Which is the bigger crime: Wearing a hoodie or displaying Hunter Biden's schlong on the House floor?

Republicans- I'll taken John Fetterman in a hoodie for $500, Bob.

MTG- a little self-awareness would go a LONG way.

You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.

• H. L. Mencken

The shortest distance between two points is often unbearable.

• Charles Bukowski

Sen. John Fetterman (R-PA) is not your average, run-of-the-mill, buttoned-down Senator…and that’s a good thing. Far too many in the legislative branch’s upper chamber are too full of themselves and take themselves too seriously. In a world of thousand-dollar suits, Sen. Fetterman wears hoodies and shorts…and he’s still remarkably effective at his job.

So when Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) relaxed the Senate’s dress code to no longer require a suit and tie, Republicans had a collective cow, man. You’d have thought Sen. Schumer had just OK’d boinking underage girls in the well of the Senate.

All Sen. Schumer did was change the packaging requirement, not how the Senate does business. Senators are still free to be self-important and take themselves WAY too seriously; they no longer have to wear a suit and tie while doing it.

Republicans are upset about a new dress code policy from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that will allow senators to wear whatever they choose on the Senate floor.

The new policy is set to go into effect this week, according to Axios, and will no longer require members to wear coats or business attire in the upper chamber, an informal rule that is enforced by the Senate Sergeant at Arms.

“Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor. I will continue to wear a suit,” Schumer said in a statement.

The policy will allow Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who often wears a hoodie or a short-sleeve shirt along with shorts around the Capitol, to enter the Senate chamber and vote in the well alongside other senators. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who suffered a stroke in 2022, casts his votes by ducking his head through the Senate doors.

The new rules will not apply to staff or outside visitors, however.

It’s not that Sen. Fetterman can’t or refuses to wear a suit and tie. He’s done it before; it’s just not how he feels most comfortable. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with making Senators comfortable.

Republicans, of course, didn’t see things that way at all.

Sure, Republicans hate John Fetterman, just as they hate any Democrat in the Senate, and any accommodation made to a Democratic Senator might as well be considered on par with a concession to the Devil himself.

Not that Sen. Fetterman didn’t see the humor in it; he’s even poked fun at his Republican colleagues to move things forward:

#sarcasm done right

Of course, you had to know that Republicans are, when all is said and done, going to be dicks about it.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said “of course” the policy was changed to accommodate Fetterman, adding that he is being “completely disrespectful” by not wearing a suit on the Senate floor.

“I don’t like wearing a suit more than anybody else but it’s respect for the position that we need to hold high,” Mullin said during an interview on Fox News.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said she was “horrified” by the change.

“I think people who dress like slobs tend to think they can act like slobs,” Lummis told HuffPost.

I think people who dress like Republicans tend to believe they can act like Republicans. I’m not altogether certain that’s a good thing, knowhutimean? So perhaps Republicans might want to ensure their house is in order before lecturing Sen. Fetterman on the finer points of sartorial splendor.

Sen. Fetterman must be doing something Right. The New York Times named the Senator one of 2022’s most stylish people. That means, depending on which side of the ideological spectrum you call home, that standards have fallen precipitously…or we’re not nearly as uptight and conservative as we used to be. I tend toward hoodies myself (a sartorial choice that drives my wife around the proverbial bend). I’d never expect to be called “stylish” for wearing a hoodie, jeans, and running shoes- my uniform du jour when autumn rolls around.

In many ways, John Fetterman is a hero figure to me and many others. Not only is he a badass, but he’s been very open with his struggles. As someone diagnosed with ADD and dealing with many of the issues he faces daily, I know how difficult it can be as a private citizen. I can't begin to fathom dealing with it in the public eye, yet there he is, doing it with humor, grace, tremendous dignity, and compassion daily.

Sen. John Fetterman is a f*****g badass.

I occasionally find myself on the verge of tears when I listen to him talk about his struggles and the accommodations he has to make to operate at 33 1/3 RPM in a 78 RPM world. I know how challenging things are for me sometimes; I can’t imagine how Sen. Fetterman does it day after day in the Senate.

Republicans have chosen to focus on how Sen. Fetterman dresses when there are so many more positive things the Senator brings to work daily- compassion, perspective, intelligence, and a sense that it’s not about him. It’s not about the suits and ties or any of the “uniforms” that those on the Right waste their time obsessing over. Sen. Fetterman serves as a reminder that the Senate could do so much more for America if only they chose to do so.

Because Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) worries about important shit

Instead of using their platforms to make America a better place for all of us, Republican Senators have chosen to focus on the trees at the expense of the forest. Whether Sen. Fetterman wears a hoodie, suit, tie, or a mankini isn’t an issue. It doesn’t make any difference regarding what the Senate does to make America a better place.

Then again, Republicans aren’t particularly interested in making America better. Nor are they interested in governing. They’re interested in RULING, which means they don’t give a damn about doing the job they were elected to do. Democracy to them is merely an inconvenient speed bump on their road to making the GOP the permanent ruling party and eliminating one-person, one-vote democracy.

And then they can ensure that John Fetterman never wears a hoodie and shorts again- because he’ll be wearing handcuffs and leg shackles.

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