Used Socks

Professor Clovis was asking just the other day, "whatever happened to the First Cat?"

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

So says Sarah Baxter writing in the London Times, quoting a Caitlin Flanigan column in this month's Atlantic magazine:

Flanagan’s article, headed No Girlfriend of Mine, points out that Clinton wrote a crowd-pleasing 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”.

Was Socks just a prop--or has politics gone into a nosedive reminiscent of a German Stuka? Flanigan goes on to point out the sad tale of Buddy the Lab, which we learn more about here:

Secret Service agents indicated that Buddy ran off "playfully chasing a contractor" who had just left the property in a van.

Hmm. Perhaps a Halliburton or Blackwater van? Or maybe he just committed suicide.

Whatever the case, this charge will sink to the bottom just as fast as all the other recent attacks. If legitimate concerns such as a desire to conquer an entire American industry; questionable fund-raising partners; or flip-flops on Saddam can't gain traction then it's hardly likely that bashing her over pets will, either.

Matter of fact, it can only solidify her image as the victim of persecution from the VRWC. As the story says, Giuliani is busy attacking her record, which remains her only achilles heel at the moment, not her character. Somebody on his team was apparently paying attention during the 90s.