Behold, the handsomest man in New Hampshire! No, greater — the Eastern US…the Western Hemisphere…never mind, I cannot imagine a more gorgeous human being on the planet. It’s the flowing locks, the noble brow, the shell-like ears, that nose — so graceful, so aristocratic — and those full lips. The chin so strong, and the swan-like neck. I include a large image of the man, in case you want to print it out, frame it, and hang it by your bedside, so you can blow New Hampshire Representative Steve Vaillancourt a kiss as you slip off to sleep.
Alas, he has to be trading on his glorious good looks to get elected, because lurking behind that proud forehead is the brain of a sewer toad. He has weighed in on another race in his state, between Republican Marilinda Garcia and Democrat Annie Kuster.
In New Hampshire’s second congressional district, if I may be so bold as to speak the truth, Republican Marilinda Garcia is one of the mot attractive women on the political scene anywhere, not so attractive as to be intimindating, but truly attractive.
How attractive is Marilinda Garcia? You know how opposition ad makers usually go out of their way to find a photo of the opponent not looking his or her best. Well…Democrats and Annie Kuster supporters can’t seem to find a photo of Marilinda Garcia looking bad at all.
As for Annie….oh as for Annie…and before I continue, I offer that caution, caution, caution, gain.
Let’s be honest. Does anyone not believe that Congressman Annie Kuster is as ugly as sin? And I hope I haven’t offended sin.
If looks really matter and if this race is at all close, give a decided edge to Marilinda Garcia.
I don’t think Ms Garcia is going to appreciate this kind of support — to not only judge her by her appearance rather than her political contributions, but even there, to describe her as not so attractive as to be intimindating
…well. Perhaps it offsets the insult to realize that it comes from the terrifyingly attractive Steve Vaillancourt, but still, it does take the shine off the compliment.
You may already be appalled, but let’s add transphobia to his cluster of unattractive traits.
How ugly is Annie Kuster? Again avert your eyes if you don’t want to hear it, but I actually thought of Annie Kuster last weekend when I was in Montreal. Not far from the Second Cup Coffee Shop I at which I was sipping and writing is a bar called Mados. It’s on the section of St. Catherine Street which is blocked off for pedestrians only in the summer; it’s near the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Thus, tens of thousands of Montrealers and visitors walk by Mados on their way to the fireworks displays on summer nights.
On almost any given night, standing for all to see in front of Mados is a rather attractive drag queen. People stop to pose for pictures with this Mado drag queen; other drag queens gather round because, you see, Mados is a drag queen bar…not that there’s anything wrong with that. Long live Victor Victoria; long live La Cage Aux Folles.
By now you probably know why I think of Annie Kuster whenever I walk by Mados; sad to say, but the drag queens are more atrractive than Annie Kuster….not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I’ve promised myself for years not to use this anecdote, but after seeing the story about the seven to ten point boost for the attractive, the story has political relevance.
Annie Kuster looks more like a drag queen than most men in drag.
There’s another Republican doing his best to court the women’s vote! May they all be as repulsively creepy as Steve Vaillancourt.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, PZ, but when I saw that picture my first thought was, “Is George Romero making a new movie?”
Those looks and a winning personality to boot.
He’s not attractive! Where are his bright blue throat sacs ?
Oh look! You can leave a comment and tell him what you think!
I wonder how long it takes before Marilinda Garcia defects to the less creepy party.
Dang, back in the very late middle ages, when I was in college, only one word describes this pathetic specimen: OINK. Thanks idjit for causing more women to vote Democratic with every word you say. You want to help your party? SHUT THE FUCK UP….
Republicans all over the country are right now reprimanding Vaillancourt for his outrageous comments.
They are, aren’t they?
He repeatedly said,
A sure sign that you’re saying something offensive, and you know it
grumpyoldfart@6: probably the homophobic wing of the GOP would be annoyed. The Second Cup is pretty much at the center of the village; Priape is a block away in one direction, Apollon a block the other way, Cabaret Mado a few blocks away. Ste-Catherine there is a pedestrian way, with pink balloons strung along the way.
