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Subscribe to RSSThis week, The Daily Caller “broke” the story that while living in Indonesia with his stepfather, a young President Obama ate many adventurous meals, including dog meat.
From a passage of his book “Dreams From My Father,” Obama recounts that he “learned how to eat small green chili peppers raw with dinner (plenty of rice), and, away from the dinner table, I was introduced to dog meat (tough), snake meat (tougher), and roasted grasshopper (crunchy).”
Romney supporters leaped on the news, as the former Massachusetts governor has been dogged by the story of the family’s Irish setter Seamus, who traveled in a crate strapped to the top of the family’s station wagon on a 1983 trip from Boston to Canada.
Leave it to our terrific conservative cartoonist Eric Allie to nail the president with his latest cartoon:
Nate Beeler, the new staff cartoonist for the Columbus Dispatch, also weighed in on “Dogmeatgate”:
I asked Nate about his dog meat cartoon, and if he thought either dog story were fair game for reporters. Here are his thoughts:
The “Obama ate a dog” story was too juicy (apologies) to ignore. It’s just plain funny. Adding to the comedy is the fact that people are talking about the candidates’ decades-ago treatment of dogs in the first place. Obama’s campaign is “obsessed with the dog thing,” as even liberal commentators like Chris Hayes acknowledge. And now Romney supporters will obsess over the ate-a-dog thing. There are much bigger fish to fry — and like most people, I prefer seafood over canine. When it comes to election politics, fairness goes out the window. I hope my cartoon helps highlight how silly it is.
So what do you think – is it fair to attack Obama on something he did as a child? Comment below and let us know, or leave a note on our Facebook page.
Leave a Comment:
Meat preferences or aversions are a cultural thing (there are many people who believe that westerners are monsters because they eat beef), and eating meat from an animal which was already dead can in no way be compared to torturing and endangering an animal by tying it to the roof of a moving vehicle for 12 hours.
Of course, because being fed dog meat as a child in a culture in which dogs are commonly raised as food is exactly the same as strapping a family pet to the top of a car for a long trip.
Guys, this isn't about dogs; it's a matter of empathy (or rather, the lack thereof). The "pet" status is more important than the species here. A pet is an animal with whom one forms emotional bonds (at least that's the idea), and who most pet owners is consider almost a family member. To put it in another context, I eat pork, but if I had a pet pig (as many people these days do), I wouldn't strap it to the top of my car in a carrier for a long trip.
Here's context. YOU are offered a choice of riding on the roof of a car unharmed in a cage or You are served for dinner at the White House. Hypocrite, if Obama was proven to be a cannibal you'd look for a way to justify it.
Terps, as I said in a previous comment, meat aversions and preferences are cultural. Many believe people in the west to be monsters because they eat beef. Besides, no one is serving dog at the whitehouse, you are being absolutely ridiculous. Obama said, in his own book, which has been out for years, mind you, that he ate dog as a child in Indonesia, and eating dog in Indonesia is culturally acceptable, as it is in many countries, and at least at one time, amongst Native American cultures. Now, how about a little context for YOU. Is it more cruel to partake of meat from an animal which is already dead? Or is it more cruel to subject a family pet to dangerous, cold conditions on the roof of a car, at highway speed, in a tiny box for 12 hours? I have worked in the veterinary industry for many years and have seen the injuries a dog can get just from an owner allowing it to stick its head out the window. Suffice it to say that NO veterinarian would condone putting a dog on the roof of a car for 12 hours. However, I don't think many veterinarians would object to dog meat being eaten within the context of the particular culture which condones that behavior.
As I am certain Raeann Thomas would agree, Female Gential Mutilation, Cannibalism, Human Sacrifice - they are all "CULTURAL THINGS".