MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann are 2 'sick puppies,' Bush I says

According to former President George H.W. Bush, civility in American public discourse has worsened in recent years.

"I don't like it," the 85-year-old ex-president said shortly before civilly hosting current president Barack Obama in Texas to celebrate volunteerism. "The cables (TV) have a lot to do with it." The full text of Obama's gracious remarks at Texas A&M are now available here.

Bush said the current president is entitled to "civil treatment and intellectual honesty when it comes to critics."

But Bush told CBS Radio News the volume of presidential criticism is higher now than during his 1989-1993 term in office. "It's not just the right," Bush added. "There are plenty of people on the left."

Then he singled out two little-known and predictable talkers on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann, calling them both "sick puppies." That could help their ratings.

"When our son was president," Bush stated, "they just hammered him mercilessly and I think obscenely a lot of the time. And now it's moved to a new president."

Bush said presidents have come in for tough criticism throughout U.S. history. But, he added calmly, "People ought to be civil. I worry about yelling at people and this yelling mentality that seems to accompany presidents."

-- Andrew Malcolm

OK, just shut up now and click right here to get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us   @latimestot  And we are also now on Facebook right here.

Photo: Associated Press

Yes, Bo Obama is really cute. But can he do this?

Yesterday we had a much-read item and photos about Barack Obama's First Dog, Bo.

The eager young Democrat bounded off Marine One at the White House as if he was glad to have the family's expensive Martha's Vineyard vacation over and return to the familiar if ordinary digs and government servants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Bo no doubt has a ghostwritten book in the works, like so many first pets before him. And he's obviously captured the affection of the Obama family and many others around the country simply by looking, well, curly.

But one loyal Ticket reader, apparently from Europe, wasn't so impressed.

She sent us this unbelievable video of ordinary German mutts doing some incredible things without government assistance. And they involve a whole lot more than standing around on a new leash and federal grass looking fine.

You'll note that none of these dogs are blue. And the little one seems to have a distinct anti-regulatory libertarian attitude.

Watch the whole thing. It's even more amazing than an MSNBC evening talk show. (And no Progressive insurance commercials!)

-- Andrew Malcolm

Sit! Click here. Good boy! Now you'll get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot

Photo: Reuters

Biden's Syracuse grad speech: 'Not the usual malarkey,' the H-word, Obama's dumb dog

Several pieces of news about Vice President Joe Biden to kick off the new week.

The man who was a senator years before Barack Obama was a teenager was up or over, depending on where you are, in Syracuse this weekend.

A week before his pro-choice White House boss gives his controversial graduation speech out or over, depending on where you are, at Roman Catholic Notre Dame University, Biden returned to speak where he attended law school more than four decades ago.

Biden was in a reminiscent mood, talking about watching Floyd Little play football there and getting his own degree and the Vietnam war and assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy and being fortunate enough to live at a time when you can make a difference in history. Biden recalls how he and the Foreign Relations Committee told President Ford to end the Vietnam war and a few weeks later he did.

The VP also makes an unusual apparent bipartisan criticism of the last two administrations -- fellow Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush -- by saying the windows of opportunity have been slammed shut during the last 15 years.

We have the full text of his remarks below, along with video highlights. (As you can see, he's wearing one of those academic robes and everything.)

Perhaps the real Biden news of the day, however, comes this morning from Jimmy Orr over at the Vote blog. He tells us that after his commencement address, Biden stopped by the old neighborhood where he lived and visited with about 100 schoolchildren, who must have been thrilled to be called in on a Sunday for a political photo op.

One of them asked if the VP had ever pet a dog. And Biden took the occasion to praise his new dog Champ, and to insult Obama's new dog, Bo, as being far less intelligent than Champ. Biden quickly added that Bo was "a beautiful dog too." But the damage had been done. Add that one to the gaffe book.

Also, for those keeping track, we have Biden's busy schedule for today. So you can....

Is the White House haunted? Michelle Obama reports strange things

There have long been many stories about the White House being haunted.

Good grief, it's sure seen enough history over the years.

Now, the newest occupant of the presidential residence, First Lady Michelle Obama, appears to confirm the haunting mystery. She likely terrified a group of children visiting that very same White House today. They were there on take your own child or someone else's cute kid to work day.

