The Clintons and Buddy |
WASHINGTON – The Clintons were not the animal lovers they appeared to be in those family photo ops walking with first dog Buddy on the South Lawn, a former White House veterinarian says.
Turns out the former first couple didn't allow Buddy or first cat Socks in the White House residence, according to the Army vet.
They even kept Socks "down in the basement," he said, before palming him off on secretary Betty Currie as they left the White House last year.
Clinton took Buddy with him to their New York home, but the chocolate Labrador retriever didn't live long in his care. The nearly 5-year-old dog escaped through an open gate in January and was run over by an SUV.
Clinton got Buddy as a puppy just before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.
Buddy |
"They didn't care about those animals," the vet told WorldNetDaily. "It was all for public consumption. It was show."
Buddy wasn't the first Clinton dog hit by a car.
In Little Rock, Ark., Zeke the cocker spaniel got loose and was struck by a car near the governor's mansion. Local sources say Hillary Clinton didn't like it in the house.
The family had Socks for 10 years. Chelsea Clinton took it off the hands of her Little Rock piano teacher, who found the stray kitten under her porch.
But last year they gave him away to Currie, who lives in Arlington, Va.
Bill claimed he didn't have "enough space" for Socks at their Chappaqua, N.Y., mansion. "I love that old cat," he said. "I hate to give him up."
Hillary, meanwhile, said Socks needed a stable home during their transition to new digs. She was also moving into an expensive Whitehaven Parkway townhouse here at the time.
Socks |
"To make this time of transition as easy as possible for Socks, the family decided that it would be best, while the Washington residence is being readied for occupancy, if he stayed with someone that he knew," explained Sen. Clinton's aide Alice Pushkar in a Jan. 23, 2001, letter to the Socks the Cat Fan Club.
The Bushes, on the other hand, keep their pets in the White House residence.
In fact, Spot, an English springer spaniel from former first dog Millie's litter, and Barney, Laura Bush's Scottish terrier pup, were with the president on the third floor of the White House the night he choked on a pretzel while watching football on TV.
They are joined by India, a declawed black cat. Another cat, Ernie, a six-toed, fully clawed tabby, did not make the move in order to spare White House furniture. He's staying with friends of the family.
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