Why dogs are Democrats

(Does this mean cats are Republicans?)

As has been noted all over the place, there have been some stories dealing with the maltreatment of dogs linked to the Republican presidential candidate frontrunners.

Rudy Guiliani's wife, Judith, apparently demonstrated the application of medical staples on dogs that were then euthanized in sales pitches for the U.S. Surgical Corporation. This was about 30 years ago.

Mitt Romney is apparently proud of the piece of family lore, when he stuck his dog in a carrier on top of his car on 12-hour family trips to Canada. On one such occasion, the poor dog lost control of his bowels on the window. Mitt Romney calmly pulled over, borrowed a hose, sprayed down the car and dog, and continued on as before. Says the Boston Globe which published this story earlier in the year: "It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management." Emotion-free, yes. But I think dogs in particular would draw additional conclusions from this story. (Interestingly, Romney is becoming more "emotional" on the campaign trail; tearing up on occasion.)

And most recently, Newsweek has dug up the story previously reported in Arkansas press, that Mike Huckabee's then 17 year-old son, David, was fired from his position as a Boy Scout camp counselor for violating the Scout Law to be "kind." Allegedly, David and another counselor who was also fired, led a group of campers to torture and eventually kill by hanging and/or stabbing a stray dog that had come on to the camp. The grisly details are disputed, and ultimately, David was never charged with animal cruelty.

What reflects even worse on the candidate Mike Huckabee, is the allegation that members of the governor's staff pressured the director of the state police to decline the request to investigate the incident. The director was eventually asked to resign. He claims Gov. Huckabee told him one of the reasons for his requested resignation was: "I couldn't get you to help me with my son when I had that problem."

These are stories that have surfaced regarding the three current front-runners. One wonders what other dog cruelty shows up with the other Republican candidates and their families. It would be hard to see the anti-torture John McCain with any dog skeletons in his closet though.

Voters of course should come to their own conclusions on if and how any of these stories should impact their votes. I'm not voting in the Republican primary, so I don't have to worry about that yet. I would say, personally, that the story around Mitt Romney does have an impact on how I would view his character. I think the press needs to investigate the allegations of Huckabee personally interfering with criminal investigation to protect his son.

I don't think the story of what his current wife did 30 years ago should matter in Rudy Giuliani's case. What worries me more about Giuliani is his virtual enthusiasm when it comes to torturing humans. Giuliani is beyond the arguments of whether "harsh interrogation techniques" protect the nation. He thinks it's funny, suggesting that sleep deprivation torture is just like running for president. Ha ha. Giuliani, like the rest of the GOP candidates save McCain, has no problem with waterboarding, the act of suffocating a person underwater, but stopping short of killing them.

So, my absurd assertion from all this is that all dogs are Democrats, Greens, or independents. (Dogs are too dependent to be Libertarian.) Well, maybe Dogbert is a Republican.