Althouse

"... just after Fetterman inserted Rudd into a tweet mocking Republican state lawmaker Doug Mastriano for issuing an official letter requesting an audit of the 2020 presidential election. 'In light of recent bizarre, unhinged requests on official letterhead from Pennsylvania electeds, my office formally requested Paul Rudd to re-enact scenes from "I Love You, Man" with me,' wrote Fetterman, who used his own office’s letterhead to issue the request. (While his campaign operations have grown significantly this year, the post that prompted their relationship came at a time when Fetterman, a bona fide Rudd Head, was personally writing all of his tweets.)"

From "THE JOHN FETTERMAN, PAUL RUDD BROMANCE YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT IS HERE/The duo will reenact scenes from I love You, Man at a Wednesday fundraiser for the Senate nominee’s campaign, finally turning the candidate’s year-old wish into a reality. 'Never in a million years did I imagine that it would actually end up happening,' Fetterman tells Vanity Fair" (Vanity Fair).

It's a fundraiser now, but was it, implicitly, part of fundraising at the time the letterhead was used, a time  Vanity Fair calls "last summer"*? The tweeting and letter-writing happened in July 2021. Still, Fetterman was a candidate back then too. He'd announced in February 2021.

The idea of using stars to read an old movie script as a fundraiser originated in 2020 — a year before Fetterman's letter — when the Democratic Party of Wisconsin got the cast of "The Princess Bride" to do a virtual table read of the script. This got a lot of press and was roundly praised as delightful and innovative, and, remembering that, you see Fetterman's idea as less weird and wacky and more clearly about fundraising.

I don't think it was the right place to use official letterhead, especially when you want to be critical of other people's misuse of letterhead.

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* When people say things like "the things we did last summer" and it's October, don't you think they mean the most recent summer?

 1. In Japan, they don't say "See? I told you!"

2. Stop saying "This photograph looks like a Renaissance painting."

3. In what world would he eat 20 tortillas?

4. She made a pact with herself to have higher standards.

5. When your partner makes a bid for your attention.

6. Do you want to go to a haunted house?

7. Do you want... a what?

8. Here, take this harmonica.

9. Hey, a tambourine man.

10. And, here, just in case you need a dancer to interpret "Like a Rolling Stone."

11. The heterosexual man who wants a husband... why?

"... and shocked an older generation still listening to Frank Sinatra and Big Band music. Laboe is also credited with coining the 'oldies, but goodies' phrase.... His radio shows gave the families of incarcerated loved ones, in particular, a platform to speak to their relatives by dedicating songs and sending heartfelt messages and updates.... He often told a story about a woman who came by the studio so her toddler could tell her father, who was serving time for a violent crime, 'Daddy, I love you.' 'It was the first time he had heard his baby's voice,' Laboe said. 'And this tough, hard-nosed guy burst into tears.' Anthony Macias, a University of California, Riverside ethnic studies professor, said the music Laboe played went with the dedications enhancing the messages. For example, songs like Little Anthony & the Imperials' 'I'm on the Outside (Looking In)'... spoke of perseverance and desire to be accepted...."

From "Pioneering DJ Art Laboe, who coined 'oldies but goodies,' dies at 97" (NPR).

1. Being King is bollocks.

2. What's ironic about Jesus Christ becoming a carpenter.

3. In 1944, the NYT had to explain what pizza is. 

4. The chords the cat sings — so crazy!

5. Highlights of things working out for Daniel and David.

6. It's so hard to plug things in when you're not looking at the outlet, isn't it?

7. So, did anyone want to buy the Skin by Kim accessories?

8. The grandmother's diaries begin in 1931: Start here. Continue here.

9. Kanye West explains his "White Lives Matter" shirt.

10. Why is the judgmental chef asked to view a litter box?

11. That artwork of yours that you put on the wall and no one says a word about — what does it mean?

1. Not at all lonely, singing about loneliness.

2. Paul McCartney, busking.

3. You don't have to sing in your "Happy Birthday" voice.

4. Every particle of feminism evaporated.

5. A coat of doll heads.

6. The notion that a "non-hottie" cannot write from the point of view of a beautiful woman.

1. Painting invisibility.

2. What the hell is the internet?

3. One by one, he's eliminating the least popular state and merging it with a neighboring state.

4. One by one, they're replacing family photos with photos of Danny DeVito until Mom notices.

5. The man deserves a medal for all the years he's patiently listened to his wife tell stories like this.

6. Chef Reactions judges the French grandfather's making of lunch.

7. "Have you ever wondered what items in your place just give men 'ick'?"

8. "We're going to go look at wedding dresses."

9. My favorite music-and-the-child video of all time.

10. Finally, the dolls.

1. The painted face.

2. Elizabeth Taylor on "What's My Line?"

3. The child is perhaps outraged not to be asked to join in.

4. When you, an audiobook user, order a used David Sedaris book so you'll have something for him to sign, and the book that's sent is one that David Sedaris has already signed.

5. The videos David Wain doesn't remember making but obviously did make, in the middle of a sleeping-pill-induced night's sleep.

6. It's Moby's birthday, and he's playing "Happy Birthday" in 5 genres.

7. Copying runway fashion with materials you find around the house.