Piling on
Wednesday, Jan 26, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
Hey, Larry, if you think his photo is weird, wait until you hear about his tooth
Syverson is a Republican who says he’s so dedicated to the cause that seven years ago he got a tattoo of the GOP’s elephant logo on one of his upper molars.
Yep, a molar tattoo.
OK, feeling guilty for piling on (and the pangs hit quicker than I expected - I must be getting soft in my dotage). Really, he doesn’t look so bad in this photo.
UPDATE 2: OK, I can’t help myself. This is from a 1997 edition of the Rockford Register Star. Sorry, no link.
‘Tattooth’ fame earns dentist TV appearance
ROCKFORD — Dave Syverson’s upper molar — the one adorned with a “tattooth” of the Republican Party emblem — has become the talk of the town, the state capital and the nation.
A story about the state senator’s red, white and blue porcelain elephant appeared Sunday in the New York Times, and the Family Channel is flying the dentist who implanted the GOP-festooned crown to Los Angeles to appear Monday on the cable station’s “Home and Family” show.
“I’ve got the most famous tooth in the country,” Syverson joked Wednesday.
The conservative legislator’s trendy dental work also was a hit at the Boone and Winnebago county fairs.
“People were standing in line to see his tattooth,” said Gloria Franklin, Syverson’s legislative aide. “It’s been unbelievable.”
The tattooth isn’t easily visible: Syverson has to stick his finger in his mouth and pull his lip aside to display it.
Since the tattooth story broke last week, Syverson’s office has been flooded with telephone calls, including several from colleagues in Springfield who wanted to tease him after reading about his racy conduct in the newspaper.
The 40-year-old senator was a guest on radio station WMAQ in Chicago and has more big-city radio interviews scheduled for next week.
- Chris Rhodes - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 1:55 pm:
That’s the stuff…..I try to put up stuff over on our blog and the FCC comes down on me…I need more beating up on GOP’ers…
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 2:06 pm:
Don’t feel guilty.
Two words:
Alan Keyes.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 2:27 pm:
I always thought he was a freaking wierdo. This just confirms it.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 2:30 pm:
He’s not a freaking weirdo. He’s just different.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 2:31 pm:
Dave is the smartest man in the world…. just ask him!
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 2:35 pm:
I think he’s considerably more humble since the Keyes disaster. So, maybe some good did come out of that bizarre nightmare.
Did Alan Keyes really run for Senate in Illinois, or was it all just a horrible dream? Toto?
- Pat Collins - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 3:15 pm:
You know, the whole Keyes thing wasn’t such a bad idea, given the hand they had to play after Ryan left. Yes, it blew up horribly.
But what to do? I mean, what was JBT thinking when she undercut Ryan after the records were unsealed? Regardless of what Ryan did/didn’t tell her, she HAD to know her comments would be a kiss of death to his candidacy.
Had she sucked it up, and backed Ryan, at least BO would have had to stay home, campaign a little, and spend some bucks. Yeah, he would have won, but at least he might have had to break a sweat.
Without having a solid plan B in place (it’s not like she didn’t have time to prepare one) she really deserved what she got after Ryan left (and took his childish revenge by dragging out his filing of dropping out).
It’s amazing the debacle didn’t really affect the lower ticket.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 5:10 pm:
Pat, Jack Ryan was his own kiss of death. JBT was blatantly lied to, and I can’t really blame her for saying what she said. And if she had secretly plotted to find a replacement after word started leaking out about what was REALLY in those records, lots of people would have berated her for jumping the gun.
I think Keyes didn’t hurt the rest of the ticket because he was such a Martian. Nobody believed he was in any way like the Republicans from their everyday lives, so no connection was made.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 5:30 pm:
The flurry of new attention surrounding the “tattooth” has a Sneed-like aura to it.
To wit: This story about Syverson’s tooth was in Chicago magazine about six years ago.
- Pat Collins - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 7:39 pm:
> Ryan was his own kiss of death
You know, there were so many ways to have handled that and come out alive….
Even though it ought to have stayed sealed, to have gambled it all on it being sealed, and not having a plan when it didn’t is amazing.
And couldn’t he have said things like “divorce is painful, allegations were made, but not proven, and I don’t admit to them”.
Yes, it is indeed embarrassing. But one has to suspect that wanting to do your wife in public is kind of low on the kinky scale by California standards.
Is it more weird than Phil Gramm investing in a porno flick & being more interested in the books than the babes?
You don’t get that rich by being stupid. Nor by not knowing how to handle establishment types. But when it counted, those skills seemed to go away.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 26, 05 @ 9:32 pm:
Should have been sealed? Please. When are the wingnuts gonna give up on that mantra? Let’s review, what percentage of divorce records are sealed? Something like 0.2%, right? Why are court records not sealed to begin with? To preserve the public’s right to know what goes on in its government and its courts. Hiding behind a defense of “it should have been sealed” merely shows that the right-wingers aren’t at all concerned about the rights of the many, only the rights for themselves.
- Pat Collins - Thursday, Jan 27, 05 @ 8:26 am:
I guess I don’t know whay ANY divorce records are open. That a divorce has been granted of course should be public. But the details???
Open courts are to protect the rights of the accused.
And I note John Kerry’s divorce records are sealed.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jan 27, 05 @ 8:29 am:
Pat, Jack Ryan also invested in a softcore flick, so using Phil Gramm as a shield doesn’t help. Plus, he ran in Illinois, not California.
- BuckTurgidson - Thursday, Jan 27, 05 @ 10:00 am:
>And I note John Kerry’s divorce records are sealed.
Wrong.
According to the AP:
“The only portion of the records that are sealed involve the couple’s financial information, including salary, assets and debts, which are impounded in all divorce cases.”
- Pat Collins - Thursday, Jan 27, 05 @ 3:15 pm:
Hmm. I didn’t know that about Kerry.
But I had thought Gramm’s film was actually an X, done in the 70’s after deep throat hit it big. Upon further review that wasn’t right. The joke was the other partners just wanted to see the film made, Gramm was much more interested in the profit potential.
And Ryan’s film starred his ex. Maybe a pattern there?