"Mr. President, You Are a Liar, and Your Dog is Fat"

The New York Times Magazine on Sunday ran yet another  profile on the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid (D-Nevada). According to writer Adam Nagourney, who is the NYT's chief national political correspondent, Harry Reid is an unassuming politician who is lacking in charisma but an ace at political maneuvering behind the scenes. The burden of trying to pass President Obama's agenda will make or break him this November. Blah, blah, blah. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Here's the part that caught my attention—an anecdote about a meeting Reid had with former President Bush, whom Reid had previously called a liar and a loser:

"When Bush invited Reid for coffee in the Oval Office in the final weeks of his presidency, the president's dog walked in, and Reid says he insulted the president's pet. 'Your dog is fat,' he said." 

I assume the offending animal was Barney. Poor Barney. What did he ever do to find himself on the receiving end of misplaced anger at the president? If he'd peed on Reid's cuff, that would have been a different story. Clearly, Washington is a tough town even for the Dog in Chief. Bo Obama had better get on the treadmill with his owner, pronto.

Still, I would never have read the article or seen this anecdote if the magazine's editors hadn't cleverly set it off in large type as a pull-quote at the top of the page. Giant letters announcing "Your dog is fat" would tend to grab any dog owner's eyes. Here's a link to the article.

Enjoy. -z