No, I am not joking about either half of that title.
Today, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) announced that National Seersucker Day has been formally reinstated. A bipartisan Capitol Hill tradition, Members of the House of Representatives typically wear Seersucker on Wednesdays and Senators wear it on Thursdays.
The tradition started in 1996 by Trent Lott, and continued until 2012. That year ninnyhammers in the Senate decided that it was, astoundingly, bad PR to have Hill staffers and legislators be doing anything except engage in hyper-partisan Stab Time. Dana Milbank at the time got it right:
I agree that seersucker is not weighty. When I wear my seersucker suit and powdered white bucks (only between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and typically with a bow tie), perfect strangers have at times greeted me as “Professor” or “Poindexter.”
But those who canceled Seersucker Thursday have got it exactly backward: Our leaders can’t agree on important things because they’re missing this kind of social lubricant. “Some say you don’t want to make it look like the Senate’s being jovial with all these serious things going on,” Lott told me. “My view is you can’t get serious things done because you don’t have events where you can enjoy each other’s company.”
Continue reading National Seersucker Day comes back to Congress, thank God.