But they surely didn't count on Mystery Hour.

The president's wife told the youngsters a strange story. It seems that in the last 10 days or so she and her husband, President Barack Obama, have been awakened from a sound sleep in the middle of the night. It happened just last night.

She said they heard strange sounds in the hall. And that the two of them had gone to investigate.

Also, she said, some people in her family had reported the unusual sensation at times of someone or something gnawing or chewing on their feet, as if trying to eat them from the bottom up.

Really creepy stuff. Bet John McCain is sure glad he doesn't have to go through any of that.

We have all of the first lady's remarks on the jump below, including an generous, extended Q&A by the first lady with the children, including some revealing details of her new life and the answer to the sounds mystery.

Remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House (Warning: Turn on all the lights for this one)

MRS. OBAMA:  Well, hello.  Wow, look at you, guys.  What's going on?  Did they tell you not to talk?  (Laughter.) You can talk, you really can.  Welcome to the White House. Thank you, Katie, for that introduction.  First let me just get off script for a second.  What have you guys done so far?

Q    We've met the people who give the letters --

MRS. OBAMA: Oh, yes, that's good, the correspondence people.  What else?

Q   We also have questions --

MRS. OBAMA:  Ooh, questions for me.  Good, good.  (Laughter.)  What else?  What else?  Well, you're going to get to see this whole place.  What -- what did you have to say, sweetie?

Q    (Inaudible.)

MRS. OBAMA:  Oh, yes?  Somebody who worked for the Vice President, great.  Well, so far, so good.  But most importantly, you don't have to go to school today, right?  Yeah!  (Applause.)

But hopefully you'll learn something today. So before we get into questions, I just wanted to say good morning and welcome to the White House. We're really pleased to have you guys here for this day, Take Your Child to Work Day.  Has anybody participated in this before? Cool. This is a good day. 

Well, this year's theme is "Celebrating Service: Country, Community, and Family."  And we invited you all here so you could learn more about what your moms and your dads do when they come to work every day. And when someone works at the White House -- and I think somebody told you this earlier....

Forget Obama's dog, Rush Limbaugh likes cats

This one should really annoy liberal readers. Or even progressives.

Just when the not really bipartisan world of Washington and beyond was getting all comfortable hating the new leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, word leaks out that the planet's most successful and quite possibly most reviled radio talk-show broadcaster -- oh, look, he's a conservative! -- loves animals.

Limbaugh's got upward of 20 million listeners a week. But many of Rush's non-listeners would like to think of him in his off-hours organizing professional feline fights in secret rings around Miami with screaming crowds of cigar-chewing rednecks betting wads of money on the outcomes.

But it turns out, lovable Rush is a big animal-rights guy. He's got a much-adored cat named Punkin (see photo above). No, really.

In fact, the big guy puts his mouth where his heart is. Limbaugh may not mind if President Obama's programs fail, but it seems the radio host is all in favor of animal-care programs. El Rushbo signed on for a whole series of public-service ads for the Humane Society of the United States, including one for its campaign against dog fighting. So probably Michael Vick is not a big Dittohead.

Anyway, our blogging buddy Lindsay Barnett, an admitted dog lover, has the whole cuddly Rush story over here, including copies of the PSAs to watch. Recommended.

OK, now you can get back to hating him. But leave Punkin out of it.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Even if you don't like large cigars, click here to register for automatic Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow   @latimestot.

Credit: Associated Press (Punkin Limbaugh).

Obama's donations, Dobson's misquote, Biden's schedule, Bush's life and the Blame Game

While you were sleeping, we were reading and writing:

How do you reconcile this?

As you read here, President Obama and wife Michelle released their 2008 joint income tax return, like all recent presidents. They reported $2.7 million in income. Not bad for someone who spent most of the year not working at his elected job in Washington.

The total means Obama will pay a higher tax rate this year under his own tax plans to get the very rich more than they're already gotten.

The taxes also show that last year the couple generously donated $172,000 to 37 charities, not counting not one dime to their former Trinity United Church in Chicago. That's about 6.5% of the liberal couple's adjusted gross income.

Don "The Pirate" Surber points out this morning that Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, donated almost the same amount of money ($166,000) to charity the previous year.

But since Bush wasn't making millions off Obama's book sales, that similar sum was 23% of the Texan's income, nearly four times larger proportionately than the popular Obama's.