Isn’t he risking his political career with this? No, I don’t mean his comments about Annie Kuster’s appearance. I’m sure there will be a bunch of his supporters who will think anyone who criticises this is just some humourless lefty. I mean his admission he was in Montreal. You know, that place full of French speaking people, who modern American patriots are supposed to hate. The fact that they’re Quebecois, and not citizens of France, likely won’t matter to the “We hate the cheese eaters!” crowd. Then there’s the assumption that anyone north of the Canada-US border is likely to be a dangerous pinko. Even the mere act of being in a foreign country that isn’t on the acceptable list, which probably consists of the UK, and maybe Germany on a generous day, could be dangerous.
Anie Kuster looks normal and healthy to me
Out of cheese error
So, Priebus, how’s that GOPig rebranding thing coming?
Explaining my comment:
Priape is a sex toy store chain. Some GOP homophobe got caught expensing sex toys from the Toronto store once.
Apollon is a bath house with huge posters of very hunky men on the facade.
Cabaret Mado hosts drag and burlesque. An institution.
The pink balloons are placed there by the city (or by the merchants’ association, same difference). Pedestrianizing the area is credited with a decent increase in sales.
There’s some griping that the village is being overrun by straight people, general gentrification, and mercantilization, now that gay culture is accepted.
He also says this:
Yes, he knows he’s being offensive, and in addition he passes it off as talking Truth™, and dismissing any objections you might have as, you know, sensitivity and stuff.
A.k.a. “allow me to say obnoxious things without any kind of accountability please…”
timgueguen wrote:
Not to mention his mention of a Second Cup coffee shop. I mean, that place is surely too haute for a good folksy Republican like him. We might even find out he orders lattes!
Well, I have to admit, he does say something which everyone could unequivocally agree on:
hmmm, ORLY? And Vaillancourt is never asked, “Why (?) were you there?”, “So, you admire drag queens, say no more …” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. <nudge nudge wink wink>
I find his anecdote quite questionable.
I suddenly realized I hadn’t contributed to Annie Kuster’s campaign recently. Thanks to Act Blue, I have rectified that oversight. Here’s a link: Act Blue: Annie Kuster
timgueguen #9
Just call me JRF “Dangereux” Deux.
Better go fry me up some poutine, aka Liberty Curds, eh. I can’t go out today, I can’t find my red communist touque!
Now, don’t get me wrong, and I’m sorry in advance if this offends Steve Vaillancourt, (which absolves me of stating something I’d normally only state in a drunken stream of consciousness), but I could have sworn he was the last warchief I branded in Shadow of Mordor. I don’t mean he resembles an Uruk, I mean he has about the same class and sensibilities of an Uruk. But I’m not even sure they would be able to stomach him. Oh but how I wish they would.
Reminds me of the douchenozzles that cruise by with their windows down and music blaring…in a car more bondo* than metal and nary a spot of decent paint on the body. I mean, if you want to attract attention, at least… I dunno, spiff up a bit?
If I may offer some unsolicited, shallow advice:
1) Hair plugs. You’re thinning up there, bubba.
2) Color, color, color. Make it look less like a faded rug in a trailer and more like a nice chocolate berber carpet in a McMansion.
3) Collagen injection around the eyes. You know, to smooth out the wrinkles and make your sunken eyes look less like a zombie’s.
4) Chin-tuck. What are you, a Mitch McConnell poseur?
5) Knock off the cream/sugar in your coffee and the sodas. Shop only around the perimeter of the grocery store. And hit the gym, for dog’s sake.
6) Try to get in front of the sun for more than a few minutes per day. You know, for vitamin D. Also, the pale, pasty look is out, brother.
