nice blouse & blazer, or a simple dress, and even though I have no particular fashion sense apart from a sort of corporate goth, I get complemented on my fits. Any sort of praise gives me a dopamine hit, so I keep doing it.

  31. 31.

    Anne Laurie

    @Nukular Biskits: Ties are of the Devil.

    The Color Me Beautiful inventor broke the ‘tie’ code, back in the 1980s, when even businesswomen were encouraged to wear them (‘pussycat bows’ in twilled silk).  She pointed out that Chinese mandarins wore special collars, as did priests, and that upper-rank military tended to have special neckware, too.

    Wearing a tie (collar) means you’re a good dog, that you’re owned.  Yeah, they’re an expensive fussy pain, but IMO it’s the psychic insult that *really* burns…

  32. 32.

    Princess

    What people in middle America really care about is well-dressed senators.

    ”Nixon” is right. Fetterman reaches an audience and a demographic that a) should be with us b) we have more trouble with than we should and c) won’t care how he dresses.
    Also: love the dunk on Silver. What happened to that guy?

  34. 34.

    Gvg

    I would like senators to dress better by their own choice because I look at our national government as having an international reputation to maintain.  I do mean while on the floor and being public representatives though. I also think it should be more on them and not a code because I have seen how codes get used as petty bullying and not just by parties either. Every type including individual jerks and worse.
    work and school dress codes can be pretty silly if too detailed but also can be necessary because some people have no common sense. Educators have to add in wisdom to ignore even that when a family has no money or is indifferent and a child has no power to obey.

    I had jobs I could dress like a slob. They paid terrible and were dead ends. Getting ones with dress codes was after college and involved working in air conditioning with health insurance and pension plans. So I don’t really associate dress codes with the devil like many do. I am a woman and never wore a tie, but they always seemed like a stupid hated fashion. I don’t recommend high heels. They also need to die out. Like smoking, the bad health effect does not show for years or decades and isn’t the same for all, but it’s bad for feet.

    So this is a mixed feeling on Fetterman being held up as an example because of the way he dresses. He votes well though. That seems more important.

  35. 35.

    New Deal democrat

    @Baud: Silver himself probably doesn’t get the dunk by Joshua Smithey. He would probably reply, in all earnest, “I wasn’t wrong. I *told* you there was a 43% chance Fetterman might win!” Which is 1 of the 2 big problems with his model. The other being that he never figured out that once he stopped being a bug on the wall, operatives would try to “game” his system (see, “Red Wave, 2022”).

    Also, he completely failed to get the idea of leading vs. lagging indicators, both in economics and epidemiology. And doesn’t understand that he doesn’t get it.

  36. 36.

    Michael Bersin

    Thirty-eight years ago it was ties, sometimes a jacket with elbow patches, button down shirts, pressed slacks, loafers. Now I present in front of my classes in solid color polos (and in a hoodie in colder seasons), jeans, and comfortable running shoes. Sometimes I wear the shoes that are decorated in a multi-color swirl – still comfortable.

    If the institution wants to dictate how I dress, then they can also provide me the clothing budget that allows me to meet their requirements. Otherwise, I’m going with comfort and creative individuality.

    Being an old fart who has been tenured for over twenty years allows one to ignore the irrelevant and concentrate on what is truly important.

    Concert dress is another matter. Have tuxedo, white dinner jacket, and tails, will travel. Though I do have to check if they still fit…

  39. 39.

    Suzanne

    FWIW, I think Fetterman should wear exactly what he wants. I also like many of Kyrsten Sinema’s outfits. I’ve never been comfortable with the criticism of her clothes as proxy for her being “unserious”. Let people wear what they want and stop worrying about it.

  42. 42.

    Miss Bianca

    Not only are ties on the way out, it seems like nylon stockings are, too – at least in my neck of Redneckistan. The last time I went shopping for some nylons was to wear to a memorial service for a friend’s husband a couple years back – and I couldn’t find any! Anywhere! As one who has always loathed them and resented having to wear them back in my temping days in Chicago, I say…Yay? Yay-ish?

  45. 45.

    wjca

    @Baud: Dress codes are for people who dress.

    As in, wear a kilt?

    No doubt there will be inspections to assure that it isn’t being worn “highland” . . .

  46. 46.

    Jackie

    I would love to see our Democratic senators do a John Fetterman Day and all dress in hoodies and shorts – including Schumer 😁

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