West Virginia Governor Jim Justice has a very cute English bulldog named Babydog, and, in May 2021, he cutely (but also darkly) pleaded that if people wouldn’t get the covid vaccine for their family, would they do it for her?
In his State of the State speech in Charleston on Thursday night, he used Babydog to help deliver a different message to people who have criticized West Virginia and, specifically, Senator Joe Manchin (D-Hell). That message? Kiss my (dog’s) ass.
Justice, who casually switched parties to become a Republican after a mere six months in office in 2017, had a panting Babydog join him at the podium for the end of his speech. In response to a December 2021 tweet by actor Bette Midler, who unfortunately called West Virginians “poor, illiterate and strung out” after Manchin refused to support President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act, Justice said: “They told every bad joke in the world about us. And so from that standpoint, Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out here, kiss her hiney.” To further emphasize his point, he hoisted sweet Babydog up and displayed her rear end to the cameras, then set the wriggling pooch back down.
Here is video of the stunt (Babydog: I’m so sorry). She does not look happy!!!
I feel for this poor dog—not only because she’s being used for partisan propaganda, that’s bad enough—but for having her whole ass and canine cooter broadcast around the world without her consent.
Look at those splayed turkey legs. Look at the bespectacled woman pointing and laughing. The sheer indignity of it all. She would be well within her rights to piss in his shoes this weekend.
Free Babydog. We ride at dawn.