Over seven years of blogging about Hillary Clinton and finding
friends among fellow supporters, I have noticed a common thread in the
camp. Many Hillary loyalists are not only pet parents but also are
involved in rescue and shelter efforts. It is not surprising, then,
that this issue came up today.
The Clintons and their dog Buddy leaving the White House for Martha's Vineyard in August 1998.Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
NEWTON,
Iowa – It was not the Iran deal, or her private email server, that a
woman at a crowded coffee shop wanted to question Hillary Rodham Clinton
about on Sunday.
It was mistreatment of puppies.
“When
you become president, this is what I would like you to do,” the woman
told the former secretary of state. “I would like to see every single
dog and cat mill across the country shut down.”
SNIP
“I
share your concern about these mills,” Mrs. Clinton responded. “From
everything I know about them, they really are terrible places for any
animal, and particularly for dogs and cats.” She added, “We do need to
do more.”
As for animal cruelty, Mrs.
Clinton said, “I think for some egregious examples, and there are some,
they would rise to a felony.”
It
is a coincidence that this issue arises on the same day when, posting a
blog article earlier, I was shocked to see puppies for sale in the
sidebar of my Facebook page. In typical NYT fashion, Kaplan has missed
the larger issue. Puppies are among the more mobile populations in
these inhumane mills. Healthy puppies have a way out by being sold.
It is the breeding adults, mostly females, who spend their lives in
squalid cages forced to deliver litter after litter who are the saddest
victims.
There is a metaphor here. We all love puppies and kittens. Who
doesn't? We spend online time looking at them when we are stressed out
or whatever. The question and the issue is not about the puppies. Women
know that. Hillary does.