7) Burn your wardrobe.† I mean it. White shirts and epilepsy-inducing, two-color ties scream, “I shake hands like a dead, damp salmon.” Try shopping somewhere where people know the meaning of the word COLOR. If you can’t figure it out, beg some of your friends to introduce you to people who know fashion.
So, how do you like being treated like a gross piece of meat? Not that there’s anything wrong with being one. You know, “watch out PC police” (makes police car noises). Sheesh…sensitive!
* This describes my personal conveyance, because all I care about is that it has 4 wheels and a seat. :P
† For the record, my go-to style is “Flood Victim”.
</sarcasm>
Fat, bald Steve Buscemi made of melted candle wax is right. That one woman is better looking than the other, and is ergo a finer candidate.
throwaway:
I could have sworn he was the last warchief I branded in Shadow of Mordor
Holy crap, I was thinking exactly the same thing!!!! Didn’t I just put an arrow through that guy?
Not to be a wet blanket (I totally am, I know), but I thought we weren’t picking on people’s appearances, around here.
Nick Gotts @3:
Now if the Repugs would use actual frogs instead of humans like this one, they’d have candidates who were better looking, smarter, and would probably have better policies.
As some wag on Eschaton put it, he looks like an angry blobfish. Of course that may be insulting the blobfish.
timgueguen @9:
Not only that, but he failed to speak dismissively or disdainfully enough of drag queens.
His base is okay with him admitting a strong personal attraction to French-Canadian drag queens? One so powerful as to turn him into a rambling idiot when discussing his dislike for red-blooded American women?
Damn, New England Republicans are more liberal than I thought. That or they’re blinded by his own good looks.
I know another politician who was criticized by the opposition for being ugly. He also delivered the Gettysburg Address.
badgersdaughter
No wet blanket at all. A voice of moderation that is truly needed. I’m not keen on the appearance mockery directly. While I do think that someone may open themselves up for a retaliatory mockery of their appearance, the core of the insult is still just as wicked and unfair as whatever the opening happened to be.
He’s from northern New England and has a French surname. It’s fairly likely his family/ancestry is Québécois.
badgersdaughter (@#24), you are a wonderful human being.
Please move to New Hampshire; they apparently need more of them there.
It’s fairly likely his family/ancestry is Québécois.
Making the frog comments (unintentionally) funnier. :)
Garcia is behind in the polls. She’s *seriously* anti-choice, too.
If he were a Real Québécois™,
he’d have a waaaay different attitude toward ‘what people should look like’.
(based on 50+ years of watching Radio Canada)
;)
Making the frog comments (unintentionally) funnier. :)
Oh – just in case anyone might take this as sharing their prejudice, I’m a frog myself.
badgersdaughter @24:
You’re not a wet blanket. I wasn’t comfortable with the appearance talk either. I’m glad you spoke up.
With Ted Cruz endorsing Garcia, that alone would be enough for me to vote against her.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2014/09/08/sen-ted-cruz-confident-about-chances-new-hampshire-congressional-hopeful/ (Warning: The video there plays automatically.)
Nerd :)
Société Radio-Canada includes television.
@31, 33
It’s fairly likely his family/ancestry is Québécois.
Yup yup, NH has one of the highest amounts of ethnic French in the country. You hear a lot of French around the state. I had a neighbor in Manchester who would do yard work at insanely early hours and constantly be swearing in French.
I met Anne Kuster at a fundraiser and she was genuinely one of the nicest, most sincere people. Fuck Villaincourt. NH has had an all-woman federal delegation since 2012, and things are only going to get worse for douches like him as more and more idiots are replaced with great women like Kuster.
Villaincourt
so
how does he pronounce that?
va’-yon-cooorrrr’
or va-lin-kort
?
badgersdaughter @24
I agree completely – I do think the point is that it’s OK to judge female politicians by their “looks”, but we don’t dare bring that up with male politicians.
In related news…
I’ve always felt that my commenting on someone else’s appearance somehow includes an invitation for others to comment on my appearance.