But since No. 43 currently resides on contemporary history's reviled list with one of the lowest exit approval ratings ever, we'll all have to overlook that inconvenient truth.

-0-

All wet

The Washington Post took an interesting look the other day at the new life of retirement for Bush, who's starting his book, giving high-paid speeches and planning his presidential library at Southern Methodist University. The big news from Preston Hollow: Bush has improved the sprinkler system at his home on Dana Place in north Dallas.

-0-

What are a few words here or there?

Speaking of retirement: In case you read somewhere else recently that Dr. James Dobson, the recently retired conservative evangelical founder of Focus on the Family, had conceded defeat on ...

Bo's at the White House, or should we say, Bo Bo Bo-Bana, Bo Nana Bana, Bo Obama

Bo has arrived.

Really arrived, in style, at the White House.

Overcast skies and drizzly weather could not stop the debut of the new First Dog.

The Portuguese water dog, a gift to the Obama girls from Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, was frisky, fairly pulling First Lady Michelle Obama on his leash.

Ten-year-old Malia, who had lobbied for a dog, pronounced him a winner. "He's perfect," she said. "I love him."

Her sister, 7-year-old Sasha, noted that he was lacking in one area -- Bo is a water dog who apparently does not know how to swim in water.

But President Obama declared him "a star. He's got star quality."

Harry Truman once opined that "if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." Every president since then has accepted his advice (can you name them all?). Asked about Truman's admonition, Obama called Bo his friend, adding, "I finally got a friend. It took some time. We're very pleased with Bo."

However, the president did note that "apparently Portuguese water dogs like tomatoes. Michelle's garden is in danger."

-- Johanna Neuman

Even if you're a cat lover, click here to register for automatic Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item.

Photo Credit: Mandel Ngan / Getty Images

Hey, Bo Obama! You've just won the White House -- and castration

Forget the president's big, huge speech on the economy today. It's just a lot of numbers that describe the economic fate of millions of Americans.

The really BIG news is the unveiling of Bo, the Obamas' used pet dog who, as eagerly sought by many groups, is a genuine rescue dog if you regard a purebred Portuguese something-or-other who was purchased by someone else and named Charlie then returned to the breeder and then obtained by the famous Kennedy clan and given to the Obamas to live in the White House who said they promised their daughters a dog after the interminable presidential campaign.

Sasha and Malia will no doubt love the curly fellow (not shown in photo to the right).

And the South Side Chicago family will finally join about 68% of American households with pets, many of them also with allergies and  maybe a chewed chair leg or two.

What a Cinderfella story that would have been if Bo were some mangy mutt of uncertain lineage plucked from life on a cement floor in a shelter cage to live pretty much anywhere the president's mother-in-law would allow him to go in the posh presidential residence with its 24-hour kitchen.

On its blog, PETA -- People Easily Talked About -- expressed official disappointment that the newly renamed Bo was not really one of millions of homeless pets across the country awaiting homes or the executioner, as excess pets through no fault of their own cost too much to allow them to live:

We're disappointed to report that, although the Obamas had publicly expressed their intention to adopt a dog from an animal shelter or rescue group, they have instead accepted a Portuguese water dog as a gift from Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Let us be clear: The new first dog, Bo, is not a rescue. While he was returned to the breeder by his first owners, that subtle point is missing from or buried in most news reports and is no doubt lost on the masses of people who will be lining up at pet shops and demanding "Obama puppies."

These puppies will eventually lose their appeal, once people get tired of taking care of them, but because most pet shops and many breeders don't take "returns," guess where those unwanted "Obama puppies" are going to end up? At extremely crowded, overworked shelters like D.C.'s Washington Humane Society.

The Obamas can't undo their missed opportunity to set a great example for Americans by adopting a shelter dog, but they can still set another important example: They can arrange for the first dog to become the last dog in his lineage by having him neutered.

In a news release Monday, the animal-rights group even generously offered to neutralize Bo's masculinity at its mobile SNIP shop (Spay and Neuter Immediately, Please). That would set another powerful presidential example for pet care, one of the few things in Washington in these days of very expensive change that would have no effect on the national debt.

