Dogs are called man’s best friend, but for a handful of politicians, they are anything but. RFK Jr. is the latest public figure to be accused of canine abuse, and his unsettling dog meat diet will turn the stomachs of those still on the fence about the outspoken third-party candidate.
In a July 2 Vanity Fair article, a 2010 photo showed Kennedy eating what looks like a barbecued dog. Last year, Kennedy reportedly texted this picture to a friend traveling to Korea, recommending a restaurant there that served dog meat.
Kennedy claimed that the carcass in the photo was a goat. He was, he said, “enjoying the local cuisine.” However, a veterinarian examining the photo for the Vanity Fair piece noted that the carcass had 13 pairs of ribs, including a floating pair found in dogs.
The RFK Jr. campaign slammed the Vanity Fair piece, calling it a distraction designed by the Democrat party to spoil his election chances in November. The presidential challenger has good reason to suspect sabotage – the DNC has publicly vowed to destroy the RFK Jr. campaign because of the threat it presents to President Joe Biden’s reelection efforts.
It’s not the first time Fido has risen to haunt a presidential candidate. During Mitt Romney’s 2008 campaign against Barack Obama, it was revealed that Romney strapped his pup to a carrier on top of the car for a 12-hour road trip. Seamus, the Irish Setter, rode on the car’s roof and became sick with diarrhea during the journey, prompting the family to pull off the road to clean up the poor pooch’s mess. Romney told Diane Sawyer that the dog loved it, getting excited whenever he saw the crate because it meant he was going on vacation with them. He confirmed to Sawyer that the criticisms about the dog were the most brutal ones he had faced during his campaign.
But challenger Barack Obama faced his own doggie dilemma when disgusted critics noted a small passage in his book, Dreams From My Father, admitting he ate dog meat in Indonesia as a child. The Daily Caller said, “Say what you want about Romney, but at least he only put a dog on the roof of his car, not the roof of his mouth.”
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is no stranger to canine complications. In her book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, Noem admitted she was forced to shoot her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, after it killed chickens and attempted to bite her. The episode was meant to show Noem’s grit but tanked her political aspirations instead. She would go on to say she also shot an aggressive goat in her now-famous gravel “kill pit.”
President Joe Biden faced a doggie conundrum twice when his German shepherds terrorized Secret Service agents. After Major Biden bit Secret Service agents eight times in eight days, then-Press Secretary Jen Psaki explained that Major had been “surprised by an unfamiliar person.” The White House only acknowledged one of these incidents publicly.
Major was sent away, but his replacement was even more aggressive. A source close to the Biden family said Commander Biden bit Secret Service agents at least 24 times over nine months, with one incident requiring medical treatment. It has been noted that Biden was aware of the attacks and watched them without intervening.
Americans may put up with a lot from their leaders, but they have zero tolerance for dog abuse. Whether it’s eating a dog, shooting a dog, strapping a dog in a crate on the roof for a twelve-hour road trip, or letting a dog terrorize the White House, such actions are unacceptable. The U.S. needs a rule book on proper “pawlitics” to stop these canine criminals.
