New Revelations Raise Questions About Justice Sotomayor’s Temperament
It seems that Sonia Sotomayor celebrated her official ascension to the Supreme Court with a little dance party at the Irish Channel Pub in Chinatown here in DC:
Now as Sommer Mathis notes, this is a terrible bar:
That Sotomayor went out dancing and sang karaoke in a local bar makes us supremely happy. We have high hopes that the justice will quickly become a visible fixture in our city. But Sonia, sweetheart, the Irish Channel? The last resort of visiting hockey fans and tourists staying at the Red Roof Inn who have no better ideas of where to go? DCist will admit to knocking a few pints back at the Irish Channel in emergency situations, but nearly every time we’ve been chased out by the unmistakable ambiance of lonely desperation (or a painfully bad cover band).
The Irish Channel Pub is, technically speaking, the closest bar to my apartment. Consequently, I not only have at times knocked a few pints back there, but have even been known to lean on people to go there. But this is a really bad bar. The worst bar in the city, I would say. Chinatown features any number of not-so-appealing bars, but they’re definitely all better than Irish Channel.
41 Responses to “New Revelations Raise Questions About Justice Sotomayor’s Temperament”
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September 9th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I have no idea what makes a “bad bar”, I’ve never been to DC, much less the Irish Channel, but I can tell you, O Sweet Birds of Hipster Youth, that what makes a “bad bar” to you– relatively quiet, uncrowded, food that is not considered ironically delicious because it makes the newspaper it comes wrapped in transparent, no dollar bottles, or cans, of PBR or other college beers–is exactly what makes a “bad bar” appealing to those of who, like Justice Sotomayor and my creaky, curmudgeonly self, have rounded the bend and are playing on life’s back nine.
September 9th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
You moved next to the literal worst bar in the city? I think this raises questions about Matt’s judgment.
September 9th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Are you raising questions about her temperament (as in her dancing leads us to believe she is a hot-head or something)? Or are you raising questions about her judgment; namely, she cannot differentiate between bars of varying quality?
September 9th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Clearly Matt has never been to the Irish Times.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
maybe she just knows what it means to miss the exemplary urbanism of the delightful and socioeconomically, aesthetically and racially diverse neighborhood in uptown New Orleans. This might even be a good time to discuss the barroom as neighborhood community center, a function well-served by Parasol’s in the actual Irish Channel.
take home train of thought: the Irish Channel, like many urban nieghborhoods, became a predominantly black with the exodus of the middle class population after World War II. However, it has persistently been viewed as a mixed race neighborhood. How much does the name “Irish Channel” contribute to this, and perhaps alleviate some tensions that part and parcel of reinvestment and demographic changes?
September 9th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Old Fart and Adam,
Wouldn’t a hipster in fact go to a bad bar ironically? Perhaps Matt Y. lives next to the worst bar in the city because, being a hipster, he would go their ironically precisely because it’s the worst bar?
Thus, while I would have agreed with Ryan2, what Matt Y. is questioning is not Sotomayor’s temperament but her judgement (Matt Y, have been in the “big media” is allowed to make such mistakes — it’s part of being a media type nowadays), I am now thinking it is Sotomayor’s temperament that is being questioned: her judgment may indeed be ok if she knows it’s a bad bar … but for all we know, Sotomayor could be a secret hipster, which is a matter of temperament and highly questionable: would you trust a hipster on SCOTUS? They might “ironically” overturn Roe v. Wade or something. And skinny jeans are bad enough — could you imagine “skinny robes”?
September 9th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
But this is a really bad bar. The worst bar in the city, I would say. Chinatown features any number of not-so-appealing bars, but they’re definitely all better than Irish Channel.
What’s the problem? Too many parking spaces and not enough bike racks?
September 9th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Never been to the Irish Channel, but I find it hard to believe that it’s objectively worse than Fado, the other fake-Irish pub in Chinatown.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I’ve been to my share of bad Irish-style pubs: walls adorned with moth-eaten Irish sports ephemera from the early 80s, grime-laden indoor/outdoor carpet on the floor, a whiff of toilet disinfectant in the air and beer scented with a hint of dish detergent.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
This really is a bad bar (worst in the city? no way). I recently moved from an apartment building less than a block away (which it now appears may have even been the home of Mr. Yglesias), and upon paying the local bars at our new apartment a visit, my roommates and I made a toast to never visiting the pub again.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Ah, the timeless dilemma of having a bad bar close to your house.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
“…walls adorned with moth-eaten Irish sports ephemera from the early 80s, grime-laden indoor/outdoor carpet on the floor, a whiff of toilet disinfectant in the air and beer scented with a hint of dish detergent.”
Yep. But the bad Irish pubs in DC are on the opposite end of the scale. Clean particle board, shiny Irish tourist-trap merchandise, bland Irish-themed appetizers, predictable beer list, packed to the gills with douchebags. Like Champps with a few shamrock wall hangings.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Fado and Rocket Bar, both within blocks, are both objectively worse than the Channel. The Channel has friendly bartenders, lots of beer on tap, darts, and a good number of TVs. It might not be in the top 10 of DC, but nor is it at the bottom.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
What is so bad about the place?
