HELLO, I’M BILLY AND SO IS MY BEER

Happy birthday, America.



[Via Newsweek Archivist]

I’m old enough to remember this. Billy Carter was basically America’s embarrassing kid brother who fulfilled almost every redneck stereotype that even people from the South believed about the South.

Naturally the media loved him, and while it wouldn’t be fair to say he singlehandedly defined the image of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, I do suspect he’s at least part of the reason why a lot of people don’t remember Carter’s term that fondly. Carter had his own problems, to be sure, but having a buffoonish brother probably didn’t help.

But hey, he’s yr brother, what can you do, right?

I sometimes wonder how someone like Billy Carter would fare in today’s political climate where the more of a buffoon you are, the more air time you get. At the very least he’d probably be a guest contributor on cable TV news channels. 

Anyway, here’s some more details on Billy Beer.

Redneck power,

This is dF