Thank goodness we don’t need feminism anymore.
He’s right.
Looks sell, whether toothpaste, movies or ideas, especially female looks.
But this is not acceptable, we have to grow out of it, and this imbecile is not helping.
Well, he is openly gay. Favors gay marriage. And tends to call his tea-bag voter id favoring republican opponents “Nazis”. So he’s more liberal than *I* would have assumed from these appalling statements.
He responded to the reaction. He claims he was criticizing the notion that looks give an edge by pointing out that Kustner is ahead in the polls.
@42 Chigau:
If I had to guess? vee- ahnn- couhr
@49 woozy:
I’ll take disingenuous revisionism for $200, Alex.
went to vallincourt’s website to see the article.
noticed:
“There are no comments for this journal entry.”
popular guy.
This makes me worry (more) for the UK (and of course Germany). What have we done to be on the list (actually, no – no need to ask or answer that – the list of things we’ve done to merit a place on the list would be kilometres long), and what can we do to get off it???
Also, Badgersdaughter – yes. I’m glad you said that.
But the candidate would probably croak before election day!
“actual frogs instead of humans”
Methinks he has a bit of gorgonopsid DNA. That would also account for his early Permian worldview.
Even when trying to compliment Garcia, he’s still an insulting sexist asshole.
Jesus H. Christ people, you guys are in deep trouble with people like this making your laws…
SC @ 37
Great! All I can hear now is Robert Charlebois’ The Frog Song.
I hope his political career dies. But it won’t.
For those wondering how his named is pronounced (I do not know how he pronounces it), the appearance of two ‘l’s together in French is not the equivalent of the Spanish digraph /ll/ (nor indeed that digraph in any of the few other languages using the alphabet.) However, the appearance of the two ‘l’s bounded by those vowels, diminishes it significantly, toward inaudibility.
It is pronounced near enough to how it is spelled in English. Were you to attempt a Quebecois (or otherwise French) pronunciation, Chigau has the right of it, near enough. I’ve confirmed this with my French colleague (who having looked also at some of the text surrounding that name is as appalled by him as the rest of us).
In IPA: veɪɔŋkur (or veɪɔŋkuR) (This is becoming more common in Quebec)
or
(said as it appears in English) Vie-on-cour
Also, the name of the bar is Mado. I do not know what Vaillancourt insists upon spelling it with an ‘s’.
Thanks, folks. I know Vaillancourt, that shithead, subjected himself to “live by the sword, die by the sword” of taunts about appearance, but I thought we put down that particular sword because we were above wielding it. Why not, instead, simply take advantage of the fact that he gives us more than plenty rope to hang himself with?
The talk in this thread (and I’m pointing my finger at His Unholiness Architeuthis Maximus the First up there, too) is just… unbecoming. You’d all attack someone, and rightly so, saying crappy things about other people’s gender identity, but you wouldn’t do it by saying, “That limp-wristed pansy probably doesn’t know what to do with what’s in his own panties”. For example.
I’d like to be nice and everything and laugh with you all, but this is something at which the mouse must roar. So, there, I’ve made my point; see you in fairer fights. :)
@Thomathy 59: It’s a form of incorrect pluralization, or possession, that is common in some regions. It seems particularly common in store names– Kroger’s instead of Kroger, etc. I actually had this so bad that I literally did not notice that our local grocery chain was called Meijer and not Meijers until someone pointed it out to me. (When I was, like, 16.) This guy’s put an interesting twist on the phenomenon by doing this with a bar’s name.
I was born in raised in New Hampshire and have seen lots of examples of this sort of bizarrely self-unaware behavior – when you combine the fact that N.H. has what is for all intents and purposes a volunteer state legislature with an inexplicable 400+ people serving a population of about 1.4 million, you get some flagrantly fuckheaded characters. Bad behavior is nothing new for Vaillancourt:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/15/steve-vaillancourt-new-hampshire-lawmaker-voter-id_n_1518432.html