# The Biden Administration: a puppy-hug in the making **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 19, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886 "2021-01-19T15:24:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/102 "2021-05-05T06:22:44Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > That’s your misreading of what I said. No, I quoted where you said **exactly** that: > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > There is something about the ability to form a bond with a non-human lifeform that reflects a person’s ability to bond with other humans outside their tribal circle. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I would say a person living in a household with a pet and can show affection for it _has a pet_ . Nope. I do not pick up my wife’s dog’s shit, or walk it, or take it to regular\* vet visits, or groom it. It is very much my wife’s pet that happens to live in the same house as I do. That’s _the only difference_ between it and my friend’s pet cats, who I show as much affection to. Don’t get me wrong - I’ve _had_ pets of my own. I’ve had pet dogs, including sharing ownership of some with my wife. The current dog is not one of them. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > A person with enough things on their plate that they cannot justify having a pet has made a completely reasonable, even admirable decision. It’s got nothing to do with “things on my plate”, and everything to do with the fact that I just do not want a pet anymore. Not space, not time, not other hobbies. I just don’t have a need or desire to own a pet right now or for the foreseeable future. \* I would, of course, take it for any emergency thing if needed. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/103 "2021-05-05T06:37:11Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > No you can’t disprove a generalised proposition by a couple of (potentially) isolated examples. The generalized proposition was “loving animals reflects human empathy” Yes, the example of Hitler _is_ out there. That’s the _point_ - history’s worst monster loved his dog. > [@Princhester](#): > > Psychos (like Hitler) don’t let themselves be photographed kicking their dog, nor does anyone in their inner circle admit anything nasty about them. There’s enough documentary evidence of Hitler’s animal relationships (with multiple dogs) to say that it wasn’t a myth. We have films, letters by other people, etc. Look, I get the idea you’re peddling here, but - we know Hitler had a _drug_ problem, do you seriously think we’d not know if he had an animal abuse one? And anyway, the point I was _initially_ objecting to said jack about how well-treated the pets are, just talked about the ownership, quality of treatment was a later moving of the goalposts. Now, kindly fuck off with this “I agree with you but…” bullshit. This is not GD and I don’t need a “Well, ektshually…” motherfucker like you pathetically attempting to school me on argument methodology. You want to pick a fight with me, just pick a fucking fight, asshole, don’t hide behind some missaplied “plural of anecdote” fuckery. DrS’s “keeping pets means you’re not a monster” idiocy _was_ thoroughly disproven when I posted the picture. Everything else is just commentary. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/104 "2021-05-05T06:38:58Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > No, I quoted where you said **exactly** that Reflections are bidirectional. And imperfect. It is a dramatic misreading, especially given the context of everything else I said, to think that what I meant there was an absolutist “if you own a pet, you must be a good person.” Which is the only possible statement that your ridiculous Hitler example could have contradicted. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/105 "2021-05-05T06:56:32Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Reflections are bidirectional. And imperfect. Wonderful fortune cookie line. Absolute bullshit as a defence of your own words. The very _admission_ that it was a bidirectional statement means I wasn’t misreading anything. You’re just frantically backpedaling from the implications of that inversion. And if the Hitler example was so “ridiculous”, you wouldn’t have needed to waste the pixels downplaying his affections for Blondi. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > It is a dramatic misreading, especially given the context of everything else I said, to think that what I meant there was an absolutist “if you own a pet, you must be a good person.” That last reply to Princhester was a bit of rhetorical excess, I’m not saying your thesis is “must”, but it _is_ “if you own a pet, it _indicates_ human empathy as well”. And that’s just not true. And this isn’t just belied by Hitler, or Churchill, or any other monster… I’m sure Genghis Khan loved his horses. But even in the mundane - IME, excessive cat owners are often severely lacking in the human empathy department. And I’ve known enough stone-cold killers with pets in my day. Hell, look for the previous thread on “Would you save your pet or a stranger…” You _are_ also saying if you _don’t_ own a pet, there’s “something wrong” with you, which is not just bullshit, but personally insulting to me, so I have zero inclination for any charitable reading of your idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/106 "2021-05-05T07:08:29Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You’re just frantically backpedaling from the implications of that inversion. And yet after being told repeatedly that this is not what I meant, and again having ignored every other thing I said, you continue to pursue this. At least you admit to “rhetorical excess”, though I’d call it “breathless hyperbole”. > [@MrDibble](#): > > You _are_ also saying if you _don’t_ own a pet, there’s “something wrong” with you, which is not just bullshit, but personally insulting to me, so I have zero inclination for any charitable reading of your idiocy. You know what’s even weirder than not owning a pet? When your _wife_ has a pet living in the same house that you don’t also consider _your_ pet. _Super_ weird, man. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/107 "2021-05-05T07:09:19Z")
Gosh. That, ladies and gentlemen, was the sound of some hollow, fragile, glass breaking. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/108 "2021-05-05T07:14:31Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > And yet after being told repeatedly that this is not what I meant, Yes, like I said, backpedalling from the implications. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > You know what’s even weirder than not owning a pet? When your _wife_ has a pet living in the same house that you don’t also consider _your_ pet. _Super_ weird, man. Coming from a person who thinks not having a pet means you’re somehow “wrong”, I think I’ll live. Question - if your daughter has a pet goldfish or hamster, is that _your_ pet too? No, people can own pets independent of their living arrangements. An animal I have no non-emergency responsibility or duty of care towards is not _my_ pet. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/109 "2021-05-05T07:18:29Z")
