The leader of the world's most powerful nation (admittedly, last time I checked, which was not too recently) has a dog named Bo. Stop that humming; I'll put that song's YouTube clip below. Let me continue first...
His Republican rival in November's presidential election has a dog named Seamus.
As journalists were once wont to say, it's not news when dog bites man. These days, even when man bites dog, what's the big deal? But when man eats dog, ah, I got your attention! Well, Kathleen Parker, a columnist at the Washington Post, got my attention with her tail-wagging piece "Presidential race jumps the dog" (21 April). As she wryly notes...
"It's the most pivotal presidential race in human history (staying true to our apocalyptic tendencies), and we're debating which candidate cares most about dogs. I did my best in a previous column to illustrate the silliness of the Obama campaign's focus on a 30-year-old Romney-dog travel episode, but, alas, I misjudged our capacity for the absurd."
What happened was that the Mitt Romney campaign team had taken a fresh look at Barack Obama's memoir and found that he had once eaten dog meat during his childhood years in Indonesia.
Ms Parker continues: "Republicans were so gleeful to have found a worse dog story about Obama that they have lashed out with Cujo-esque rabidity. Sure, Romney may have carted his dog Seamus in a crate strapped to the roof of his car, but Obama ATE DOG!...
"On television, Obama surrogates are defending the president's dog-eating days. He was a child living in Indonesia, where dogs sometimes get eaten. It's not as though he looked Rufus in the eye and said, "Yum, Ma, I'm in the mood for a little roast pooch...
"As these things go, the dog theme has taken on barking-mad dimensions. A pro-Romney poster features a puppy with the caption: 'Romney 2012: I'd rather go for a ride with Mitt than be eaten by Obama'. Campaign buttons show a dog like Bo and the caption: 'Donate or Barack Will Eat Me.'...
"If we look ridiculous to the rest of the world, and surely we do, why don't we look ridiculous to ourselves? Now there is a question worth pondering...
"As to how we've gone to the dogs, the answer is familiar. Humans like spectacle, and Americans in particular prefer humour to malaise. For the latter, we can be grateful."
Here's the link to Ms Parker's commentary:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/presidential-race-jumps-the-dog/2012/04/20/gIQALrFYWT_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
For AFP's story headlined "US presidential campaign: Who let the dogs out?" (it includes Sarah Palin jumping into the issue), see:
http://news.xin.msn.com/en/weird/storyviewer.aspx?cp-documentid=6164179
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There's more. Cable TV is now available in the US for "stay-at-home" pooches to watch. As one British newspaper, The Telegraph, notes in its story, "Television bosses are calling DOGTV a new breed of programming -- an on-demand cable TV channel designed to keep your dog relaxed, stimulated and entertained while you are at work". Here's the story (with a video clip of excerpts from DOGTV):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/pets/9211063/DOG-TV-Television-for-dogs-launches-in-the-US.html
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Ok, now for the YouTube clips in celebration of humans "gone to the dogs":
Me and You and a Dog named Boo (Lobo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dplZgPRwW_A
Who Let the Dogs Out? (Baha Men)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPI1nAqkpLQ
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