the kicker

Read My Lips: No Purebred Puppies

April 14, 2009

The AP asks:

Is Bo a rescued dog or not? Did President Obama keep or break a campaign promise in picking the purebred as the family’s new pet?

Apparently pressing questions for “political junkies,” “the highly opinionated dog world,” and “conspiracy buffs” (and, therefore, the AP).

According to PolitiFact: “promise kept.” (Obama’s “promise” being that his girls “will get their dog,” not that “their dog” would be a pound puppy).

ABC News, too, asks and then “seems” to answer, “Did Obama Break a Pledge to Adopt a Rescue Dog?” ABC’s answer:

It would seem that the president didn’t ever make a “promise” or “pledge” to adopt a shelter dog.

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(Really, if news orgs must have an Obama Broke A Promise? story, why not go for one that matters to people who aren’t “political junkies,” part of “the highly opinionated dog world,” or “conspiracy buffs” –assuming there are at least a few of these folks out there? PolitiFact lists 5 promises Obama made while campaigning that he has indeed, by their analysis, “broken,” not to mention 414 campaign promises on which there has been “no action” to date.)

Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.