Cat Psychos Band Together To Hate Hillary
Like Hillary Clinton or don't like Hillary Clinton, but don't like or dislike her over a manufactured story about how she's evil to cats. (What is this, Swift-Catting Hillary?) Here's the piece in The Times/UK by Sarah Baxter:
AS THE “first pet” of the Clinton era, Socks, the White House cat, allowed “chilly” Hillary Clinton to show a caring, maternal side as well as bringing joy to her daughter Chelsea. So where is Socks today?Once the presidency was over, there was no room for Socks any more. After years of loyal service at the White House, the black and white cat was dumped on Betty Currie, Bill Clinton’s personal secretary, who also had an embarrassing clean-up role in the saga of his relationship with the intern Monica Lewinsky.
Some believe (Amy: Names, please?) the abandoned pet could now come between Hillary Clinton and her ambition to return to the White House as America’s first woman president.
...Clinton’s treatment of Socks cuts to the heart of the questions about her candidacy. Is she too cold and calculating to win the presidency? Or does it signify political invincibility by showing she is willing to deploy every weapon to get what she wants?
“In the annals of human evil, off-loading a pet is nowhere near the top of the list,” writes Caitlin Flanagan in the current issue of The Atlantic magazine. “But neither is it dead last, and it is especially galling when said pet has been deployed for years as an all-purpose character reference.”
Flanagan’s article, headed No Girlfriend of Mine, points out that Clinton wrote a crowd-pleas-ing book Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets, in which she claimed that only with the arrival of Socks and his “toy mouse” did the White House “become a home”.
Being Clinton, she also lectured readers that pets are an “adoption instead of an acquisition” and warned them to look out for their safety. (Buddy, the chocolate labrador, it should be noted, bounded into a road soon after leaving the White House and was promptly run over.)
From what I read, it was Chelsea's cat, and she left it with Betty Currie, probably because it would get a little more attention than it would from her globe-trotting father and Senator-on-the-presidential-make mother.
I'd like to see more opposition when either side does this -- Democrats or Republicans -- making propaganda out of a non-story. And, actually, I think the Repubs are more guilty of this, but not because the Democrats are more moral, just because, politically, they seem to be a lot less clever.
Oh, and as nutty special interest groups go, The Cat People are among the most virulent. Just ask Gary Larson, who got piles of angry letters whenever he did a cartoon about some ill befalling a cat. Or, ask my editor, who hopes I will answer letters from cat haters privately in the future.
As far as how I feel about cats...well, I guess I'll never be anybody's presidential nominee.
Well, I'm disgusted with Americans again. Once upon a time, John Huang et al was completely concealed by American fascination with Monica. Now this is as important as Hillary's confirmation of what Alexis de Tocqueville warned about so long ago - her proposal to "give" newborns $5K.
Isn't Dumbledore being gay more important than this?
Radwaste at October 22, 2007 2:31 AM
Hey, you just leave Dumbledore out of this - he liked cats! o_O
Flynne at October 22, 2007 5:48 AM
Hilarious catch, Amy!
(Obligatory: someone tell me the piece is satire! The Sarah Baxter byline rings some faint warning bells.)
I quite like my cat, but I reserve the right to push yours off my lap.
Jody Tresidder at October 22, 2007 6:18 AM
There was a satiric piece somewhere over the weekend where Lucas announced that Chewbacca was gay, too.
Listen, I think there's no reason to credit Hillary's homebody deceptions as forgivable. The Noonan article reiterated a point that Paglia made 15 years ago. Hillary's a drag queen: She doesn't need to prove that she can act like a man with men, she needs to prove that she can live like a woman for anybody. Cheap theatrics with housepets should be mocked as the cheapjack semiotics that they are.
When will we be through with this horrible family?
Crid at October 22, 2007 7:08 AM
"her proposal to "give" newborns $5K." Wait when did this happen. I got a friend that would be able to have two of her life long dreams on one go, just add a turkey baster. She wants four kids is in 20K of debt, she'd love to hear about this proposal.
I doubt Hillary tossed the cat as it is described for two reasons.
1) She's not stupid, she knows that this would have come back to bite her, especially given all the attention the cat got while bill was in office.
2) Anyone who knows a cat person or own one of these lovable critters know they do not travel well. She would have been wise to leave the cat with someone when she's traveling.
vlad at October 22, 2007 7:13 AM
She hates cats?! Damn all the other issues, now I'm voting for her for sure!
Darry at October 22, 2007 9:02 AM
vlad says: "Anyone who knows a cat person or own one of these lovable critters know they do not travel well. She would have been wise to leave the cat with someone when she's traveling."
Absolutely. This incident could just as credibly be spun as an example of responsible stewardship.
Axman at October 22, 2007 9:33 AM
Oh, please.
I had a cat, and had to move for a job opportunity. Finding a place in a new town is difficult enough, let alone finding a place that will allow pets.
I left my cat in a good home, with a lady who spoiled cats as a hobby. Hell, in my next life, I want to come back as one of her cats.
HC could have had it put down, but chose to give it to someone else. One assumes the new owner had a right to refuse, and I can't imagine it would be all that hard to place a cat that had once been First Mouser.
I'd rather hate Hillery because she's a cunt.
Steve Daniels at October 22, 2007 2:13 PM
I'd rather hate Hillery because she's a cunt.
You may not agree with him, but he's got the right idea.
Amy Alkon at October 22, 2007 3:30 PM
Cheap & cheapjack are the same thing; sorry, I was late for work. It's better just to find your center, see your future, and be the ball:
> I'd rather hate Hillery
> because she's a cunt.
Fuckin' A, brudda!
Crid at October 22, 2007 3:43 PM
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