Attribution: Guido Gerding, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in noting that there has been a flurry of internet photos of Dem. veep candidate Tim Walz holding various animals—dogs, a cat and even a pig, all the while smiling and appearing comfortable in animal company.
As is the case with so many current occurrences, the keeper is reminded of an old column chase, this one for the Trib. in which the then Sec of Ag. John Block hosted Ill Gov. Jim Thompson and Francois Mitterand, the president of France at the Block farm in western Illinois sometime in the early 1980s.
The keeper does not remember anything that was said that day, but he does remember a photo opportunity in which the VIPs were lined up in an animal pen and there was this wonderful image of the US Ag. Sec, the Gov. of Illinois, and the President of France smiling into the cameras while each held a medium-sized, squirming pig.
It is possible that the “with-pigs” international image exists elsewhere than in the keeper’s memory but at least it is there, as he waits to see what kind of animals the Repubs show up with.
Photo by Bill Stokes