Later Monday, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals amended the blog entry to accurately note that Bo (nee Charlie) had already been snipped, cut, neutered, fixed, emasculated, vasectomied, castrated to become a walking, barking, four-legged first-dog example of canine birth control after all.

Was that procedure in the White House job description?

-- Andrew Malcolm

Speaking of being an example, click here to register for automatic Twitter alerts of every new Ticket item, even the ones like this that make some guys uncomfortable.

Photo: Getty Images (A really nice Scottish border collie that looks nothing like Obama's Portuguese water dog).

Obamas get a cute black-and-white puppy, but he's no rescue dog -- or is he?

The official announcement comes Tuesday, but no one could keep a leash on this hot news -- President Obama is getting a new best friend -- a la Harry Truman's advice that anyone who wants a friend in Washington had best get a dog.

The first daughters -- 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha -- have named their new Portuguese waterdog "Bo" in honor of First Lady Michelle Obama's late father, Frasier Robinson, whose nickname was "Diddley," after blues musician Bo Diddley.

No doubt the 6-month-old puppy, a gift from Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, is adorable. But what about those promises from both the president and the first lady to rescue a dog in a shelter?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

President Obama once referred to his own biracial heritage by saying that maybe the first family would get "a mutt like me." Bo's no mutt and he's no shelter dog, but he was kind of rescued.

As the Christian Science Monitor reports this morning, the White House isn’t Bo’s first home. He originally lived with another family but didn’t get along with their other dogs, so he almost went to a shelter.

"They were looking at shelters, but in the end the Kennedys learned of this litter mate of their dog who needed a home and they wanted to give the girls a gift — and here we are,” explained an Obama spokeswoman.

So, technically, he’s a second-chance dog. This could be why the Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal advocacy group, didn't bark too loudly.

“Clearly our best hope was that he [the president] would go to a shelter or a breed-rescue group,” said President and CEO Wayne Pacelle. “He didn’t do that, but he also didn’t go to a pet store or puppy mill either. It’s a gray area.”

But Abbie Moore of Adopt-a-Pet.com, which in January launched a campaign urging the Obamas to adopt, let the First Family have it.

“This is truly a missed opportunity to set a pet-adoption trend among Americans," she said. “If Obama had adopted a pet from a shelter, it could have been the turning point for the pet-overpopulation problem in this country. With pet relinquishment up 20% to 30% due to the poor economy, pets in shelters can use all the help they can get.”

Bo, oblivious to the uproar, arrives Tuesday.

-- Johanna Neuman

Register here for automatic Twitter alerts for each new Ticket item.

Full text of Barack Obama's Strasbourg town hall with questions

The last time Barack Obama campaigned through Europe, he held an open-air rally in Berlin. Today he held an Iowa-style town hall in a gym in Strasbourg, giving Europeans a real taste of retail politics the American way. (He may not really want a family dog after all these poop-walk-free pet-free years, but he got the "when's the dog arriving" question today even from Europeans.)

As usual, we've got the complete text below and especially call your attention to the deft way Obama acknowledged American mistakes while candidly pointing out a latent anti-American bias among many Europeans.

Remarks by President Obama at the Strasbourg Town Hall, Rhenus Sports Arena, Strasbourg, France
 
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so much. (Applause.) Good afternoon. Bon après-midi. (Applause.) And guten tag. It is a great honor for me to be here in Europe, to be here in Strasbourg. I want to make just a few acknowledgments. I want to thank the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, for being such a terrific friend. I want to thank his wife, Madam Sarkozy. They just hosted us at the palace and could not have been more gracious.

I want to thank the Charge d'Affaires, Mark Pekala, and his wife, Maria, who were helping to organize us; Vincent Carver, who's the Counsel General in Strasbourg. And I want to thank the Mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries, for his hospitality. (Applause.)

It is wonderful to be here with all of you and to have an opportunity not only to speak to you but also to take some questions. You know, oftentimes during these foreign trips you see everything from behind a window, and what we thought was important was for me to have an opportunity to not only speak with you but also to hear from you, because that's ultimately how we can learn about each other.

But before I take some questions, I hope you don't mind me making a few remarks about my country and yours; the relationship between the United States and the relationship between Europe.

Strasbourg has been known throughout history as a city at the crossroads. Over thousands of years, you straddled many kingdoms and many cultures. Two rivers are joined here. Two religions have....