President's Day 2013

Well it's President's Day, another "Birthington's Washday" as my grandfather would say in other words Washington's Birthday. I thought now would be time for an interesting post disclosing something I've noticed, perhaps a parallel in American political appearance. Is it just me or has anybody else noticed the similarities between Jimmy McMillan (A New York Politician) and Chester Arthur (US President from 1881-1885)?

McMillan is best known for his platform line "The Rent Is Too Damn High!" and that also happens to be the name of his party he founded.

Arthur was considered the sharpest dressed president to ever live. I imagine they would have been playing ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" song if it had been available on phonograph, (super early release version, by Time Travel Recording Studios) instead of "Hail To The Chief"

The thing I notice is McMillan seems to have taken influence from Arthur for his trademark facial hair. To add to that, McMillan is sharply dressed. If I had to say, his style is a modern rendition of Arthur, which is pretty cool. In any other situation I suppose they'd get ostracized for looking like characters out of a Lewis Carroll or Charles Dickens novel, that or escaped members of some obscure but one time experiment in bizarreness 1970's acid rock band project.

All I'm saying is when I saw McMillan on TV, it was a "Wait where have I seen that before? looks similar.." moment that had me do a quick perusal through the history books for reference to confirm my suspicion.

"Nobody can top my level of swag, they'll still be tryin' well over a century from now. I'm the real OG (Orginal Gansta) from 1883, and all the other Chet Arthurs are just immitating!" - Chester A. Arthur in an 1884 interview.
Well alright, not his actual words, but that's what one might imagine I suppose in looking at this portrait.

"The rent is too damn high!" Exclaims Jimmy McMillan in 2010. - Yes these are his actual words, he really said that.. really.