September 9th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
8 – While the DC Fado is probably horrific (and outrageously overpriced) if it’s anything like the one in Philly, I think bad chain bars (and is there any other kind?) have their own, unique type of awfulness that’s different from a bad local bar like this Channel seems to be.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
would you trust a hipster on SCOTUS? They might “ironically” overturn Roe v. Wade or something.
Excellent point. That’s the real issue Al Franken should have looked into at her hearing.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
You are incorrect. Recessions is truly the worst bar, in not only the city, but the entire country.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Actually, not knowing which are the good bars is a PLUS in a Supreme Court Justice.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
It appears that Matt sometimes likes to go to the bar in question, but is worried that the Sotomayor publicity will boost its profile and crowd sizes.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I will see your “irish channel” and raise you one “Polly Esther’s.”
Assuming that place is still around…
September 9th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
This is not the bar your looking for ?
Leave my home bar Alone!?
September 9th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I second that Fado and Rocket Bar are worse. I would also add that RFD’s is one of the worst bars in the entire metro area.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Dan’s Cafe is unequivocally the worst bar in the city. And that’s even taking into account it’s cheap cheap prices.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Some of you may have an aversion to the Commonwealth of VA, but if you can bring yourselves to cross the river, there are, ah, one or two Irish pubs in Alexandria. I was partial to Murphy’s, if only for the music.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Clean particle board, shiny Irish tourist-trap merchandise, bland Irish-themed appetizers, predictable beer list, packed to the gills with douchebags.
i.e. pre-fabricated in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Dublin, packed into a shipping container, delivered to the site and re-assembled.
An organically crappy Irish bar (lino, cleaning product smell, dubious Provo materials from the 1980s, etc) is marginally better than a pre-fabricated crappy bar.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
I might be interested in knowing what MY considers the BEST bar in DC.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
It’s been about 15 years, but I used to like Murphy’s, 4Ps (NW DC), and Flanagan’s (Bethesda). But I liked darts, Irish music and Irish food.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
This slander cannot go unanswered. Dan’s Cafe is not only the best bar in DC, it is the best bar in the United States of America.
The worst bar in DC is a tie between Tom Tom, Brass Monkey, and all of Georgetown.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I’ve never been to Dan’s Cafe (indeed, my last trip to DC was when I was 8 years old, so I wasn’t a heavy drinker then yet), but the yelp comments on Dan’s Cafe are frackin’ hilarious.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
[...] Matthew Yglesias: The Irish Channel Pub is, technically speaking, the closest bar to my apartment. Consequently, I not only have at times knocked a few pints back there, but have even been known to lean on people to go there. But this is a really bad bar. The worst bar in the city, I would say. Chinatown features any number of not-so-appealing bars, but they’re definitely all better than Irish Channel. [...]
September 9th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I would also add that RFD’s is one of the worst bars in the entire metro area.
Hey! RFD’s is a pretty good bar! It’s a bad restaurant.
(For those playing at home: the draft beer selection is excellent, includes some hard-to-find oddities, and is usually quite fresh. The food is notoriously variable, but usually ranges between uninteresting and inedible.)
September 9th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
RFD’s is a pretty good bar! It’s a bad restaurant.
RFD isn’t really my kind of place. It’s a loud sports bar that’s blanketed with about 20 TV screens. However, it usually has a little more breathing room than the other bad Chinatown bars, and it has one of the best draft beer selections in town. It does not belong on a list of DC’s worst bars.
But the food is, indeed, mostly horrible.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
How can you say Tom Toms is worse than the Irish Channel? I bet you hate third editions too. The problem is, you don’t have a dbag streak.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
September 9th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
How is McFadden’s not in the first 34 comments?
September 9th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
@burritoboy 29
Thanks for the heads-up! They were hilarious.
September 9th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
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September 9th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
What Patrick said. Dan’s Cafe kicks the shit out of every other bar ever.
Also what Mischa said. And what Matt’s update said: Tom Tom is the most insufferable place I have ever been. Well, except for Lucky Bar on a busy night. Lucky Bar is atrocious. And Fado is great before noon (yeah, I said it) but it all goes downhill from there. And you know where else sucks? Madams Organ and every Georgetown bar and Hawk & Dove and ….
Look, DC just has a very high shitty bars/population ratio, which is entirely expected because it also has a very high shitheads/population ratio.
But Dan’s Cafe is where Jesus goes to get drunk. That place is the greatest.
September 9th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Oh, cripes, Rumors is still there?
There used to be this bar at 2100 Penn NW called “Mr. Henry’s.” You could get in there with a GW ID, which had your picture, your student #, and the words “The George Washington University.”
They had such an arrangement with the Metro Police that they were never, ever busted for serving underage. It got so bad that the FBI had to bust them. That’s right, the FBI busted a bar for serving underage drinkers.
LOL.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Madame’s Organ takes it in a walk. You know why? Because it smells like a urinal, even when you’re 10 feet away from the front porch. You don’t even need to go inside for it to ruin your night.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Just for the record, I thought it was great that a Supreme Court Justice would take her family and friends out in the public and acutuly delight in talking to the people she serves. “One” of the things a Justice considers is the “will of the people and thus the court is a reflection of that will. I beleive she will be one Justice that will know the will.
The pub was great when you consider the owner, staff and the people who frequent there often. The Irish channel reminded me of pubs I visited in Ireland. Isn’t not the idea?