You get that same beseiged fraternal feeling in a Republican campaign office. There is none of that M*A*S*H ensemble-cast witticizing one-upsmanship you get in the typical Democratic office full of young liberal arts grads. Nobody wears T-shirts that mean something, and nobody looks like an extra from the Czech set of XXX. As I would later find out, most Republicans hate "cool," particularly the older women ("They all think they're so cool and artistic," griped one woman as she watched Fox coverage of Democratic delegates arriving in Boston). Many of the parent-volunteers I met are especially bitter because they think that cool is what liberals use to lure their children away from their early convictions. Which they might very well be right about, of course.

Matt Taibbi, Spanking the Donkey (226)

Of course, I exaggerate [about the aesthetic trends of the 1970s]. At the time, everything seemed normal. Sure, things were a little...brown, a tad more orange than they'd been before. Yes, we knew our clothes were ridiculous when we wore them, but we all knew this wouldn't last. We'd all be nuked into a big long smear of red jam or dumped into a dystopian Soylent Green world, eating pressed wafers made of grandparents and kelp. Crank up the Foghat and get out the ZigZags, boys; let's live it up while we can. The '70s ended in 1977 with the Sex Pistols and New Wave; when college kids started wearing skinny ties and thrift-store Rat Pack jackets, they shot the '70s dead. The corpse remained standing and chatting for a few more years, but the battle was won. If you think the '70s were dumber than the '80s, either you weren't there or you weren't paying attention.

James Lileks, Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s (10)

My favorite thing to buy is underwear. I think buying underwear is the most personal thing you can do, and if you could watch a person buying underwear you would really get to know them. I mean, I would rather watch somebody buy their underwear than read a book they wrote. I think the strangest people are the ones who send someone else to buy their underwear for them. I also wonder about people who don't buy underwear. I can understand not wearing it, but not buying it?

Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (229)