Random Cabinetry

by hilzoy

I love this quote from Ezra:

"Word is that Congresswoman Hilda Solis is to be named Labor Secretary. I'd write a long post on this, and maybe I will later, but I think most of what I'd say is better expressed by the fact that Harold Meyerson just ran into my office doing everything but clicking his heels in the air."

I love this anecdote from Harold Meyerson even more:

"In 1996, when she was a back-bencher (and the first Latina) in the California State Senate, Hilda Solis did something that no other political figure I known of had done before, or has done since: She took money out of her own political account to fund a social justice campaign. Under California law, the state minimum wage is set by the gubernatorially-appointed Industrial Welfare Commission, and California’s governors for the preceding 14 years, Republicans George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson, hadn’t exactly appointed members inclined to raise that wage. So Solis dipped into her own campaign treasury and came up with the money to fund the signature-gatherers to put a minimum wage hike initiative on the California ballot. The signature gatherers gathered the signatures, the measure was placed on the ballot, it passed handily in the next election, and California’s low-wage janitors and gardeners and fry and taco cooks, and millions like them, got a significant raise."

Even if you don't like the minimum wage, you have to like a politician who's willing to spend money from her campaign account on a cause other than herself. I find that incredibly heartening.

The main reason for this post, though, is to give me an excuse to post this picture of Tom Vilsack dressed as the crocodile from Peter Pan:

He's dressed up this way for a literacy event hosted by his wife. I may not like his views on ethanol, but I do like anyone who is willing to look silly in a good cause. Far too few politicians are.

Comments

[Mike Schilling]

You must have a soft spot for Calvin Collidge.

[Fraud Guy]

I don't know if Vilsak looks really silly--that's kind of a cool costume.

[gsp]

You forgot about John Kerry in 2004 in that condom suit.

[Dave S.]

Wonkette stories about Vilsack show him dressed in a much-less-cool-looking Pooh outfit.

[hilzoy]

Dave S.: yeah, it's part of the same series. (I believe it was a different year's literacy event.) Click the link I gave for the photo, and you can find him in other costumes as well. But only Pooh and this are really silly.

[North]

Vilsack is authentically a good guy, even if far too conventional on food issues. I grew up in Des Moines and worked on his campaign for governor (as a volunteer) and it's no surprise at all to see him dressed up like that. My personal favorite anecdote: my sister's cross-country team saw him running in town and wrote him a letter inviting him to go running with them. Which he did. No press/fanfare/whatever, just came to run with the high school cross-country team.

[bedtimeforbonzo]

Great Coolidge photo, Mike.

[Neil the Ethical Werewolf]

I'm with Fraud guy. I only have limited experience with dressing up in an animal suit to amuse small children, but it's something I'd like to do more often.

[Eric Martin]

Just be sure to keep the furries out...;)

[Gary Farber]

"Just be sure to keep the furries out...;)"

I don't know what you've read, Eric, but furries are just people who a) like funny animal (anthropomorphic animal character) cartoons; and b) a small minority of them like to dress up in animal costumes at furry or similar conventions.

It's not clear to me if you actually know about furries, or have just read one of those not-uncommon idiotic articles about them that gets everything wrong (namely, claims they're all about having sex in costumes, which is just complete and utter nonsense). I'm at a loss to understand your comment if it isn't a case of the latter.

On the other hand, maybe you meant "cosplayers," which salso is hardly about sex.

Basically, almost all news articles -- let alone those few horrible tv programs that have portrayed fictional versions -- about science fiction conventions, animation fandom, cartoon fandom, comic book fandom, role-playing gamers, or any similar fandom of pop culture, tends to portray the sensational .1% of attendees as typical. It's like portraying all Democrats as 9/11 Truthers and members of A.N.S.W.E.R.

In other words, it's really annoying and wrong.

[Anarch]

Furry.

[allmaya]

A friend of mine is a professional clown. Part of her schtick is making balloon animals.

When she heard that W (then governor of Texas) was in her brother's restaurant, she rushed down in her clown costume. In the course of events, she made a balloon hat for him to wear.

He refused.