That kind of pithy comeback only works if you’re right, dumbshit. If you’re wrong, as you are here, it means I just called you a motherfucker and you came back with “no, u”. Weak-ass shit for a weak-ass douchecanoe. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/110 "2021-05-05T07:52:28Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Question - if your daughter has a pet goldfish or hamster, is that _your_ pet too? No, people can own pets independent of their living arrangements. An animal I have no non-emergency responsibility or duty of care towards is not _my_ pet. Daughter? Of course. But I dispute your premise: I’d consider myself to have non-emergency responsibility toward any pet in the same household. Sure, someone else might be the primary caregiver (especially for a fish or hamster, given that they tend to stay in one room). But if said care wasn’t up to my standards, I’d fill in the difference regardless of whether I considered myself the primary. It gets a little dicier if you want to expand the thought experiment to roommates instead of close family members. My college roommate’s birds were not mine. And yet even then I considered myself to have a duty of care toward them, despite birds being at close to the bottom of my favorite pets list. Regardless, cats and dogs are a little different from fish, because they tend to have free roam of the house and thus their existence impacts all members. Hence I would expect consensus and thus shared responsibility. It has certainly been the case in all families I’ve observed so far. Apparently it’s not universal. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/111 "2021-05-05T08:02:36Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Daughter? Of course. Well, we differ - my daughters’ pets are _their_ pets, not our collective pets. I don’t clean their cages or tanks, I don’t feed them, I didn’t even pay for them, they are not in any sense “mine”. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > But if said care wasn’t up to my standards, I’d fill in the difference regardless of whether I considered myself the primary. I would “fill in the difference” by exercising my parental oversight of the slacking person not performing their duties, not by doing it for them. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Regardless, cats and dogs are a little different from fish, because they tend to have free roam of the house and thus their existence impacts all members. A pet isn’t your pet because it impacts you, it’s your pet because you’re responsible for it. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I would expect consensus and thus shared responsibility. No, I was quite clear (before we got the dog) that I did not want one, that my wife was free to get one, but I would not be responsible for it if she did. Pets are not kids, consensus is not required - as long as I wasn’t objecting to the very _presence_ of a dog (which I don’t - I love dogs) - for an adult to have a pet. I am not the landlord. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/112 "2021-05-05T08:25:46Z")
Hey, remember when this thread was about President Biden? Good times… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/113 "2021-05-05T08:34:18Z")
Dr.S was the one who decided to take a giant dump on all non-pet owners - in a _Pit_ thread. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/114 "2021-05-05T08:58:49Z")
I don’t care _who_ started it - you kids settle down _right now_ or I swear I will pull this thread over and leave you both by the side of the forum. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/115 "2021-05-05T09:53:39Z")
Hmm, a special forum for the “special” posters; the ones that like arguing with 8 or have a multiple page argument about a throwaway remark, hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/116 "2021-05-05T10:20:05Z")
Nah. According to the OAN boards, Pence became a RINO on January 6 since he didn’t help Trump win. Of course, according to those lunatics, anyone who disagrees with Trump on _any_ issue is a RINO, and must be voted out of office and replaced with a sycophant. I I wish I were kidding about that. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/117 "2021-05-05T11:11:12Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > At some point in the past I must have annoyed the Crow King so those creatures have had it out for me since. This is apparently a real thing - crows pass on “this person is a right bastard/good bloke” to each other and respond appropriately across generations. Now, if crows are chasing after you in widely disparate geographical areas, then it might well be the Crow King has marked you. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/118 "2021-05-05T11:30:30Z")
Biden? Puppy-hugs? Hello? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/119 "2021-05-05T11:50:29Z")
I hear that tye Bidens are going to keep the Tiny Carters as pets now… ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/120 "2021-05-05T12:18:01Z")
Have we ever seen Sleepy Joe’s long-form birth certificate? With a middle name like Robinette, he was probably born in France (maybe next to a faucet). ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886/121 "2021-05-05T14:53:14Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > Hmm, a special forum for the “special” posters; the ones that like arguing with 8 or have a multiple page argument about a throwaway remark, hmmm. Umm, what’s a _page_? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biden-administration-a-puppy-hug-in-the-making/930886.md?page=7)