People Go Nuts Over First Dogs Champ and Major Biden Frolicking at White House — But Not Everyone is Thrilled
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
First Dogs Champ and Major Biden caused a sensation with their public debut on the White House grounds this week, but not everyone was gaga over the rollout — or at least, the coverage of it.
The presidential pooches were the subject of breathless coverage on Monday when photos of their move into the White House were released, and again when they were filmed taking in the sights and scents on the South Lawn of the White House, and yet again when their barking could be heard as President Joe Biden finished signing an executive order lifting the ban on transgender people in the military.
First dogs update!
Champ and Major Biden joined the President and the First Lady at the White House on Sunday, per @MichaelLaRosa46
Official WH photos by Adam Schultz pic.twitter.com/bCSWFVPZL8
— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) January 25, 2021
Very important breaking news: Champ and Major Biden have moved into the White House pic.twitter.com/LiBh8c1qZ9
— Alli Hedges Maser (@AllisonLHedges) January 25, 2021
WH First Dogs Beat —- the TV pool crew happened to capture a brief glimpse of Champ enjoying the South Lawn and Major sniffing about under the watchful eye of the longtime WH Grounds superintendent. pic.twitter.com/eLL9y0iH5L
— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) January 25, 2021
President Biden’s dogs Champ and Major can be heard barking outside after Biden signs an executive order lifting a ban on transgender people serving in the military pic.twitter.com/O0Lur6amga
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) January 25, 2021
Those events generated tens of thousands of responses, many of them along the lines of all-caps giddiness or dog puns, or otherwise joining in the fun — including the official White House account, which retweeted the EO video with the hashtag #BuildBarkBetter.
#BuildBarkBetter https://t.co/qL7aILjHEH
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 25, 2021
THE DOG PHOTOS ARE HERE THE DOG PHOTOS ARE HERE THE DOG PHOTOS ARE HERE https://t.co/ME7qXlwwtl
— Nancy Yang (@n_yang) January 25, 2021
As press was let out of the Oval following President Biden’s executive order signing to reverse the transgender military ban, cameras conveniently caught a glimpse of the White House’s newest residents, Major and Champ.
It begs the age-old question: who let the dogs out? pic.twitter.com/9HRdFXer92
— Maegan Vazquez (@maeganvaz) January 25, 2021
This is pretty cool. https://t.co/1q5S8U0pPW
— Gilbert Zermeño (@Photog5i) January 25, 2021
But not everyone was crazy about the fur-ror. Over at Fox News, Laura Ingraham and contributor Raymond Arroyo conducted a segment claiming that the dog news is part of a plot to distract Americans from the “radical” policies of the Biden administration.
Over at conservative media watchdog site Newsbusters, the Media Research Center’s chronicler of what it sees as media bias, there were not one, not two, but three different articles complaining about the coverage. One key complaint had to do with ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir, who “ended the program by praising the canine addition as an achievement for shelter dogs, as if they were a new rung in the social justice hierarchy.”
If you thought that was ruff, wait until the Bidens get a cat.
