Bo Knows Ray LaHood

By Prescott Carlson in Miscellaneous on Apr 15, 2009 7:15PM

We realize it might be a bit stones/glass houses to talk about the inanity of the local press on the heels of posting a bunch of stripper photos, but at least when we talked about Bo, the Obama's new dog we admitted it was a little stupid. But Mark Siva on the Tribune's political blog, the Swamp, just couldn't let sleeping dogs lie and decided to channel his inner John Kass to get to the real story behind the White House pup. Turns out Siva has uncovered that Bo's grandmother has ties to none other than former U.S. Republican congressman from Illinois and current secretary of transportation Ray LaHood. And how was this discovered -- through exhaustive investigation, maybe a few dozen FOIA requests? Actually, LaHood details the shocking tale of canine nepotism on his DOT blog, "Fast Lane", in an awkward attempt to ride on President Obama's coattails:

Follow me if you can: Bo was born of Penny, who lives on Martha and Art Stern's farm. Penny was born of Pooka, who also was bred by the Sterns until Penny herself was of breeding age. At that point, Pooka, Bo's maternal grandmother, came to live with [DOT Chief Financial Officer Janet Forsgren].

Yet another example of the strong ties between this agency and the White House.

Janet tells me that 9-year-old Pooka is a loyal dog and great companion with "the waggingest tail east of the Mississippi."

Siva closes with a pun, which we really hope means the whole post was tongue-in-cheek, saying, "And if you thought you'd read the last story of the new first dog, exactly what were you thinking? He has a whole family here whose tails need telling."