AP: Police rule Buddy's death an "accident"

AP ^ | Today | AP

[ambrose]

Buddy,' the Clintons' Dog, Dies

By JIM FITZGERALD
Associated Press Writer

January 3, 2002, 3:37 AM EST

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. -- Former President Clinton's dog Buddy, the frisky retriever who unhappily shared the White House with Socks the cat, was killed by a car outside the Clinton home.

The 4-year-old chocolate Labrador ran from the home in Chappaqua on Wednesday afternoon, "playfully chasing a contractor who had just left the residence," said Lt. Charles Ferry of the New Castle police.

Buddy was hit by a car on a busy two-lane road at the bottom of the Clintons' cul-de-sac and was pronounced dead at an animal hospital.

Ferry said the death was "strictly an accident."

Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, were not home at the time, said spokeswoman Julia Payne. They issued a statement saying Buddy "was a loyal companion and brought us much joy. He will truly be missed."

The Clintons were given Buddy as a puppy in 1997, just weeks before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. The dog was named after the president's great-uncle, who had died earlier that year.

"If you want a friend in Washington, you need to get a dog," Clinton said, quoting President Truman.

Buddy became one of the most photographed pets in the nation, often seen playing on the White House lawn or bounding into a helicopter headed for Camp David.

He had a famously uneasy relationship with Socks, who was already ensconced in the White House when Buddy arrived. Although Mrs. Clinton expressed confidence for "a peaceful reconciliation during the holiday season" in 1997, their dislike was apparent.

Buddy, on a leash, once approached Socks on the White House lawn and began barking; Socks bristled and stood his ground. The president called it "making progress."

Buddy was neutered in 1998 in an operation that was comic fodder on late-night television. David Letterman wisecracked: "President Clinton's pretty busy. He had Buddy the White House dog neutered. ... So, Socks is neutered, Buddy is neutered, and so I'm thinking, two down, one to go."

The first lady put together a book called "Dear Socks, Dear Buddy" by gathering letters from children to the two pets. ("Did you ever get petted by the Spice Girls?" was one question.)

In the end, Buddy was the apparent victor in the rivalry for the Clintons' affections. When they decided they could take only one pet with them when they left the White House, Socks went to live with Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie, in suburban Virginia. Buddy accompanied the president on the farewell flight from Washington to New York, roaming the aisles of the jetliner.

In his first days in Chappaqua, Buddy served as an early-warning system to reporters that Clinton was coming out for a walk. Buddy would emerge from the home unaccompanied, a rubber ball in his mouth, which often meant the former president was behind him.

Once, when playing fetch with Clinton and a rubber ball, Buddy became entangled in the ex-president's legs and knocked him down in full view of the cameras.

"You guys got a good shot," Clinton said. "That's the first time he's knocked me down in all the time we've been together."

Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press

[DoughtyOne]

Park Police are reportedly seeking several items from Buddy's doghouse. There was an old bone and serveral spent condoms with US Senate logos on them.

[JohnPaulJones]

WoW! All that for a dog....That was a bigger write up then for Vince....

[PatrioticAmerican]

Another FOB dies an unexpected death!

[Billthedrill]

OK, suckah - 'fess up.

[cincinnati_Steve]

I wonder how many times it took Bill throwing the ball before he timed it just right.

[Diojneez]

For this to be a real case of Arkacide, he'd have to stab himself in the back 48 times.

Or deliver two bullets to the back of his own head.

[VMI70]

LOL!

New Years Eve we watched tapes of SNL episodes from 1975 and 1976 (that's the kind of thing old people do in NYE.) Anyway, I had forgotten about the Franco shtick until I saw it again; that and the Land Shark skits. Funny stuff.

FReegards,

[KC_Conspirator]

Yes which is exactly why I AP had to re-write this little bit of history.....

"The Clintons were given Buddy as a puppy in 1997, just weeks before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke."

I could be wrong, but that is not my recollection at all. My recollection is that they got Buddy after Clinton was already in trouble with the Lewinsky mess.

That is not my recollection as well. I need to do a little digging, but I am pretty damned sure that there were at least some rumors and stories out there and that he got a dog for purely political reasons. The Lewinsky story broke in January of 98' (I think actually the Sunday night of the Superbowl with Denver in it). That would have been mid to late January. I had actually seen accusations of it one week earlier on FR.

[Bogey78O]

Obviously the hitmen Bill hired took out the wrong dog.

BTW....where is Hillary?

[DoughtyOne]

Grin.

[VMI70]

And just where were you, and what were you doing at the time of the victim's untimely demise?

Fearless Fosdick

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

The only decent member of THAT family and i suppose they'll say it was suicide.I think he was pushed!

[LibWhacker]

Further proof that that scumbag was not only unfit to run a nation, he's unfit to own a dog.

[Slyfox]

Buddy would emerge from the home unaccompanied, a rubber ball in his mouth,
which often meant the former president was behind him.

This is just too much. I can't help think'n what I'm a thinkin'.

[KC_Conspirator]

I picked this up from the coffeeshoptimes.com website and their Lewinsky timeline:

According to a Jan. 29 Washington Post story, sources close to Ms. Lewinsky say she has told them the president had a private meeting with her on December 28 (1997) and suggested that she could avoid testifying in the Paula Jones case by going to New York City.

So, by December the Klintonista's know they are going to get busted for perjury and meet in late December 97' to tell Monica to get out of town? This is the exact that the Klinton's got Buddy because only a week or two later he's saying "I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky". This story by AP and Buddy is so effin disingenous.

[christine]

freekitty, my sentiments exactly!